Goodbye, American Hero is a captivating novel, whose main character, detective John Rossi, travels through the South American political history of dictatorships, neo-Nazism and the exploitation of drug trafficking.
South American political history, the dictatorship, neo-Nazism, drug trafficking and organized crime intertwines in the story of the clumsy detective John Rossi, with brushstrokes of reality, in Goodbye, American Hero by the Argentine writer Eduardo Goldman, presented this Wednesday March 15th by Editorial Aquitania Siglo XXI, simultaneously in Mexico and Argentina.
The story deals with the struggles detective John Rossi faces in moving a witness from Paraguay to New York. In addition to the release in Spanish, for the first time it will also be published in English the translation of the renowned North-American writer Norman T. di Giovanni.
During the live presentation, through Aquitania Siglo XXI’s social media, the author Eduardo Goldman said that he organizes his work around the characters, who give humanity to the novel.
‘For me, the character is the most important part. It gives the story humanity and verisimilitude, it makes the novel alive. The characters are people so if you put something you don’t feel, like something very thoughtful and rational, it may come out as false’, emphasized Goldman.
Gabriel Wainstein, Argentine journalist, writer and screenwriter for film and television, a reader who shares with the audience his passion for the paths of the literary genre, pointed out that it is a particularly funny novel, that transits the genre of dark comedy and that it has a very special protagonist. John Rossi has no ability to do what he has to do or to face what he has to endure, but nonetheless, he does.
‘There is at the same time an ethical and a moral force that makes him very brave, it outlines him as an interesting character’, highlighted during the presentation.
For her part, Gabriela Guerra, editorial director of Aquitania Siglo XXI, added that things happen to Rossi that shouldn’t. She pointed out that Goldman’s novels take place within the timeline of dictatorship, such as those that occurred in different places of South America, in complicated political settings. In this text, he narrates the achievements of a friendly but naive North American detective in his journey through Stroessner’s Paraguay. ‘A novel impossible to put down’.
Eduardo Goldman mentioned that the issue of militarism and dictatorship has always been important, because he lived his childhood in the oppression.
He said that when children talked, the adults said to shut up. ‘The whole issue of the dictatorship, the militarism, makes me reveal myself immediately and leads me to put myself in that situation’.
Luciano Walter, Argentine writer and poet, author of Breve historia de la civilización, said that talking about detective John Rossi is impossible without observing the art that illustrates the cover of the book, by the Art Director, Annia Galano: it portrays him in a “Hollywoodesque” style, with a setting that correspond to film canons.
‘Eduardo Goldman’s literature is cinematographic, the management of time, the strokes, the spatial interruption, without being temporary, Eduardo’s readings will grab you by the eyelashes and do not let go. It is a constant characteristic of his literature’ he added.
Gabriel Wainstein said that the “cinematic moments” of the novel have a sagacity that contradicts and enriches the protagonist. He spoke about the extrapolation to New York City to the Paraguayan jungle, and the journey of a character who like to eat tomato pizza, as details that bring him closer and create empathy showcasing the writer’s fascination for chocotorta and Italian food.
Goodbye, American Hero repeats the constant of Goldman’s books, the exponential unexpected growth of the characters, and that few detective novels like Ni siquiera nos queda París, which succeeds Goodbye, American Hero, tell what our military dictatorship was, stated Wainstein.
This is not a boring novel, it is a literary experience that the reader cannot miss, a wonderful and funny experience to read, it does not stay in the step of inconsequential comedy, it always goes one step further, the characters are alive, and all in all it is a pleasure for readers.
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City: Mexico City
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