Four recent graduates – Munir, G, Ernesto, and Álex – escape Madrid's urban sprawl, dreaming of a liberating grape harvest in the south of France. But their aspirations sour into a chilling reality. Instead, they find themselves trapped on an industrial chicken farm, living a bleak existence on a dusty campsite, where a pervasive sense of menace slowly takes hold.
What begins as a misguided adventure quickly transforms into a gripping dystopian eco-thriller. Munir Hachemi, in his compelling novel Living Things, masterfully weaves a potent examination of precarious employment, the dark underbelly of capitalism, the complexities of immigration, and the ethical implications of the mass production of living things. These urgent themes are intricately layered with the protagonist's profound reflections on literature and the very nature of storytelling.
Skillfully translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches, Living Things is a punk-like blend of Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives and Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream, heralding an exhilarating new voice in international fiction. Dive into a world where freedom is scarce, and the line between humanity and commodity blurs.
‘Living Things turns out to be both highbrow and hair-raising (and exceptionally well translated by Julia Sanches). In only 120 pages it succeeds in several separate ways: as an eco-thriller exposing the horrors of industrialized meat production and agrochemicals; as a treatise on rendering truth in fiction; and, not least, as a “lads on tour” caper.’ Miranda France, Times Literary Supplement
‘[An] impetuous, upstart spirit infuses this short and spunky tale about young, would-be literary men who hit the road in search of adventure but find bleakness and exploitation…. Hachemi’s is the sort of writing that compulsively interrogates itself as writing, in which literary theorizing runs alongside the storytelling…. Hachemi’s documentary-style accounts of low-paid factory labor compellingly take us where most fiction writers would rather not go.’ Rob Doyle, New York Times
Physical Info: 4.92 x 0.39 x 7.76 inches | 120 Pages | Paperback