Travelling to North and South America in the world of books

Writer: Helena Bergström

Do you dream of the American continent – the United States, Canada or South America? Would you like to gain an insight into another culture while sitting at home on your sofa in Sweden, or are you perhaps looking for the perfect reading material for your trip to America?

Tweet

Share

Share

Pin

Share

Share

Take a trip to North and South America in the world of books! We present five works of fiction that will take you to five different countries on the American continent. Do you have any more tips on works of fiction or memoirs set in North or South America?

Bolivia: El Choco by Markus Lutteman

El choco is not a literary experience. However, it is a fascinating journey into a world that is best experienced like this, from a distance. After a failed drug smuggling operation, Jonas Andersson ends up in the notorious San Pedro prison in Bolivia. There are no locks on the cells and no guards. The violent and armed prisoners run their own lives. They run restaurants, take paper mache classes, deal drugs and decide who deserves to die, in various brutal ways.

Wives and children sometimes live in the prison, as do the servants of the rich drug lords. If you have the money, you can hire a construction company to renovate your "apartment" and maybe get a jacuzzi. In this brutal and corrupt environment, Jonas ironically starts to put his life in order: he quits drugs, gets married and becomes a father.

Colombia: Even silence has an end by Ingrid Betancourt

I Even silence has an end French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt recounts her six years in the Colombian jungle at the mercy of the FARC guerrillas. This is a story of suffering, but also of how one can develop as a human being even under very scarce conditions. One is fascinated by the young girls and boys of the guerrillas who good-naturedly accept the meagre living conditions assigned to them. These young people are prepared to work hard without complaining, to laugh and dance when the opportunity arises and sometimes to show honest and human goodwill.

But these are also young people who can repeat, often without question, mantras such as "Human rights are a bourgeois concept". FARC is a hierarchical organisation where you have to "apply" for most things and where women have a subordinate role. Often it seems that they themselves stand for the very thing they are fighting against. You are very happy that you don't have to be there for real, but being there through the book provides experiences and insights well worth the time. I was completely hooked!

Canada: Canada by Rickar Ford

I Canada Dell and his twin sister live a rootless life in the US in the 1960s, as their father works on air bases and is occasionally transferred between states. When the father loses his job, he goes into various businesses such as selling cars, property and stolen meat. This increasingly criminal business leads, improbably, to a bank robbery by both of Dell's parents.

Advertisement

When his parents are caught, the whole family is scattered to the wind and Dell ends up with a distant and very eccentric acquaintance of his mother in the Canadian countryside. The story is nicely told from 15-year-old Dell's perspective.

Cuba: Dream heart by Cecilia Samartin

Dream heart  is a moving and beautiful story from Cuba. It follows two cousins, Nora and Alicia, who grow up together in Cuba in the 1950s. They live a sheltered and privileged existence, with the black maid Beba and the Catholic nuns at school. When Castro comes to power, life is turned upside down. Nora flees with her family to the United States. Alicia and her family stay behind.

Advertisement

Throughout the years they continue to correspond, with letters from two seemingly different planets. At first, Alicia and her husband are dedicated to communism and believe in the changes, but over time, neighbours begin to betray each other and food runs out. In the end, Nora can't resist travelling back to try to help her cousin. A book that I didn't want to end!

USA: The dream by Harry Bernstein

The dream is a book I can definitely recommend! Bernstein made his writing debut at the age of 95 with the book 'The Invisible Wall'. This is his second novel in which he tells the story of how, at the age of ten, he emigrated with his poor Jewish family from England to the United States.

The new country is hit hard by the Depression and the dream of a better life remains partly a dream. Harry's angelic mother does her best to make life easier while his mean father does everything in his power to make things worse. About how important money is when you don't have it, but even more about how important love and relationships are.

More posts in this series:

• Travel to Africa in the world of books
• Travel to Asia in the world of books
• Travelling through Europe in the world of books

You might also like:

5 things in Las Vegas you just have to experience Five tips for a visit to sunny Florida Detroit - the city that takes revenge News about travelling to the 2024 Book Fair In search of the crazy USA Facts about Tunisia - 30 things you (may) not know

Advertisement