"Jorge Comensal's The Mutations oscillates masterfully between comedy and tragedy, gathering up in its pages a stupendous panoply of characters before whom the reader is never sure whether to smile in sympathy or pity."―Fernando Aramburu, author of Homeland
Ramón Martinez is a militant atheist, successful lawyer, and conventional family man. But all of that changes when cancer of the tongue deprives him of the source of his power and livelihood: speech.
The Mutations, by Jorge Comensal, is a comedy tracing the metastasis of Ramón’s cancer through his body and in the lives of his family members, colleagues, and doctors, dissecting the experience of illness and mapping the relationships both strengthened and frayed by its wake. Mateo and Paulina, his teenage children, struggle with the temptations of masturbation and binge eating, respectively. Ramón’s melancholic oncologist is haunted by the memory of a young patient whom he was unable to save. His selfish pathologist believes Ramón’s tumor holds the key to a major scientific breakthrough. And then there’s Elodia, Ramón’s pious maid, who brings him a foulmouthed parrot as a birthday gift. This lewd bird becomes Ramón’s companion, confidant, and unlikely double.
Paying homage to the works of forebears such as Sontag, Didion, Flaubert, and Tolstoy, and filled with a rough-hewn poetry of regret, rage, and finally resignation, The Mutations offers a profound but funny cross section of modern Mexican life, as well as a bold treatment of an unspeakable yet universal reality

The Mutations: A Novel

Humor & Entertainment

COMENSAL, JORGE

Humor

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

"Jorge Comensal's The Mutations oscillates masterfully between comedy and tragedy, gathering up in its pages a stupendous panoply of characters before whom the reader is never sure whether to smile in sympathy or pity."--Fernando Aramburu, author of Homeland Ramón Martinez is a militant atheist, successful lawyer, and conventional family man. But all of that changes when cancer of the tongue deprives him of the source of his power and livelihood: speech. The Mutations, by Jorge Comensal, is a comedy tracing the metastasis of Ramón's cancer through his body and in the lives of his family members, colleagues, and doctors, dissecting the experience of illness and mapping the relationships both strengthened and frayed by its wake. Mateo and Paulina, his teenage children, struggle with the temptations of masturbation and binge eating, respectively. Ramón's melancholic oncologist is haunted by the memory of a young patient whom he was unable to save. His selfish pathologist believes Ramón's tumor holds the key to a major scientific breakthrough. And then there's Elodia, Ramón's pious maid, who brings him a foulmouthed parrot as a birthday gift. This lewd bird becomes Ramón's companion, confidant, and unlikely double. Paying homage to the works of forebears such as Sontag, Didion, Flaubert, and Tolstoy, and filled with a rough-hewn poetry of regret, rage, and finally resignation, The Mutations offers a profound but funny cross section of modern Mexican life, as well as a bold treatment of an unspeakable yet universal reality

Mutations

Picador Paper

BRILLIANCE AUDIO ^

A modern-day Flaubert takes us on a comic tour through a deeply neurotic Mexico City
Ramón Martinez is a militant atheist, successful lawyer, and conventional family man. But all of that changes when his privileged life disintegrates after cancer of the tongue deprives him of the source of his power and livelihood: speech.
Jorge Comensal’s The Mutations is a comedy tracing the metastasis of Ramón’s cancer through his body and through the lives of his family members, colleagues, and doctors, dissecting the experience of illness and mapping the relationships both strengthened and frayed in its wake. Mateo and Paulina, his teenage children, struggle with the temptations of masturbation and binge-eating, respectively. Ramón’s melancholic oncologist is haunted by the memory of a young patient whom he was unable to save. His selfish pathologist believes Ramón’s tumor holds the key to a major scientific breakthrough. And then Elodia, Ramón’s pious maid, brings him a foul-mouthed parrot as a birthday gift, and this filthy bird becomes Ramón's companion, confidant, and unlikely double. 
Paying homage to forebears such as Sontag, Didion, Flaubert, and Tolstoy, and filled with a rough-hewn poetry of regret, rage, and, finally, resignation, The Mutations offers up a profound and funny cross section of modern Mexico, as well as a bold treatment of an unspeakable yet universal reality.

