Monstrilio

One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2023
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"An extraordinary act of imagination, an extended meditation that begins in grief, family, belonging, and moves past that, into a deeper discovery of the power of love--and the powerlessness of love, as well its strangeness. With Monstrilio, Sámano Córdova makes a remarkable, kaleidoscopic debut." --Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

"Simply exquisite. Easily one of my favorite reads this year." --Sarah Gailey, bestselling author of Just Like Home and The Echo Wife

"Gerardo Sámano Córdova's dark, soulful magic puts me in mind of Kelly Link or Carmen Maria Machado (and further back, Mary Shelley). The horror of grief has rarely been so viscerally or movingly evoked." --Peter Ho Davies, author of A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself

"Haunting and often bleakly humorous, Gerardo Sámano Córdova's Monstrilio is a captivating tone poem of trauma, grief, and transformation. Córdova writes with the lyrical precision of a master surrealist and creates an uncompromising vision of literary horror that is so wholly unique and utterly his own." --Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes

"In Gerardo Sámano Córdova's spare, soulful, and singular Monstrilio, a mother's grief turns monstrous, literally taking on a life of its own. As tender and terrifying as its titular character, Monstrilio is just as likely to work its way into your heart as into your nightmares. Prepare to unhinge your jaw and devour it whole." --Maria Adelmann, author of Girls of a Certain Age and How to be Eaten

"Monstrilio is the monster story about grief I've been craving. Bloody and full of longing, it gets under your skin and doesn't let you go. A thrilling and heartbreaking ride from Mexico City to NYC to Berlin, brilliantly capturing what it means to lose someone you love with ferocious tenderness. Gerardo Sámano Córdova is an international revelation and one of the boldest new voices writing today." --Akil Kumarasamy, author of Meet Us by the Roaring Sea and Half Gods

"Monstrilio is unlike any other book I've read. Genuinely scary at times, it moved me with its humanity, made me laugh, and ultimately, made me cry. Gerardo Sámano Córdova has written a stunning exploration of grief, belonging, and familial love in prose so beautiful you won't want to rush through it--even as you need to know what happens next." --Ana Reyes, author of The House in the Pines

"Bizarre and brilliant, Gerardo Sámano Córdova's Monstrilio is a sort of modern Frankenstein." --Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE

"Part of a new wave of haunted house horror that continues to expand and redefine the genre, Monstrilio is about a woman who creates a monster from a piece of her dead son's lung, feeding it bloody sacrifices as it grows into the image of her long-gone child. Her monstrilio is loved, cared for, and wholly monstrous. But are not the monsters among us also capable (and deserving) of love? Read this if you liked Sarah Gailey's Just Like Home!" --Molly Odintz, Lit Hub

"What lengths would you go to get back someone you've loved and lost? Just for a bit, to look in their eyes one more time, or tell them what needed to be told? But play that possibility out to its inevitable conclusion and it's difficult to envision anything good coming from it. In Córdova's horror debut, a grieving mother in Mexico City goes to unimaginable extremes to bring her late 11-year-old son back to life, only to discover that there are worse things than death. Grief, she learns, is not something to be trifled with, or worse, avoided." --Il'ja Rákos, The Millions

"Sámano Córdova's writing is piercing and intimate. Whether describing Monstrilio's first, vicious moments of life or the subtle, strained romance between Magos and her childhood friend Lena, Sámano Córdova keeps readers breathless . . . his novel seeks to embody [grief], making this nameless, eternal pain something we can speak to and hold." --Eric Ponce, Book Page, starred review

"In this wicked debut novel, Sámano Córdova combines queer themes touching on identity, kink, and consent with Latin American mysticism for an unusually visceral coming-of-age tale . . . There's no doubt there's nothing quite like it. A Promethean fable about reconstruction, reinvention, and the occasional human-sized snack." --Kirkus Reviews

"Grief takes the shape of a monster in Sámano Córdova's disturbing yet touching literary horror debut . . . Sámano Córdova creates complex characters who make difficult decisions that blur the lines between being human and being a monster. Fans of Eric LaRocca, Agustina Bazterrica, and Carmen Maria Machado will appreciate this unique take on the horror genre." --Verónica N. Rodríguez, Booklist

"Córdova asks the reader to consider the limits of familial love and understanding. He provides no easy answers, and readers may find themselves touched and horrified in equal measure . . . An enthralling debut that packs a heavy emotional punch. Fans of domestic horror like Zoje Stage's Baby Teeth or Ashley Audrain's The Push will find a lot to chew on here." --Colin Chappell, Library Journal

"The beastliness of grief is heartbreakingly rendered in Córdova's folklore-inflected first novel, which follows a bereaved mother taking the lung of her recently deceased son and nurturing it back into the boy she lost. But death can never be totally thwarted, and the son that returns isn't quite the same." --Michelle Hart, Electric Lit

"Sly and unsettling . . . Sámano Córdova does a good job elucidating the contours of grief and love. This creepy work of psychological horror gives readers plenty to chew on." --Publishers Weekly

"Gerardo Sámano Córdova pens a creative, visionary, and fantastic examination of grief and love; parents and children; friends and lovers. Once you start the book, you won't be able to un-read it. Unforgettable is the most perfect word here." --Barnes & Noble Editors, Most Anticipated Book Releases of March 2023