"A literary titan of his time, one of the most innovative novelists in contemporary Latin American letters."—The Washington Post
One Out of Two
A Novel
- “This ticklish, deceptively slim treat of a novel is suffused with the timelessness of a fable.”—Los Angeles Times
The most distinctive thing about the Gamal sisters is that they are, essentially, indistinguishable (except for a modest mole). The twin spinsters spend their time trying to mask any perceptible differences they have while working hard at their thriving tailoring business in a small town in rural northern Mexico. When? Thirty years ago? Fifty years ago? Who can say—the world seems not to intrude on Ocampo over much.
Gloria and Constitución take an almost perverse delight in confusing people about which one is which. But then a suitor enters the picture, and one of the sisters decides that she doesn’t want to live a life without romance and all the good things that come with it. The ensuing competition between the sisters brings their relationship to the breaking point until they come up with an ingenious solution that carries this buoyant farce to its tender and even liberating conclusion.
Suffused with the tension between our desire for union and our desire for independence, One Out of Two is a giddy and comic fable by one of the giants of contemporary Latin American literature.
Gloria and Constitución take an almost perverse delight in confusing people about which one is which. But then a suitor enters the picture, and one of the sisters decides that she doesn’t want to live a life without romance and all the good things that come with it. The ensuing competition between the sisters brings their relationship to the breaking point until they come up with an ingenious solution that carries this buoyant farce to its tender and even liberating conclusion.
Suffused with the tension between our desire for union and our desire for independence, One Out of Two is a giddy and comic fable by one of the giants of contemporary Latin American literature.
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About the Author
Credit: Pascual Borzelli Iglesias
Praise
- “[One Out of Two] is all the more intriguing for the way it follows a familiar template while doing something refreshingly new.”—Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
- “A poignant farce in which surreal touches are infused into seemingly everyday moments. . . . A delicious romp of a novel.”—Pasatiempo
- “[Sada’s] winding, lyrical, frequently abstract language is one of the great joys of this comical, silly and touching story. . . . A true pleasure.”—Shelf Awareness
- “Whether you have a twin, know twins, wish you were a twin, or any other sibling desire or experience, this novel will both entertain and disconcert you.”—World Literature Today
Acknowledgements
A Lannan Translation Selection
