Most Popular Books by Justin Torres

A debut novel that is a brilliant exploration of a close, complicated family and the struggle between brotherhood and becoming an individual

Winner of the National Book Award Winner of the California Book Award Winner of Tournament of Books Out in the desert in a place called the Palace, a young man tends to a dying soul, someone he once knew briefly but who has haunted the edges of his life: Juan Gay. Playful raconteur, child lost and found and lost, guardian of the institutionalized, Juan has a project to pass along, one built around a true artifact of a book—Sex Variants: A Study of Homosexual Patterns—and its devastating history. This book contains accounts collected in the early twentieth century from queer subjects by a queer researcher, Jan Gay, whose groundbreaking work was then co-opted by a committee, her name buried. The voices of these subjects have been filtered, muted, but it is possible to hear them from within and beyond the text, which, in Juan’s tattered volumes, has been redacted with black marker on nearly every page. As Juan waits for his end, he and the narrator recount for each other moments of joy and oblivion; they resurrect loves, lives, mothers, fathers, minor heroes. In telling their own stories and the story of the book, they resist the ravages of memory and time. The past is with us, beside us, ahead of us; what are we to create from its gaps and erasures? A book about storytelling—its legacies, dangers, delights, and potential for change—and a bold exploration of form, art, and love, Justin Torres’s Blackouts uses fiction to see through the inventions of history and narrative. A marvel of creative imagination, it draws on testimony, photographs, illustrations, and a range of influences as it insists that we look long and steadily at what we have inherited and what we have made—a world full of ghostly shadows and flashing moments of truth. A reclamation of ransacked history, a celebration of defiance, and a transformative encounter, Blackouts mines the stories that have been kept from us and brings them into the light.

Un debut aclamado por la crítica americana. La vida de la familia Torres es un caos. El padre, puertorriqueño «Paps», y la madre, nacida en Brooklyn «Ma», deciden tener tres hijos pese a su precaria situación laboral. Les darán una educación peculiar que se desarrollará entre trabajos basura, problemas en el barrio y anécdotas familiares íntimas y divertidas. En ese marco, solo el cariño y el amor entre ellos harán posible que sobrevivan en esa jungla que es la ciudad. Pero la principal jungla de la historia es la de la infancia, porque los tres niños, los verdaderos protagonistas de la novela, se comportarán como pequeños animales en continuo aprendizaje: travesuras, extrañas conversaciones con los adultos, juegos, inocencia y destellos de esa inteligencia tan lúcida y en ocasiones impropia de los niños pequeños. El componente autobiográfico hace aún más interesante este relato, pues retrata a la perfección la vida en las afueras de Nueva York a finales de los ochenta y las oportunidades que esta ciudad ofrecía a los habitantes del colectivo latino. Este libro presenta un universo en el que el lector se siente cómodo, ya que es cercano y está cargado de imágenes de gran belleza y lirismo, y consigue hablar del amor y del cariño en la familia sin utilizar el discurso cursi o manido al que estamos acostumbrados.

« On en voulait encore. [...] On avait des os d''oiseaux creux et légers, on voulait plus d''épaisseur, plus de poids. On était six mains qui happaient et six pieds qui trépignaient ; on était des frères, des garçons, trois petits rois unis dans un complot pour en avoir encore. » La famille, c''est la jungle. Les parents s''aiment, se battent. Au milieu du chaos, trois enfants tentent de grandir. La meute observe les fauves. Quand le père danse, les petits l''imitent. Quand la mère dort, ils apprennent à rester silencieux. La vie animale est âpre. Mais l''imaginaire est sans limite. Avec ce premier roman impressionnant, Justin Torres impose une langue, un rythme, un lyrisme électrique. Traduit de l''anglais (États-Unis) par Laetitia Devaux

