“Paradise Travel: A Novel” by Jorge Franco. FSG; First Edition, 2006​​

“Paradise Travel: A Novel” by Jorge Franco • Hardcover • Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition, 2006 • 228 Pages ——————— From one of Colombia’s leading novelists, a tragicomic story of unrequited love and a view of New York through the wide eyes of an illegal immigrant. Paradise Travel recounts the adventures of Marlon Cruz, a naïve young man from Medellín, Colombia, who agrees to accompany the beautiful, ambitious woman he loves to New York. On their first night in Queens, Marlon and Reina lose each other, thus initiating Marlon’s descent into the underbelly of our country. A leader of the gritty-realist movement known as McOndo, Jorge Franco evokes the follies and pains of unrequited love at the same time that he explores deeper inequalities between North and South America. Moving between lower-middle-class Colombia and immigrant New York, Paradise Travel is an exciting work from a rising star, celebrated by Gabriel García Márquez as “one of those to whom I should like to pass the torch” of Colombian fiction. ——————————— REVIEW “Latin America’s McOndo literary movement drags the butterflies of magical realism into Burger King. With Jorge Franco’s narco-saga Rosario Tijeras, it may have found its first masterpiece.” —Rachel Aviv, Salon ———————————————————— About the Author Jorge Franco was born in Medellín, Colombia. His books include Rosario Tijeras, Moldito Amor, and Mala Noche.