The Last War bookcover

The Last War

A Novel
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
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Description

"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 Menéndez.

Product Details

PublisherHarper
Publish DateMay 26, 2009
Pages240
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconHardback
EAN/UPC9780061724763
Dimensions8.3 X 5.5 X 0.8 inches | 11.7 pounds

About the Author

Ana Menéndez is a 2008 Fulbright scholar and the Pushcart Prize-winning author of two works of fiction, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd, which was a New York Times Notable Book, and Loving Che. She has worked as a columnist for the Miami Herald and has also contributed to The New Republic, the New York Times, and Gourmet, as well as several anthologies. She lives in Miami, Florida.

Reviews

“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

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