Nueva Novela Prize 2007 held by Página 12
Award Otras voces, otros Ámbitos, 2010

With a foreword by Mariana Enríquez

A coming-of-age story set in a confusing atmosphere during the forties in the city of La Plata. It is the story of four women from an impoverished, dysfunctional family in La Plata, Argentina, who are forced to suffer through a series of ordeals, including illegal abortions, miscarriages, sexual abuse, disfigurement, and murder, narrated by a daughter whose success as a painter offers her a chance to achieve economic independence and help her family as best as she can.

Neighbourhood mythologies, family, female sexuality, vengeance, and social mobility through art are explored and scrutinized in the unmistakable voice of Yuna—who stares wildly at the world in which she is compelled to live—a voice unique in contemporary literature whose unconventional style can be candid, brutal, sharp, and utterly breathtaking.

Halfway between a delirious autobiography and the rather shameless exercise of intimate ethnography, Cousins is a unique novel of disconcerting originality, a piece of literature taken to the extreme. It corners the reader by calling into question all those things that books usually ignore or hide carefully, in silence.

A novel of extreme, sick, obsessive, abused women. To laugh out loud at provocations and unusual decisions. And at the same time: bodies to the limit, writing in spurts like blood… Mariana Enríquez

A novel written with sick genius. Enrique Vila-Matas, El País

Brave, unprecedented and memorable novel… El Periódico de Cataluña

There is no political correctness here, no submission to punctuation; there is flight, there is humor, there is a style. Carolina Esses, La Nación

Intriguing. (…) I haven’t read such a strange book in ages. NCRV Gids, Netherlands

A harrowing yet loving novel full of humor and street wisdom. ZIN, Netherlands

Cruel and strange and colorful—Cousins will be an immediate favorite for fans of Fleur Jaeggy and Leonora Carrington. Catherine Lacey

Sordid and morbidly funny. Publishers Weekly

Brimming with life, humor, and a vital twist of darkness. Alexandra Kleeman

Extraordinary… Readers will find [Yuna’s] unique voice—brought to life by the inimitable, ageless Venturini—unforgettable. Elaine Elinson, Ms. Magazine

More works of Aurora Venturini