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A Novel
by Sabina Berman
A transporting and brilliant novel narrated by an unforgettable woman: Karen Nieto, an autistic savant whose idiosyncrasies prove her greatest gifts
As intimate as it is profound, and as clear-eyed as it is warmhearted, Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World marks an extraordinary debut by the award-winning Mexican playwright, journalist, and poet Sabina Berman.
Karen Nieto passed her earliest years as a feral child, left alone to wander the vast beach property near her family's failing tuna cannery. But when her aunt Isabelle comes to Mexico to take over the family business, she discovers a real girl amidst the squalor. So begins a miraculous journey for autistic savant Karen, who finds freedom not only in the love and patient instruction of her aunt but eventually at the bottom of the ocean swimming among the creatures of the sea. Despite how far she's come, Karen remains defined by the things she can't do - until her gifts with animals are finally put to good use at the family's fishery. Her plan is brilliant: Consolation Tuna will be the first humane tuna fishery on the planet. Greenpeace approves, fame and fortune follow, and Karen is swept on a global journey that explores how we live, what we eat, and how our lives can defy even our own wildest expectations.
"[An] entrancing debut...The unique voice - lyrical and questioning, is powerful enough to carry the story, but the conservation plot line adds an extra boost." - Publishers Weekly
"Berman is one of the most celebrated modern writers in the Spanish language... [her] use of the first-person narrative effectively entangles the reader.... Both humorous and touching, this novel ultimately questions whether words are things in or about the world." – Library Journal
"A brilliant revelation of a story..." – Rolling Stone (Mexico)
"A novel of extraordinary sensitivity...it will move you more than you can imagine." – El Mundo (Spain)
"Gifted Mexican playwright and novelist Sabina Berman's Me, Who Dove Into the Heart of the World has won my heart, and will yours....Karen Nieto, who progresses from inarticulate niece, to tuna boathand, scuba diver, college savant, marine ecologist, business tycoon, world traveler – and, yes, even total failure – offers her readers an unforgettable glimpse of the delights, the comedy and the heartbreak each of us ultimately experiences as we dive into the heart of the tenuous, ever-changing world." – Laura Esquivel, author of Like Water for Chocolate
This information about Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sabina Berman is a four-time winner of the Mexican National Theatre Prize for her plays; she also writes filmscripts, poetry, prose, and journalism, and has published several novellas. Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World, which will be published in twenty-five territories, is her first novel. She lives in Mexico.
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