Laia Jufresa (México, 1983) creció en el bosque de la niebla de Veracruz. Formó parte de la Escuela Dinámica de Escritores de Mario Bellatin. Ha recibido las becas de la Fundación para las Letras Mexicanas y del Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. Su trabajo figura en antologías como Un nuevo modo. Antología de narrativa actual (2013) y en revistas como Letras Libres y McSweeney's. Su libro El esquinista (Fondo Editorial Tierra Adentro 2014). Recibió la mención de honor en el Premio Bellas Artes de Cuento San Luis Potosí 2012. Un poema suyo aparece en Los mejores poemas mexicanos. Edición 2006. (Esto último siempre lo hace sonreír). Estudió artes plásticas en la Sorbona y actualmente cursa un máster en libro álbum ilustrado. Vive en Madrid.
"Jufresa directly appeals to any reader who was once a 12-year-old
girl obsessed with Agatha Christie (*cough* me), but also, and
truly, this is a gorgeous book that meditates on loss and grief,
healing and redemption, and also offers an enchanting look into
life in contemporary Mexico."
--Nylon "As translated by the great Sophie Hughes, Mexican author
Laia Jufresa's debut novel UMAMI is a kalaeidoscope. In four parts,
five characters tell the story of the last four years within their
hovel of Mexico City, the Belldrop Mews. The millennium arrives and
leaves trauma in its wake: Pina's mother leaves, six-year-old Luz
drowns on a family vacation, and Dr. Vargas Vargas, famed
cardiologist, dies from pancreatic cancer.
But UMAMI is not a dystopian treatise or hipster metafiction. It is
not one of those books about a group of people who come together
and decide that life is good because they laughed at the same joke
at some picnic. The Belldrop Mews folk--though they see each other
every day, though they share their separate grief--are not a
family. They are fragments of four separate families struggling
through their own fog....
Grief, though, is neither defined by culture nor constrained by
time. Yes, Jufresa could have written Umami the 'normal' way--a
single perspective in chronological order with first person the
whole way through--instead of this backwards telescope, alternating
voices and switching perspectives between first and close third.
That version of Umami would be a dark, bitter thing, like molasses
in the coffee grounds. Instead, Jufresa and Hughes offer a version
that is complex without weight, a saffron puree. Dynamic and
delicate, UMAMI draws our attention without pretense."
-- Annalia Luna, The Rumpus "In UMAMI, Jufresa, an extremely
talented young writer, deploys multiple narrators, giving each a
chance to recount their personal histories, and the questions
they're still asking. Panoramic, affecting, and funny, these
narratives entwine to weave a unique portrait of present-day
Mexico."
--The Millions "The debut novel of Mexican-born Laia Jufresa is a
darkly humorous tale about five neighbors living in the heart of
Mexico City. Taking place during a hot rainy summer, Jufresa's
evocative portrait of contemporary Mexico lends whimsy with
poignancy. Guaranteed to challenge and move you."
--Vogue (UK) "Laia Jufresa possesses the wisdom of the oldest of
souls and the endearing spontaneity of a child. Her writing is
serious and playful in equal measure; her observations, at once
brutal and full of empathy and tenderness. Reading her is like
traveling through the minds of everyone we know, guided by a soft,
reliable voice that tells us: stop, listen, observe."
--Valeria Luiselli, author of The Story of My Teeth "Ms. Jufresa:
Where the f*#! did you learn to tell a story so well?"
--Alvaro Enrigue, award-winning author of Sudden Death "A
wonderfully surprising novel, powered by wit, exuberance and
nostalgia."
--Chloe Aridjis, author of Book of Clouds and Asunder "The best
Mexico City novels find a way to incarnate that city's crazy
protean energies, every sentence lifted from its psychic sidewalks
and rooftops, and with a dashing charisma all their own. Roberto
Bolano's Savage Detectives did this, and so does Laia Jufresa's
extraordinary, utterly enchanting and brilliant, multi-everything
UMAMI."
--Francisco Goldman, award-winning author of Say Her Name "This
book is such a gentle and sensitive deep dive into the cycles of
mourning and loss out of which families are made and unmade,
terrifying and uncanny, without ever losing sight of the daily
banalities of hearth and home and love. Cooked to perfection, ready
to serve."
--Aaron Bady, Literary Hub "Umami is that fifth taste often
described as 'meaty' though not exclusive to meat: soy sauce is
umami; so is Parmesan cheese. First described by Japanese chemist
Kikunae Ikeda in 1908, "umami" translates simply, maddeningly, as
"delicious." In Laia Jufresa's UMAMI, set in early 2000s Mexico
City, an anthropologist of pre-Hispanic diets lets a block of
flats, each named after one of the five tastes. (He, of course,
takes Umami for himself.) A novel of the apartment block's
interconnected family dramas, told from five perspectives -
anthropologist Alf, art student Marina, preteens Ana and Pina, and
five-year-old Luz - Umami is true to its whimsical premise, the
narrative a little sweet, a little salty, by turns bitter and sour.
Very umami, and very funny at times despite the tragedies that mark
each household. The setup could admittedly become tired over
250-plus pages, but Jufresa also works an innovative structure that
leaves the reader questioning until the end. A satisfying
read."
--The Globe and Mail "A thoughtful, eccentric, and heart-wrenching
interwoven story told from the perspective of neighbors living in a
mews of five houses in Mexico City... Jufresa crafts a story with
warmth and tenderness but also gives insight to the uncanny human
talent of engaging in cruel and awkward behavior. Some of the
stories told are playful and light, others are tragic. UMAMI is
quirky, insightful, and ultimately tells the stories of humans
coping with living next to one another in order to feel less
isolated and alone."
--World Literature Today "I couldn't put this book down, and when
it did end, it left me in tears. An extremely charming novel that
seamlessly toggles between a couple of years in the lives of the
people who inhabit a Mexico City tenement compound. Particularly
wonderful are the amaranth scholar who sets out to reconstruct his
beloved wife through writing after she dies of pancreatic cancer
and Luz, the five-year-old girl who drowns shortly after her
narration ends (as we learn from her sister Ana--a lovely
character, as well--in the book's opening pages). Jufresa's
disarming, unabashed tone and interest in the intersection of
languages and cultures reminded me of Chloe Aridjis' wonderful Book
of Clouds, while Sophie Hughes' translation stands alongside the
original as a dazzling feat in its own right. Hughes won the
English PEN Award for this translation, and I can certainly see
why, as the English abounds with inventive and delightful solutions
to the challenges of the Spanish. A beautiful and surprising
meditation on community, absent maternity and growth of all
kinds."
--Jennifer Croft, Founding Editor of The Buenos Aires Review and
judge for Three Percent's Best Translated Book Award "A tale of
five lives in one block in Mexico City's inner city -- in a complex
designed with human tastebuds in mind -- this sad and funny novel
has already snagged awards, and was dubbed an 'international hot
property' by Publishers Weekly when the English rights were
sold."
--Flavorwire
"Ms. Jufresa: Where the f*#! did you learn to tell a story so
well?" --Alvaro Enrigue, award-winning author of Sudden Death
"Laia Jufresa possesses the wisdom of the oldest of souls and the
endearing spontaneity of a child. Her writing is serious and
playful in equal measure; her observations, at once brutal and full
of empathy and tenderness. Reading her is like traveling through
the minds of everyone we know, guided by a soft, reliable voice
that tells us: stop, listen, observe." --Valeria Luiselli,
award-winning author of The Story of My Teeth
"A wonderfully surprising novel, powered by wit, exuberance and
nostalgia." --Chloe Aridjis, author of Book of Clouds and Asunder
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