A Diary of Dislocation (Diario de una mudanza)

A Diary of Dislocation (Diario de una mudanza)

Novel
Alfaguara, 2024
256 pages

“I am soaked. Thighs, arms, chest, neck, face, scalp. I kicked away the sheets and blankets, pulled off my socks. Insomnia followed a down rush of impending catastrophes in the middle of the night”.

A woman wakes up at night. Her feet feel cold to the bone, but a short while after, an indecent heat assaults her. Migraines, mood swings, anger, disarrayed unspecified symptoms seize her daily life. Her body becomes alien to her. Encounters with men and other women are challenged by this shedding of her old skin.

A Diary of Dislocation, Inés Garland’s new book, focuses on women ensnared by imperative social mandates. The understanding of her own life, the books she reads, the people she meets, everything around her is part of that change. She is forced to face prejudice, slights, silence, shame, willful historical blindness in her search for a new meaning. The fragments of this diary trace one woman’s rereading of past events in her journey to an unexpected new life.

… a fearless literary performance. Felipe Fernández, La Nación

Garland’s talent lies in her particular way of circling around a topic. She turns that wandering into a magnetic narrative that transforms commonplace. Agustina Larrea, El Diario Ar

…a nuance reminiscent of the renowned French Marguerite Duras. Carolina Esses, La Nación

We witness a beautiful bareness, a very poetic and very important way of telling the story of the changes a woman goes through. Flavia Pitella

Garland drives the edge of words into experience, unlocking all the dimensions it holds. Verónica Boix, Revista Eñe