{"id":305756,"date":"2017-04-05T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wdev.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent-dev\/2017\/04\/05\/night-prayers-by-santiago-gamboa-why-this-book-should-win\/"},"modified":"2018-05-04T14:38:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T14:38:17","slug":"night-prayers-by-santiago-gamboa-why-this-book-should-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/2017\/04\/05\/night-prayers-by-santiago-gamboa-why-this-book-should-win\/","title":{"rendered":"“Night Prayers” by Santiago Gamboa [Why This Book Should Win]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between the announcement of the Best Translated Book Award longlists<\/a> and the unveiling of the finalists, we will be covering all thirty-five titles in the Why This Book Should Win<\/a> series. Enjoy learning about all the various titles selected by the fourteen fiction and poetry judges, and I hope you find a few to purchase and read!<\/em><\/p>\n

The entry below is by Jeremy Garber, events coordinator at Powell\u2019s Books<\/a> in Portland, OR.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Night Prayers<\/em><\/a> by Santiago Gamboa, translated from the Spanish by Howard Curtis (Colombia, Europa Editions)<\/b><\/p>\n

Chad\u2019s Uneducated and Unscientific Percentage Chance of Making the Shortlist: 36%<\/b><\/p>\n

Chad\u2019s Uneducated and Unscientific Percentage Chance of Winning the BTBA<\/span>: 4%<\/b><\/p>\n

Santiago Gamboa\u2019s Night Prayers<\/em> (Europa Editions) is a thrilling work of fiction. The Colombian writer\u2019s newest novel (only the second of his works to be translated into English, after Necropolis<\/em>) is layered with international tension and literary allusions. With a globetrotting plot centered upon crime and sibling loyalty, Night Prayers<\/em> is told from the perspective of three distinct voices (each a main character). Sex, drugs, and politics figure prominently into Gamboa\u2019s story, charging it with nefarious elements that won\u2019t be unfamiliar to readers of Roberto Bola\u00f1o.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the more conventional\/less experimental books on this year\u2019s longlist, Night Prayers<\/em>, nevertheless, stands out boldly as an accomplished work of narrative storytelling. With an electrifying, well-paced plot, Gamboa\u2019s novel engages and entertains like the very best of crime fiction, yet reflects and philosophizes like a more measured literary work. Drawing on themes of brotherly\/sisterly fealty, violence, corruption, poverty, and the blurry lines between right and wrong, vice and virtue, Night Prayers<\/em> is far more than a mere propulsive page-turner of transnational intrigue.<\/p>\n

With considerable drama and distinctly drawn characters, Night Prayers<\/em> hums at the peripheries of an illicit world. Translated from the Spanish by Howard Curtis, Santiago Gamboa\u2019s novel is a worthwhile entrant on this year\u2019s Best Translated Book Award longlist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between the announcement of the Best Translated Book Award longlists and the unveiling of the finalists, we will be covering all thirty-five titles in the Why This Book Should Win series. Enjoy learning about all the various titles selected by the fourteen fiction and poetry judges, and I hope you find a few to purchase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67476],"tags":[35996,64586,48766,8886,686,38636,65756,27526,37876],"class_list":["post-305756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-translated-book-awards","tag-btba","tag-btba-2017","tag-btba-fiction","tag-europa-editions","tag-howard-curtis","tag-jeremy-garber","tag-night-prayers","tag-santiago-gamboa","tag-why-this-book-should-win"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305756"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396752,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305756\/revisions\/396752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}