Una novela de misterio y zoología, de adicciones y crisis familiares, de fantasmas, crisis climática, agujeros negros y masculinidad desorientada.\nEl 28 de mayo de 2029, durante una ola de calor, las llamas consumen el Bosque de Chapultepec, el parque donde se encuentra el Panteón Dolores y el zoológico de la ciudad. No parece haber sido un accidente: el fuego comenzó con la hoguera de un hombre vestido de sacerdote en la fosa común del cementerio. En el incendio mueren casi todos los árboles del parque y los animales del zoológico. A partir de ahí, la historia de Rebeca y Karina se cruza con la de Silverio, vigilante del panteón y padre de la precoz activista climática y ecológica, Daenerys. Estos personajes emprenden caminos de reinvención que pasan por resolver varios enigmas: quién era el sacerdote quemado en el Panteón, cómo consiguió Rebeca la botella de brandy con la que se embriagó, qué les pasó a los padres de Karina hace 18 años, cómo se aparean los tiburones, qué será del huevo de emú que se salvó del fuego y más.\nENGLISH DESCRIPTION\nA mystery novel about zoology, addiction, and family crises, about ghosts, the climate crisis, black holes, and disoriented masculinity.\nOn May 28, 2029, during a heat wave, flames consume the Bosque de Chapultepec, the park where the Panteón de Dolores and the city zoo are located. It doesn’t look like it was accidental —the blaze spread from the pyre lit by a man dressed as a priest in the cemetery’s mass grave. Almost all trees and animals in the park perish in the fire. From then on, Rebeca and Karina’s story intersects with Silverio’s, caretaker at the cemetery and father of Daenerys, a precocious climate and environmental activist. These characters set out on journeys of reinvention that come to be after solving several enigmas: who was the priest burned at the Panteón? How did Rebeca get the bottle of brandy with which she got drunk? What happened to Karina’s parents 18 years ago? How do sharks mate? What will happen to the emu egg that survived the fire? And more.

Este vacío que hierve / This Emptiness That Boils (Spanish Edition)

Alfaguara

La historia de la lectura está plagada de sobredosis: san Pablo, don Quijote, sor Juana, Emma Bovary, Adolf Hitler. He reunido decenas de casos en un cuaderno que no verteré aquí exhaustivamente para evitar que este ensayo se convierta en un gabinete de curiosidades. Quiero, como todos los que venimos siguiendo los pasos de Montaigne, darme a entender a mí mismo ―el ensayo como acto de narcisismo caníbal―. ¿Por qué aspiro a leerlo todo? Aquí busco una respuesta que tal vez sirva de espejo para otros lectores insaciables, compulsivos.

Yonquis de las letras

Literature & Fiction

Essays & Correspondence

Editorial La Huerta Grande, S.L.

Ramón Martínez es un abogado de éxito, un ateo convencido y un padre de familia como otro cualquiera. Pero todo cambia el día que Ramón tiene que ser operado y pierde la lengua ―y con ella la capacidad de hablar― y comienza para él una silenciosa tragicomedia. Carmela, la mujer de Ramón, comenzará a tener discusiones diarias con un marido que no puede contestarle; Paulina y Mateo, sus hijos adolescentes, tendrán que afrontar la nueva situación mientras lidian con sus propias obsesiones (la obesidad y el onanismo). Elodia, la asistenta supersticiosa, busca una cura milagrosa para su jefe, que acude a terapia con Teresa, una psicoanalista, que cultiva marihuana en su ático. En medio de todo este barullo, Benito es el nuevo miembro de la familia: un loro de una especie en peligro de extinción con el que, paradójicamente, Ramón se comunica mejor que con sus seres queridos y que es capaz de blasfemar y gritar todo lo que Ramón no puede. 
Contada con un humor tierno y a veces un poco negro, esta tragicomedia nos muestra una familia como todas: con su día a día, con sus problemas, con su dosis de amor y de risas, y también, como en la vida misma, con su dosis de mala suerte y de lágrimas. Y con un loro.

Las mutaciones

Genre Fiction

Seix-Barral

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Books by COMENSAL, JORGE

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by COMENSAL, JORGE. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Mutations: A Novel

Mutations

The Mutations: A Novel

The Mutations: A Novel

Este vacío que hierve / This Emptiness That Boils (Spanish Edition)

Yonquis de las letras

Las mutaciones