Winner of the International Alfaguara Novel Prize

A thriller, a tragedy, a perfectly timed farce—Eliseo Alberto’s tale of a mad Cuban war veteran who plots his own extermination is all this more.

Beto Milanés, the night watchman at a graveyard in the Florida resort town of Caracol Beach, is a guilt-ridden Cuban war veteran. Tormented by memories and hallucinations, he yearns to die but is unable to take his own life. Instead, he decides to force someone—anyone—to kill him. That decision sets in motion a night of violence that draws an odd assortment of characters into Beto's orbit. In scenes that range from the jungles of Angola to a seedy Florida bar, Alberto explores war, madness, exile, and the redemptive power of love.

“Storytelling magic—powerful imagery, page-turning subplots, complicated characters who surprise.”—The Miami Herald

“Magic realism is in flower, but beneath [Caracol Beach's] extravagant exaggerations lie serious observations about human nature.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A brilliant well-structured novel that draws the reader into its world of love, dementia, and death.... A modern tragedy where madness goes hand in hand with the absurd.”—El País


Translated by Edith Grossman.

 
Eliseo Alberto was born in Arroyo Naranjo, Cuba. He is the author of three books of poems, a book for young adults that won the Cuban National Critics Prize, a novel, and a memoir, Informe contra mí mismo, for which he was awarded the Gabino Palma Prize in Spain. He has written screenplays for film and television, and has taught at the International Film School in San Antonio de los Baños in Cuba, the Center for Cinematographic Training in Mexico, and the Sundance Institute. He lives in Mexico City.