Corner of the Dead

By Lynn Lurie

This powerful novel depicts the reign of violence perpetrated in Peru in the 1980s by the Shining Path guerrillas, a Maoist-based organization, and the subsequent authoritarian counterattack by the Peruvian government. It explores these horrific events through the eyes of a young American photojournalist and humanitarian worker, Lisette, who bears witness to the genocide of the Peruvian Indians in whose village she has chosen to live.

"I use the camera to block my view," says Lisette. This is the start of her double vision--trying to forget and trying to recall--and her struggle to come to terms with the human capacity for cruelty. But the grim reality in Peru is so overpowering that she carries it with her back to New York and through the rest of her life. Having abandoned a lover along with the fight, she desperately tries to find meaning beyond that of mere survival.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558496548
• ISBN13: 9781558496545
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Deeply passionate, intense read

The Corner of the Dead is a deeply intense and emotional read. From the start, the story grabs you and won't let go. You feel the pain and sorrow throughout the novel and brings you right into this dark world. You will not put this book down and then will read it again to make sure you got all of the details. Very good read.

Beautifully Written First Novel

A beautifully written book. A portrait of a woman's pain. Through her eyes, her camera, and her memory, sometimes through gauze and other times without a filter, we visit the sources of Lisette's pain and the effect on her and those around her. She is at the same time resilient and fragile. I loved this book, but I found being an observer sometimes frustrating. I wanted to know the characters - what they were thinking, where they came from - what they survived - their childhoods, their customs, their loves, their stories. In particular, I wondered about Enrique's wife, Amparo.

Engrossing First Novel

Corner of the Dead is an engrossing read. Artfully constructed and referencing the Latin American literature in its poetic language, the novel brings the reader face to face with the inhumanity faced by Chilean Andean villages during the time of the Shining Path. With remarkable clarity the narrative voice captures the shaking terror of both the witnessing and later, in New York, in the remembering. The evocative symbolism in the book stikes with spare and direct emotive blows. Corner of the Dead is a haunting triumph of a novel, I recommend it.

An Amazing Book

Lurie's writing is moving and heartfelt. Her story is one of survival - one woman's struggle to process life, death and love. Her writing on the disturbing subject of the disregard for human life encourages you to think about why people do what they do. It's a book that stays with you even when you have finished it. A must read!