Chilco (Novela / A Novel) - by Daniela Catrileo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Chilco, una novela de amor, rebeldía y amistad.

Una pareja sobrevive en el centro de la ciudad Capital, sin sentirla como un
hogar. Marina, la narradora, es nieta de una migrante peruana y trabaja en el archivo del Museo de Historia Natural y Social, mientras que Pascale carga la tradición de su familia lafkenche de la isla de Chilco, al sur del país, subsistiendo gracias a trabajos de carpintería. Su mejor amiga, Leila, tuvo que dejar Haití para probar suerte en este país, que avanza a paso firme hacia su destrucción. La caída de un edificio en Gran Avenida, los socavones que comienzan a aparecer sin una causa y un movimiento social que se empeña en demolerlo todo son las señales de una decadencia que parece irreversible, al tiempo que la pareja y su amiga se organizan y luchan por una existencia más digna.

Es en ese momento que Marina y Pascale deciden migrar a Chilco, donde la
promesa de una vida más plena parece ser posible, lejos de la explotación y la violencia colonial de la Capital. Chilco es, entonces, el símbolo de un espacio en el que las culturas de este continente pueden expresarse.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

"The landscape you are will always be the landscape you carry.

A couple survives in the center of the Capital city, without feeling like a
home. Marina, the narrator, is the granddaughter of a Peruvian migrant and works in the archive of the Museum of Natural and Social History, while Pascale carries the tradition of her Lafkenche family from the island of Chilco, in the south of the country, subsisting thanks to work carpentry. Her best friend, Leila, had to leave Haiti to try her luck in this country, which is moving steadily towards its destruction. The fall of a building on Gran Avenida, the sinkholes that begin to appear without a cause and a social movement that is determined to demolish everything are the signs of a decline that seems irreversible, while the couple and their friend organize and fight for a more dignified existence.

It was at that moment that Marina and Pascale decided to migrate to Chilco, where the
The promise of a fuller life seems to be possible, far from the exploitation and colonial violence of the Capital. Chilco is, then, the symbol of a space in which the cultures of this continent can express themselves.

Daniela Catrileo, a writer and philosopher who has received numerous awards for her books Río herido, Guerra florida and Piñén, gives us a painful and beautiful novel, of a baroque style that is as unusual as it is necessary in Chile. A sum of cultures, colors and voices that masterfully represents the complexities of our current reality.