Ep 82: Yuri Herrera, Signs Preceding the End of the World

This week is a Tom pick, by a writer who is Mexico's greatest novelist, if the blurb on the front cover is true. The novel--Herrera's only, so far, to be translated into English--follows a young woman named Makina as she crosses the border into the United States in search of her brother. We talk about the book's attempt to thread the needle between realism and fabulism, as well as one of its translator's more difficult decisions.

In the second half of the show, we've got a long-awaited update on Cousin Joey, as well as a new segment called Cargo Sweatpants Watch, in which Mike tries to triangulate what it means, culturally, that Tom owns a pair of cargo sweatpants.

You can check out Herrera's book from Powell's, by clicking this link.

And as always, you can learn more about the show, and see links to some of the stuff we talked about this week, by visiting us at our website, bookfightpod.com.