“An unexpected voice, a new landscape—a sober, risky, unsettling, and surprising book.”

“Diego Zúñiga is the author of an extraordinary first novel. Camanchaca is written with austerity and a laconic and fragmented style that is like the shreds of fog through which we are able to catch glimpses of the landscape.”

“The amiable placidity of Camanchaca’s young narrator attests to a safeguarding remoteness that cannot quite suppress a terrible mounting compulsion to confront his family’s past and be released from its burden of secrets. Diligent but lacking the capacity to form judgments, distressed yet detached, I don’t think I’ve come across a more evocative depiction of the painstaking transition from adolescence into the adult world.”

“The past converges with the present in this startling debut by Diego Zúñiga. A young man, uncertain in life, penetrates his family’s dysfunctional past during a road trip across the Chilean desert. Taut and fragmented, brilliant and brave, Camanchaca perfectly captures the difficult transition from young man to adult. A small diamond of a novel that once again proves literature can break your heart and infuse the spirit at the same time.”

“This arresting and deeply affecting read, despite its short length, packs a punch.”

“Deftly written, there is much to admire on the page.”

“A smart, straightforward narrative that reveals the varied mood a shared experience can evoke.”

“The simple, elegant narrative braiding- a paternal recto, a maternal verso- serves as both metaphor for a boy who is of two minds about everything and as a driveshaft, propelling the reader to a too-soon ending in a state of horror bordering on awe.”