Description
Set during a sultry summer at the magnificent Chilean estate of the Ventura family, this novel begins as a sprawling holiday of games among thirty-three cousins—only for play to curdle into something darker. As the adults leave the grounds, the children’s rivalries escalate into a surreal, escalating power struggle that exposes how quickly order can collapse into cruelty. Blending dark humor with Donoso’s distinctive, dreamlike intensity, the book probes themes of authority, inheritance, class performance, and the fragile boundary between civilization and primal instinct. With its unsettling atmosphere and incisive social vision, it stands as a landmark work of Latin American fiction, where the country house becomes a stage for the nightmares we inherit.
Available Editions
paperback
Vintage Books
Published Jan 1, 1984
352 pages
ISBN: 9780394736570
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Details
First Published
1978
Language
spa
Translation
From: spa
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for A House in the Country by José Donoso.