Oficio de Tinieblas (Book of Lamentations)
First sentence
San Juan, el Fiador, el que estuvo presente cuando aparecieron por primera vez los mundos; el que dio el si de la afirmacion para que echara a caminar el siglo; uno de los pilares que sostienen firme lo que esta firme, San Juan Fiador, se inclino cierto dia a contemplar la tierra de los hombres...
Description
With the panoramic sweep of a Diego Rivera mural, The Book of Lamentations weaves together dozens of characters, plot lines, and perspectives in a tour-de-force of narrative structure that builds to an inexorable conclusion as unflinching as it is devastating. Based on episodes from actual Maya uprisings of 1712 and 1868, which are transposed in time to the 1930's, the novel merges a wealth of historical information and local detail into a vision of the nature of oppression that is universal in scope.