Written by: Alejandro Varela
Published by: Penguin RandomHouse 2022
Age: Adult
Region: North America/U.S
Andrés is a first generation child of immigrants from Latin America. Although the book starts in his early forties as a Public Health Professor who begrudgingly returns to his hometown when his father becomes ill, much of the story revolves around Andrés understanding of self and sexuality in his youth. The story is told half in the present and half looking backwards, the reader comes to understand Andrés through the anecdotes of his upbringing as a gay son of immigrants living in a suburban neighborhood of mostly white people at a catholic school. The book grapples with larger systemic racial and economic issues and poignantly details how such larger systemic forces have intimately impacted Andrés family and life. Varela magically weaves together the micro and the macro in this beautiful and heartbreaking coming of age story of resistance and belonging.
Additional Resources:
Author’s Website: https://alejandrovarela.work/
The Latino Book Review: Three Questions for the Author https://www.latinobookreview.com/three-questions-for-alejandro-varela-regarding-his-debut-novel-the-town-of-babylon-by-daniel-a-olivas–latino-book-review.html
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