The Armies

• A short but very intense novel, and that is where the author's genius lies: How can so much be encompassed so well in so few pages? Evelio Rosero manages to reflect the pain of a country that has suffered wars for over 50 years in a masterful way. Above all because he does it completely impartially; he never specifies which armies they are, simply relating the devastating consequences for towns through the eyes of an old man whose wife has disappeared.

• A novel about the war in Colombia, or what could be anywhere in the world, and how it corners an entire town. Seen through the eyes of an old man who is either delirious or perhaps the only sane one left. A masterfully achieved blend of eroticism and violence that pulls us out of our comfort zone. Brilliant, Evelio.

• I read The Armies, by Evelio Rosero, and to get straight to the point without beating around the bush, my summary is: you have to read it. Amid so much urban fiction, this story—so Colombian, so relevant, set in some cold mountain village in Huila or anywhere else in the country—masterfully encapsulates the violence of recent times, told from the terror experienced by the victims.

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