The lost city

R$ 55,90

Sinopse

** 'Shukman skilfully blends his genres: political intrigue, drug lords and South American militia edge this novel towards a contemporary Boy's Own adventure in the style of Buchan or Rider Haggard, while the poetic prose harks back to Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS ... A powerful debut' DAILY MAIL ** 'A gripping story of adventure, casual treachery and intrigue' GUARDIAN ** 'The adventure is matched by the beauty of the descriptive writing' INDEPENDENT ** 'Shukman skilfully blends his genres: political intrigue, drug lords and South American militia edge this novel towards a contemporary Boy's Own adventure in the style of Buchan or Rider Haggard, while the poetic prose harks back to Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS ... A powerful debut' DAILY MAIL ** 'A gripping story of adventure, casual treachery and intrigue ... We want to pray for Jackson's safe passage as he pursues a penitent's journey across a forbidding landscape that is not only brilliantly evoked, but is also a moral and philosophical entity in itself' GUARDIAN ** 'Exquisite ... A big, hearty work that is both gripping and intensely moving. Shukman's breathtaking, lyrical prose propels a pacy plot which, at its most visceral, becomes cinematic in its scope. On the strength of the writing alone, this is a contender for book of the year ... The echoes of a Conradian geographical and psychological journey into the heart of darkness are obvious but Shukman is adept at blending genres and this is a also a tale of political intrigue, espionage and, ultimately, a love story' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY ** 'The protagonist, Jackson Small, is the archetypal adventure hero: handsome and strapping, artistic, noble-natured and possessed of an uncanny knack for surviving unaided in the jungle' NEW STATESMAN ** 'Shukman proves himself a master of driven narrative and psychological drama ... At times the prose has the terse muscularity of a Hemingway adventure, at others an almost biblical thunder, underscored by touches of Graham Greene ... Jackson's trials in the jungle present one of fiction's most gripping descriptions of human distress. The physical landscape is omnipresent, the inner dreamscape haunting and dire. This is Shukman pushing his talent to the edge' SCOTSMAN ** 'With enough gunfights and explosions to spark a bidding war for film rights, this might seem like Boy's Own stuff. But Shukman is also a fine poet and travel writer, and the adventure is matched by the beauty of the descriptive writing' INDEPENDENT ** '[A] gripping tale of adventure and passion set against an evocative Latin American backdrop' WANDERLUST ** 'Breathtaking prose' TATLER ** 'Shukman has a poet's eye for detail' TLS ** 'His skill in rendering detail vibrantly alive is apparent; it's the closest you'll get to the sensation of a rainforest jungle adventure without buying a ticket to Chachapoyas' TIME OUT ** 'Paints the steamy jungle as a territory beyond the borders of human knowledge' METRO ** 'Haunting ... After reading this, though I have never been within a thousand miles of a rainforest, I feel certain that this is exactly what it must be like' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY ** 'Reinforces Shukman's reputation as a writer known for superb evocations of place ... The characters are redolent of Graham Green's creations ... Jackson's journey towards the light, both physical and emotional, invests Shukman's story with dignified resonance' THE TIMES ** 'A gripping story of adventure, casual treachery and intrigue ... brilliantly evoked' GUARDIANA young ex-soldier's quest in Peru is stymied by a drug lord in this ambitious first novel from British author Shukman (stories: Mortimer of the Maghreb, 2006, etc.), now a resident of New Mexico. When 19-year-old Jackson Small enlisted in the British army he was sent to Belize, where the somewhat older Connolly became his mentor, best friend and occasional lover. Connolly and Jackson searched for ruins in Guatemala, which Jackson sketched. In Peru the older man had glimpsed the lost city of La Joya, once home to the fair-skinned, pre-Inca Chachapoyans. Their friendship ended in a firefight with rebels; Connolly died, maybe from Jackson's friendly fire. The young soldier had a breakdown and was discharged. Two years later he goes to Peru himself, to atone for Connolly's death and find La Joya. Camping in the northern desert, he's ripped off by an old Indian traveling with a small boy, Ignacio, who's been kidnapped. Ignacio escapes and attaches himself to Jackson. The unlikely pair reach a coastal city where Jackson meets Sarah, a blonde American student, and contacts a British consular official, who pays him to do some undercover work in the mountains. There are now three elements to the story: Jackson's self-discovery, his quest for the ruins and his secret mission, which will take him into territory controlled by drug kingpin Carreras. The self-discovery works fine; in Sarah's arms, Jackson puzzles out his sexuality. There is excitement too as Jackson stumbles on the ruins and executes his mission, working with a Dutch drug runner who plays both sides. But Shukman has not integrated these different strands; he lets Jackson off the hook when he causes the death of his mountain guide. His flight from the bad guys through the cloud forest is overlong and monotonous, and his subsequent face-to-face with Carreras and the climax in Lima are not believable. Shukman takes narrative risks, but has yet to find his voice. (Kirkus Reviews)

Participantes

Autor: Henry Shukman