Archive of Unknown Universes
by Ruben Reyes Jr
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From the critically acclaimed author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, a piercing debut novel following two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war--a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love.
"Beautiful." --LA Times, A Must-Read Book for Summer
"Luminous." --People, A Best Book of July
Cambridge, 2018. Ana and Luis's relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, and against her best judgement, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is.
Havana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.
Ruben Reyes Jr.'s debut novel is an epic, genre-bending journey through inverted worlds--one where war ends with a peace treaty, and one where it ends with a decisive victory by the Salvadoran government. What unfolds is a stunning story of displacement and belonging, of loss and love. It's both a daring imagining of what might have been and a powerful reckoning of our past.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9780063336315
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Authors
- Ruben Reyes Jr
- Publisher
- Mariner Books
- Published Date
- July 1, 2025
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 288
- Physical Info
- 1.06 in H x 9.17 in L x 6.37 in W (0.89 lb)
This was an interesting idea for a book, and a decent debut novel. I always find the idea of alternate universes or realities to be interesting, so that’s what drew me in. I would’ve enjoyed seeing more done with that concept. In the end it was a fast, fairly interesting read. Not bad, but not one that I’d recommend to everyone.
Using a Defractor, the characters can see the answers to their questions about life, textually or visually. This is an interesting concept but trying to keep the alternate realities separate is confusing. In one reality, Ana and Luis are college students, in a relationship and she’s researching in El Salvador’s. Yet in another, Ana and Domingo are together and she’s doing research. Domingo and Luis are cousins. In one reality, Domingo’s father, Neto, is alive and in another he’s not. There are also two main timelines in this book, back in the late 70’s and in 2018. Sometimes within a chapter, not only do you change to a different character’s story but you change into an alternate reality. Overall, this story follows Ana and Luis as they break up and Neto and Rafael and the love that they shared.Maybe if there was a change of font to delineate the different realities, or if there were different chapters listing who’s reality it was, it might not have been so hard to keep track of.
In this novel, a machine exists called the Defractor, which allows the user to see alternate universes based on questions that the user asks. Ana and Luis have traveled to Cuba so that Ana can continue her research into the El Salvador revolution of the 1980s. Part of Ana’s research involves using the Defractor to find out more about the people involved in the revolution, and also discover possible universes where the people she is researching survived.This book is beautifully written and is easy enough to read even though it deals with tough subject matter. My biggest problem with this novel is that I found myself not really caring about the romantic story lines of Ana and Luis, or Neto and Rafael. I really would have appreciated more time being spent on El Salvador in the 1980s and the history of that time. Additionally, though alternate universes are explored, only one is really focused on and, from the title, I was hoping it would have been multiple.If you are looking for a story that really centers on loving the right person at the wrong time, and how love and breakups can affect a persons life, with El Salvador in the 1980s and present day as the back drop, this book might be for you.
It took a little while to get into this book and then I was hooked. Life has a bunch of points of divergence. This book takes us there and shows us the things we have in common despite it all.
I enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about the Salvadoran Civil War, and the concept of a Defractor (which allows people to view alternate life paths) was fascinating. The varying timelines, alternate lives, and multiple characters got a little confusing, but I figured it out eventually.The love story between Rafael and Neto was quite powerful, although the amount of time we got to see them together was extremely limited. The love story between Ana and Luis was very sweet too, just a little muddier, and again, kind of confusing.A solid (but not amazing) debut novel.
