Wistful, understated ... Whether these dense stories are set in Cuba, Colombia or the United States, all the characters have astonishingly complex relationships to places they’ve never seen or haven’t been to in many years ... The richest, most heartbreaking stories come at the end of the collection ... A collection about the Latin American diaspora, but it’s also one that proves how Engel, like one of her characters, is capable of noticing that between any two people 'a look reveals more than a fingerprint.'
What makes Engel’s story collection so rich and compelling is that the Colombian American author places her tales in the context of universal themes: the compromises we make for love, the lies we tell ourselves and others, betrayal, paranoia, grief, joy, acceptance ... Engel... knows how to draw in readers fast — and keep them.
Stellar ... luminous [and] assured ... Engel places her own faith in the story behind each story; what shimmers off the page is as vital as the pieces themselves. She gracefully weaves the quiet despair of individual lives with the fury of social upheaval. With its dreamy, ephemeral title, The Faraway World hints at what lies beyond our grasp; and yet it grounds our fates in our own hands.
Strong ... Engel writes with empathy and care, deeply exploring the inner world of her characters, and despite using first-person perspective, she keeps the stories from being melodramatic by having them told in retrospect. The result is a peek into rich, fully realized characters and their lives ... Engel’s character-focused short stories are thought-provoking and intense; readers of literary fiction will enjoy this masterfully written collection.
Engel's gift for dialogue makes the stories a pleasure to read despite their often grim situations ... Engel's multinational update of dirty realism is full of ironic flair, imagination, and empathy.
