{"product_id":"pretend-youre-dead-and-i-carry-you","title":"Pretend You're Dead and I Carry You","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelgado Lopera dives into Colombia's taboo queer culture in this scintillating narrative of a man torn between belonging and self-expression . . . The author's turns of phrase are striking and indelible, and the characters are deeply and lovingly portrayed . . . It's exquisite.--Publishers Weekly, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelgado Lopera is a writer whose sentences make your heart race, and \n\u003cem\u003ePretend You're Dead and I Carry You\u003c\/em\u003e, with its unmasking of lies, makings of new truths, insights into the human heart, is generous, imaginative, revelatory, enraging, and loving. Read it and let the lightning of its prose bring you alive again.--Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less and Less Is Lost\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA colorful, dazzling new novel from the award-winning author of \n\u003cem\u003eFiebre Tropical\u003c\/em\u003e. This book takes place in Colombia's underground queer scene and tackles self-loathing with equal measure of earnestness and irreverence.--Queerty, \"Our Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of 2026\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA perfectly calibrated novel that captures the gritty contours of masculinity and homophobia in Colombia through lush, lyric, and irresistible prose. . . . We are braver and freer because of the novel Julián Delgado Lopera has written.--Ruben Reyes Jr., author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven and Archive of Unknown Universes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA majestic and otherworldly novel of first love, longing for family and escape, and the struggle to release the ghosts we carry. . . . This novel is a torrential downpour that will leave you trembling toward your own freedom.--Santiago Jose Sanchez, author of Hombrecito\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEvery once in a while you come across a book so bursting with life that the pages seem to be sprouting, delivered in a never-heard-before idiom that must have been invented just to transmit so much aliveness. \n\u003cem\u003ePretend You're Dead and I Carry You\u003c\/em\u003e is that book and Julián Delgado Lopera is one of the most exciting writers in all the Americas.--Torrey Peters, author of Stag Dance and Detransition, Baby\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA thrilling ride, not only through the farmlands and cities of Colombia, but through time's imperfect vessel, life. . . . Julián Delgado Lopera has gifts to spare, and this classic novel is a present for us all.--Alejandro Varela, author of Middle Spoon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSet in 1990s Bogotá, readers follow father and daughter Ignacio and Valentina as they traverse grief, depression, gender, and the yearning to self-actualize amid a civil war. Their tales intertwine, transporting the reader between decades and memories, all through Spanglish prose . . . Ultimately, the novel is about what happens when someone rejects their queer destiny -- and more importantly, what happens to descendants who are left to grapple with intergenerational suppression.--Quispe López \"them\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cem\u003ePretend You're Dead and I Carry You\u003c\/em\u003e has it all: sequins and pelucas, secrets and sorrow. Julián Delgado Lopera's novel burns with the fever of Bogotá's queer underground while laying bare the ache of fractured families. . . . This is a work as innovative in voice as it is fearless in heart.--Alex Espinoza, author of The Sons of El Rey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA linguistic marvel of collective consciousness.--Sarah Schulman, author of The Cosmopolitans\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eIt is a known fact that the queens who refuse their destiny are haunted. Rejection turns itself inward, a bullet to the heart of said queen, and unleashes, per Travesti Lore, a river of curses.\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Cloistered in a dreary Bogotá apartment, Ignacio's light has dimmed, leaving his teenage daughter, Valentina, to raise herself in the wake of her mother Alma's death. Lonely and love-starved, Valentina aches to discover the details of her mother's drowning, and for her father to snap out of his depression. But Ignacio can't. He spends listless afternoons smoking cigarettes in long blonde wigs, telenovelas humming in the background, haunted not only by matrimonial guilt, but by memories of a young man he once loved and betrayed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e From Ignacio's tragic past emerges the luminous queen of Bogotá's queer underground, Mamadora Eléctrica, the wise travesti who he first met under the silvery lights of Club Aquario when he was just a shy country boy. With Alma gone, Mamadora steps in as a mother figure to Valentina the way she once did for the girl's father. But as an expert in Travesti Lore, she fears the worst: that Ignacio's self-destruction may have unleashed a curse on them all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e From \"a writer who is grinding their own colors\" (Dwight Garner, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e), \u003cem\u003ePretend You're Dead and I Carry You\u003c\/em\u003e is a profound and richly imagined story about coming undone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/30\/2026 (EAN 9781324097204, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 (EAN 9781324097204, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/span\u003e 12\/30\/0001 (EAN 9781324097204, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 (EAN 9781324097204, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eDelgado Lopera, Julián\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eJulián Delgado Lopera\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of \n\u003cem\u003eFiebre Tropical\u003c\/em\u003e, winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and finalist for the Kirkus Prize and Aspen Literary Prize, among other honors. Born and raised in Colombia, Julián teaches Creative Writing at CUNY. He lives in Brooklyn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Liveright Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496120713494,"sku":"9781324097204","price":38.39,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9781324097204.jpg?v=1783053489","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/pretend-youre-dead-and-i-carry-you","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}