Where the Air Is Clear

Carlos Fuentes · 1928–2012 · Mexico

Originally La región más transparente (Spanish) · translated by Sam Hileman

Why it matters

A panoramic cross-section of Mexico City, aristocrats, revolutionaries-turned-financiers, servants, and the mysterious Ixca Cienfuegos binding them, tracks how the Revolution's promises curdled into a new elite. Fuentes's sprawling debut announced Mexico's new novel.

At a glance

A vast ensemble cast and fractured, multi-voiced structure resist any single throughline.