Books by country South America
Five books by writers from Ecuador, set there, that give a real sense of the place, starting with Huasipungo (The Villagers) and Don Goyo.
Ecuador's most famous novel is Jorge Icaza's Huasipungo (1934), about Andean Indigenous peasants under the landowners of the Sierra. It belongs to the social realism of the 1930s, when the Guayaquil Group of writers turned to the lives of the poor. One member, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, set Don Goyo among the fishing people of the Guayas mangrove coast. Most Ecuadorian writing is in Spanish, and later authors moved towards magical realism, satire and horror.
Alicia Yánez Cossío's Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City tells of a provincial Andean town, its women and its church. Gabriela Alemán's Poso Wells is a satirical novel of Guayaquil's poor outskirts, political corruption and urban myth. Mónica Ojeda's Jawbone is set in a Catholic girls' school, where adolescent friendships meet online horror folklore.
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Landmark 1934 indigenista novel on Andean Indigenous peasants exploited by landowners and the state in the Sierra.
Montubio and cholo fishing people of the Guayas mangrove coast, and the encroachment of modern commerce and politics on them.
A satirical, genre-bending novel of Guayaquil's poor outskirts, political corruption and urban myth.
A magical-realist story of a provincial Andean town, its women, church and social hierarchies, and an unusual family history.
A dark coming-of-age novel set in a Catholic girls' school in Ecuador, with online horror folklore and adolescent friendships.
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