Delirium
SynopsisPlot
In this remarkably nuanced novel, both a gripping detective story and a passionate, devastating tale of eros and insanity in Colombia, internationally acclaimed author Laura Restrepo delves into the minds of four characters. There's Agustina, a beautiful woman from an upper-class family who is caught in the throes of madness; her husband Aguilar, a man passionately in love with his wife and determined to rescue her from insanity; Agustina's former lover Midas, a drug trafficker and money-launderer; and Nicolás, Agustina's grandfather. Through the blend of these distinct voices, Restrepo creates a searing portrait of a society battered by war and corruption, as well as an intimate look at the daily lives of people struggling to stay sane in an unstable reality.
Story
About this book
Aguilar, an out-of-work literature professor now earning a living selling dog food, comes home from a short trip to find that his wife, Agustina, has lost her grip on reality. He has no idea what happened while he was away. His search for an explanation pulls him into buried layers of her family history, and the novel unfolds partly as a mystery: what drove Agustina into madness?
Four voices carry the story. Aguilar narrates as a husband desperate to understand and recover the woman he loves. Agustina herself speaks from inside her fractured state of mind, a woman raised in an upper-class Colombian family with its own concealed damage. Midas, a former lover turned drug trafficker and money launderer, offers a view from the criminal economy that shaped the country during this period. And Nicolás, Agustina's grandfather, adds a generational thread reaching further back into the family.
Laura Restrepo sets the novel against a Colombia marked by armed conflict, corruption, and the drug trade, using these personal stories to map the pressure those forces place on ordinary domestic life. The book was awarded the 2004 Premio Alfaguara and the 2006 Grinzane Cavour Prize in Italy. The English translation is by Natasha Wimmer.
