From Savagery, Alejandra Banca
From Savagery, Alejandra Banca
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

From Savagery

Author: Alejandra Banca, Katie Brown

Narrator: Stephanie Cannon

Unabridged: 6 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/08/2024


Synopsis

Electric, defiant, and singing with melancholia, Alejandra Banca's devastating debut throws its arms around a displaced generation of young Venezuelan migrants, reveling in the clamor and beauty of their day-by-day survival.

Below the rooftops of Barcelona's historic avenues, in the shadow of the Sagrada Família and its fleet of construction cranes, thrums a vital pulse: meal-delivery bikers, sex workers, strung out artists, anti-capitalist squatters, undocumented shopgirls, fledgling drug dealers, and a thousand more lives that cross and knit together at the lowest level of Spain's urban tumult. The young expats of these stories careen through crowded streets, night clubs, and dating apps with a devil-may-care abandon that belies their precarious circumstances. Tragedy will erupt and then ebb in an instant, receding in the rearview like a roadside collision and haunting those that push on. Running on fumes and paltry tips, Banca's beleaguered characters race along a knife's edge and find unexpected solace in moments of shared vulnerability; a knowing thread that unites these strangers in a strange land.

In this English PEN Award-winning translation by Katie Brown, From Savagery announces Alejandra Banca as a resplendent and masterful new voice in Latin American literature—one that will take listeners by storm.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Luz on July 10, 2022

Qué bonito es leer. Así lo pienso mientras termino de repasar el índice y rememorar cada historia de estas 266 páginas observando el título. Mis favoritas son Euroloco y Lasme. Al terminar de leerlo siento cómo que me senté a tomar un cafésito con una amiga que sabe echar bien los cuentos y encima t......more

Goodreads review by Rachel Louise on May 16, 2025

I absolutely loved this and I’m glad I took my time to read it so I could savour each story as it really paid off. Written by a Venezuelan author, it is about a group of Venezuelan characters living in Barcelona and working as delivery drivers on a bike. The stories have dark humour, sadness and wit......more

Goodreads review by laszczaq on April 26, 2025

From Savagery frustrated me more than it moved me. The writing is so messy that I couldn’t tell who was who or even if the characters were connected. The gore was overwhelming, and after a while it felt like it was there just for shock value instead of making a real point. I understand that the chao......more

Goodreads review by Maria on June 16, 2022

Con el corazón en un puño. Cómo escribe Alejandra que sin ser migrante he sentido cada sílaba de su desarraigo salvaje. Lagrimita con los tres últimos párrafos. (Y gracias a Orianna porque gracias a Lecturas de Arraigo esta historia ha llegado a mis manos.)......more

Goodreads review by Kiley on November 27, 2024

[Thank you to the publisher, Restless Books, for the ARC. All opinions are my own.] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 CW: On-page SA; Death of an infant A truly raw and beautiful collection of stories that pulls no punches. I didn’t realize the stories in this book were interconnected, but I’m so glad they were. I’m someo......more