What is the difference between an immigrant, someone living in exile, and a refugee? False War is an extraordinary novel by Carlos Manuel Alvarez, the leading Cuban writer of his generation.
The characters in False War are castaways on dry land, stranded on no man's land. Some of them want to leave Cuba and can't, others left and never quite finished getting anywhere. They live in a sort of limbo, a perpetual impasse between reality and desire, past and future, country of origin and country of destination - awaiting a confirmation or, purely and simply, some respite. Something to keep reminding them that life is possible.
What is the difference between an immigrant, someone living in exile, and a refugee? Doomed to chaos, anguish or tedium, the perennially displaced are beleaguered by a world that - in that simulation of advancement towards the illusion of a consumer society - reminds them that there is no place for them at every turn. In this choral novel, the characters appear to move between Cuba, the United States, Mexico, France or Germany with confidence, while in reality they all feel paralyzed, immersed in a fake war waged without any real passion or any authentic ideas.
Structured with an atomized narration that brilliantly reflects the disintegration that comes with uprooting, full of tenderness, disenchantment and melancholy, False War is an extraordinary novel that confirms Carlos Manuel Alvarez as one of the indispensable voices of his generation.
Industry Reviews
"'I was blown away by this novel. Nothing in the story is reducible. Its formal ambition is met by its execution, and the effect is staggering. Alvarez is an immense writer, a generational talent, and this, for me, is a generation-defining work.'
- Michael Magee, author of Close to Home
'What happens when exile becomes style, and style becomes a kind of home? False War is that question asked with tenderness, fury and precision.'
- Carlos Fonseca, author of Austral
'The dissidents, migrants and exiles of False War travel the world in search of some kind of refuge, but the cities they arrive in are places of purgatory, allegorical waystations of the permanently displaced, where everyone is an outsider, caught between landfalls, hurrying nowhere: ""Brightness inside, darkness outside - until we crash."" This is a timeless and urgent work, in turns lyrical, hardboiled, tender, fragmented. It maps a way forward for the twenty-first century novel.'
- Jeet Thayil, author of Names of the Women
'Human displacement is the storm surge of our century, yet we only hear of the crest. Behind that swell rush the sequels of individual souls on the move, swirling, unravelling, adrift. Alvarez reels us into those milieus with such engaging detail we can't help becoming comrades to his fugitives. A brilliant work of enchantingly real voices.'
- DBC Pierre, author of Meanwhile in Dopamine City"
