Lima Nights: Reviews
“Tightly written, page-turning prose. . . . Marie Arana is masterful in telling this unsentimental story of obsession.” —San Antonio Express-News
“Compelling. It’s an age-old story, but in Arana’s skillful, perceptive telling, her characters propel themselves toward a climax both unpredictable and inevitable.” —The Washington Post
“Lustrous, supple and mesmerizing . . . as sinuous, precise and incendiary as a tango . . . Arana infuses this vivid novel with magic and spirit.” —Los Angeles Times
“Wonderful, spare and powerful—the characters, the psychology, the description of Lima are vivid and completely absorbing.” —O: The Oprah Magazine
“Lima Nights has a deliberate simplicity and lucidity that allows the reader to peer far beneath the surface of Peruvian culture…The final outcome is a true, cinematic cliff-hanger that seems both poignant and right. We are kept in suspense until the last word.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“An erotic, catastrophic love story that grows more mysterious by the page, Arana’s novel of taboo passion, tragic misperception, and life’s hidden dimensions is as shattering as it is seductive.” —Booklist
“A quite grown-up story of love across class and ethnic lines in South America, where such things do not go unnoticed.… Brooding and elegant.” —Kirkus Reviews
“An unflinching look at a troubled relationship.…Highly recommended.” —Library Journal
“Soars with poetic imagery, evocative description and moving characterization.” —Rocky Mountain Journal
“Set in Peru’s capital city, this spare, unsentimental novel examines the far-reaching and life-changing consequences of sexual obsession.” —Publishers Weekly
“In some respects, Lima Nights is an age-old story about the usual doomed love affair. In others, the tale is not so typical: as Arana delves deep inside her characters to explore Peru’s class, social, and generational tensions, an unpredictable story unfolds. . . . Arana deftly limns the relationship between Carlos and Maria and the changes and power struggles that emerge over time. . . . Overall, Lima Nights is a beautiful, mournful novel about the deceptions of love.” —Bookmarks
“Arana follows the panoramic Cellophane (2006) with a concentrated tale of love, prejudice, and terror. Lima is in the grip of the Shining Path nightmare in 1986, when Carlos and Maria meet in a dance club. A teenage beauty working two jobs to support her ailing mother and brothers, Maria lures Carlos, of German descent and middle-class complacency, onto the dance floor for a tango lesson, the first session in an ultimately harrowing course in suffering. . . . Writing with intensity and precision, Arana forges an unrelenting drama. An erotic, catastrophic love story that grows more mysterious by the page, Arana’s novel of taboo passion, tragic misperception, and life’s hidden dimensions is as shattering as it is seductive.” —Booklist (Starred Review)
“A story about fear of intimacy. What I took away from this well told tale was a sense of sadness—that attraction is not enough, obligation is not enough, even money is not enough. It was intriguing, honest, unsentimental, and well written. It is a refreshing change from a lot of what is being published and touted today (Happy ending Chick-lit, Boy-lit, Men’s fiction, & Women’s fiction). There are no heroes, no villains, no anti-heroes, or anti-villains, just an honest, reality based story of two people—their beginning and their end. Five stars.” —Amazon.com
