John Vaillant's first novel, “The Jaguar’s Children," changes the way a reader perceives the world, according to he New York Times Sunday Book Review. The noted nonfiction writer is among the 400-plus authors participating in the Tucson Festival of Books, March 14-15 on the University of Arizona Campus.
“The Jaguar’s Children,” begins with a text message from a young man named Héctor María de la Soledad Lázaro González, who is sealed inside a water tank among a group of illegal immigrants who have been abandoned by their coyotes.
The review, by Amanda Eyre Ward whose “The Same Sky,” a novel about families on both sides of the Mexican-American border, was published last month, says "Vaillant’s triumph is the way he invites readers to know Héctor so intimately as he waits for salvation or death.
"This is what novels can do — illuminate shadowed lives, enable us to contemplate our own depths of kindness, challenge our beliefs about fate" says the review. "It’s the hope of every writer to change the way a reader perceives the world."
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Reid the review at: nytimes.com/2015/02/15/books/review/the-jaguars-children-by-john-vaillant.html
See Vaillant at the Tucson Festival of Books:
Paradise Lost and Found
When: 1 p.m. March 14.
Where: Chemistry Room 111.
Panelists: Mark Adams, Lydia Millet, Tatjana Soli, John Vaillant.
What it's about: Authors talk about their characters' beliefs, paradoxes and the reality of their characters' situations.
Hiding in Plain Sight: Novels of Place
When: 11:30 a.m. March 15.
Where: Student Union Catalina.
Panelists: Lin Enger, Tim Johnston, John Vaillant.
What it's about: How does an author choose a place and how do those choices effect the story? Does the place itself become an independent character in the book?
Fiction: Lives on The Brink
When: 1 p.m. March 15.
Where: Integrated Learning Center Room 140.
Panelists: Samuel Gailey, John Vaillant, Désirée Zamorano.
What it's about: When the world comes crashing down around you, it's a horrible thing...but in fiction, it's great because we get to see how characters deal with it. Hear three authors whose novels explore lives that are shattered, and how they piece themselves back together.
