Parts of war by Jorge Volpi

parts of war
by Jorge Volpi

A story of violence that is also that of imposture and betrayal
By the winner of the Alfaguara Novel Prize

“Only on this forgotten pier between Mexico and Guatemala will I gather the courage to listen to my heart and unravel what happened with you, with me, with us, in this season of war.”

In Frontera Corozal, a small town on the banks of the Usumacinta, a pair of migrants discover the body of a fourteen-year-old girl. She soon learns that she was murdered by her cousin and her boyfriend in the presence of two little ones aged eight and ten. Luis Roth, the brilliant founder of the Center for Studies in Applied Neurosciences, becomes obsessed with the case and convinces his group of friends and collaborators to find out what happens in the brains of children who become criminals. Together with Lucía Spinosi, his closest student, Roth travels to Chiapas to begin his studies but suffers a terrible accident. From there, the young neuroscientist will be responsible not only for continuing the work of her teacher, but for revealing each of the lives that Roth kept secret. Her discoveries and the attachment she feels for Saraí, the young woman guilty of her, will force her to relive her own chain of abuse and add new wounds to those of the past.

Parts of War, a heartbreaking investigation into the origins of violence and a meditation on each person’s hidden identities, provokes and moves with two parallel stories that fuel our questions about friendship, envy, love and loss. .