The Last War - by Ana Menendez (Paperback)

About the Book

"Exquisitely crafted. . . strikingly real and heartfelt." Denver Post

[A] potent literary novel . . . A deft portrait of an estranged couple whose pain is veiled by the fog of war. People

A breathtaking novel of love, war, and betrayal from the critically acclaimed author of Loving Che and the New York Times Notable Book, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd. From the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to the strange, shimmering streets of Istanbul, The Last War is a seductive meditation (O, The Oprah Magazine) on cruelty and violence, love and identity from Pushcart Prize-winning author Ana Menendez."

Book Synopsis

"[A] potent literary novel . . . A deft portrait of an estranged couple whose pain is veiled by the fog of war." --People

From the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq to the strange, shimmering streets of Istanbul, The Last War is a "seductive meditation" (O, The Oprah Magazine) on cruelty and violence, love and identity from Pushcart Prize-winning author Ana Menéndez.

Photojournalist Flash chases conflicts around the globe with her war correspondent husband, Brando. Now Brando is in Iraq awaiting her arrival, but instead of racing to join him, Flash idles in Istanbul, vaguely aware that her marriage is faltering. Her malaise is compounded by the arrival of a mysterious letter revealing Brando's infidelity--and by the sudden appearance of Alexandra, a fierce and captivating colleague who shared dangerous days with the couple in Afghanistan. As Flash spirals deeper into regret, anger, and indecision, she wonders if she and Brando were ever really happy--as she's forced to confront long-buried secrets and hard truths about her world, her marriage, her husband, and herself.

The Last War is a breathtaking novel of love, war, and betrayal from the critically acclaimed author of Loving Che and the New York Times Notable Book, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd.

From the Back Cover

Photojournalist Flash chases conflicts around the globe with her war correspondent husband, Brando. Now Brando is in Iraq awaiting her arrival, but instead of racing to join him, Flash idles in Istanbul, vaguely aware that her marriage is faltering. Her malaise is compounded by the arrival of a mysterious letter revealing Brando's infidelity--and by the sudden appearance of Alexandra, a fierce and captivating colleague who shared dangerous days with the couple in Afghanistan. As Flash spirals deeper into regret, anger, and indecision, she wonders if she and Brando were ever really happy--as she's forced to confront long-buried secrets and hard truths about her world, her marriage, her husband, and herself.

Review Quotes

"Crisscrossed with exotic shadows, memories of romance and displacement, Ana Menéndez's new novel, The Last War, is a seductive meditation." -- O, The Oprah Magazine

"Menéndez's descriptions of the city are haunting and shadowy. . . . A precise and subtle book, full of finely realized flashbacks, the narrator's memories of a marriage and detailed descriptions of Istanbul and of the experience of adjusting to another home, another culture." -- Miami Herald

"[A] potent literary novel . . . A deft portrait of an estranged couple whose pain is veiled by the fog of war." -- People

"[An] impressionistic and introspective tale . . . Menéndez offers astute and perceptive commentary on both the hidden and obvious effects of war and its aftermath." -- Booklist

"Poetic, atmospheric, and introspective . . . A quietly piercing cultural and philosophical think-piece, comparable in its low-key, allusive moodiness to a European art-house movie." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Menendez shows with unblinking honesty in her self-assured second novel The Last War how in conflict and its aftermath journalists can find or lose themselves. . . . Mendendez's deep wisdom about people and their relationships is the payoff that always makes this insightful author worth reading." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"An exquisitely crafted work . . . A novel, lyrically written, that feels strikingly real and heartfelt, a narrative by a woman destroying herself with imagination and doubt." -- Denver Post

"Menendez is a skilled novelist - even admirers of her acclaimed short story collection, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd or her earlier novel, Loving Che, will be impressed with the deepening maturity of her writing. . . . [A] fully convincing psychological portrait." -- South Florida Sun Sentinel

"Ana Menendez's The Last War offers us a moving and probing portrait of lovers and media warriors in this poignant and touching novel of crumbling friendships and marriages--betrayals, large and small--in a dicey and dangerous world." -- Edwidge Danticat, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory and Brother, I'm Dying

Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: "A raucous, heartfelt debut...Deft, talented and hilarious...." -- Junot Diaz

Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: "Powerful... A bright debut that points to even brighter accomplishments to come." -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

Praise for IN CUBA I WAS A GERMAN SHEPHERD: "Menendez taps into [a] wellspring of broken promises and unfulfilled desires and gives us a ... peek at ... the Cuban-American experience." -- Miami Herald

Praise for LOVING CHE: "[Loving Che] puts [Menendez] in the company of other Latino writers such as Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros." -- Vanity Fair

Praise for LOVING CHE: "A tart fable about history and identity that is equal parts detective story, travelogue and fever dream...Inventive and hypnotic...[An] evanescent pas de deux." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Powerful. . . . A bright debut that points to even brighter accomplishments to come." -- Michiko Kakutani, New York Times on In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd

"Menendez taps into [a] wellspring of broken promises and unfulfilled desires and gives us a . . . peek at . . . the Cuban-American experience." -- Miami Herald on In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd

"A tart fable about history and identity that is equal parts detective story, travelogue and fever dream. . . . Inventive and hypnotic. . . . [An] evanescent pas de deux." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review on Loving Che

"[Loving Che] puts [Menendez] in the company of other Latino writers such as Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros." -- Vanity Fair on Loving Che

"[The Last War] speaks to Ana Menéndez's maturity--as a woman and a writer. . . . A character study of those who have found their purpose in bearing witness to bloodshed." -- New York Times Book Review