„A Mi, állatok olyan, akár egy fekete gyémánt: szívszaggató és gyönyörű, a legkülönösebb regény, amit valaha olvastam” – írja Michael Cunningham a fiatal, első kötetes szerző 2011-ben nagy port kavart szépirodalmi bestselleréről. A regény középpontjában a család áll, annak minden szépségével és szörnyűségével együtt – vagyis egy család, az író-narrátoré: a Puerto Ricó-i apa és a fehér anya szinte még maguk is gyerekek, de már van három fiuk, akikkel egyik napról a másikra élnek, kegyetlen, követelőző, viharos szeretetben. A fiúk vadulnak, csavarognak, szilaj játékokban dolgozzák fel sérelmeiket, és ugyanezt teszik a kamasz szülők is. Az apa időnként eltűnik, kétségbeesésbe taszítva az otthon maradottakat, de csak hogy aztán újra előkerüljön, és újrakezdődjön a vérre menő játék meg a harc... A rövid, novellaként is olvasható fejezetek kaleidoszkópjából - melyek végig megőrzik egyfajta robbanásközeli állapot magasfeszültségét – lassan kirajzolódik a narrátor saját, külön fejlődéstörténete, az útja, amelyet végigjárva végül megtalálja a saját fájdalmas, senkiéhez sem hasonlítható igazságát.

Drie broertjes worstelen zich door hun kinderjaren. Ze zijn elkaars beste vriend maar ook elkaars grootste vijand. Ze houden tomatengevechten in de keuken, bouwen vliegers van afval en spelen verstoppertje wanneer hun ouders ruzie maken. Het is niet eenvoudig in deze familie te overleven. De liefde tussen hun Puerto Ricaanse vader en blanke moeder is hevig en bij vlagen destructief. Er heerst altijd chaos en het leven is wreed en fascinerend tegelijk. Het jongste broertje neemt de lezer moeiteloos mee in hun turbulente bestaan. Maar gaandeweg verliest hij zijn onbevangenheid en komt tot het besef dat hij zijn leven een radicale wending moet geven.

One of The New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century "A tremendously gifted writer whose highly personal voice should excite us in much the same way that Raymond Carver''s or Jeffrey Eugenides''s voice did when we first heard it."--The Washington Post In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, HarperCollins is proud to present this library of American classics drawn from our storied catalog. We the Animals, the award-winning, groundbreaking novel from National Book Award-winning Justin Torres, plunges us into the chaotic heart of one family, the intense bonds of three brothers, and the mythic effects of this fierce love on the people we must become. Three brothers tear their way through childhood-- smashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma are from Brooklyn--he''s Puerto Rican, she''s white--and their love is a serious, dangerous thing that makes and unmakes a family many times. Life in this family is fierce and absorbing, full of chaos and heartbreak and the euphoria of belonging completely to one another. From the intense familial unity felt by a child to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel reinvents the coming-of-age story in a way that is sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful.

De drie zoons van een Puertoricaanse vader en een Amerikaanse moeder worden, doordat beide ouders werken, vaak aan hun lot overgelaten, wat leidt tot een sterke onderlinge band, maar ook tot spanningen.

Three brave knights to the rescue! Chirp and his friends Squawk and Tweet love going on adventures together. Today, they''ve traded in their playhouse for a castle — a castle they defend from a fire-breathing creature! How will the brave knights in shining armor outsmart the dreaded beast? To find out, join Sir Chirp, Sir Tweet, and Sir Squawk in a heroic adventure, complete with knights, castles, and...a sheep dragon?

Chirp and his friends Squawk and Tweet love going on adventures together. Today, they''ve traded in their playhouse for a spaceship... which they''ve accidentally flown into the middle of an asteroid field!

Explorers Chirp, Squawk, and Tweet get into trouble as they cross the hottest desert on the planet. Not only are they completely lost... they''ve also run out of water!Chirp and his friends Squawk and Tweet love going on adventures together. Today, they''ve traded in their playhouse for sun hats and desert boots.The good news is that Tweet sees a watery oasis up ahead. The bad news is that these three thirsty explorers must get through a terrible sandstorm — a giant sandnado! — in order to reach it...