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    Out in the Open: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Out in the Open: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Out in the Open: A Novel
    Audiobook5 hours

    Out in the Open: A Novel

    Written by Jesús Carrasco

    Narrated by W. Morgan Sheppard

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "A harrowing, humane, and very beautiful book." —Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You 

    A searing dystopian vision of a young boy's flight through an unnamed, savaged country, searching for sanctuary and redemption—a debut novel from one of Europe's bestselling literary stars.
         
    A young boy has fled his home. He's pursued by dangerous forces. What lies before him is an infinite, arid plain, one he must cross in order to escape those from whom he's fleeing. One night on the road, he meets an old goatherd, a man who lives simply but righteously, and from that moment on, their paths intertwine.

    Out in the Open tells the story of this journey through a drought-stricken country ruled by violence. A world where names and dates don't matter, where morals have drained away with the water. In this landscape the boy—not yet a lost cause—has the chance to choose hope and bravery, or to live forever mired in the cycle of violence in which he was raised. Carrasco has masterfully created a high stakes world, a dystopian tale of life and death, right and wrong, terror and salvation.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 4, 2017
    ISBN9781524776923
    Unavailable
    Out in the Open: A Novel

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    Reviews for Out in the Open

    4/5

    113 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I read this in my quest to prepare for my trip to Spain by reading more Spanish authors. It was at the library, apparently quite a popular book in Spain. Hopefully this book will NOT be useful in my travels, as it's mostly about suffering. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape, a dreadful drought that has left the landscape very harsh, and for the most part the people match the landscape. The main character is a young boy. We never learn his name, he is just the boy; I think as a reminder of how dehumanizing the whole situation is. The boy is on the run from abuse and betrayal in his village. He meets an elderly goatherd. The goatherd doesn't talk much, but turns out to be the one kind person around, and he takes the boy under his wing. This takes courage, because the boy is being chased by evil characters from his village.The story seems allegorical, on the one hand, but on the other hand, the descriptions are very specific. For example, when Carrasco tells you about the boy's attempts to milk goats, you can really visualize the scene. This is a good translation I think, and I found the book compelling.
    • 5/5
      Out in the Open is a Spanish novel from 2013. It reminds me of The Road but better. To appreciate, one has to know of Spain's environmental problems with water. There are dry regions that once had villages and farms that have been abandoned to desert. This is due to water mismanagement by coastal resort cities and global warming, rivers dry up, vegetation dies. None of this is discussed in the novel, but anyone from Spain will understand the context and visuals described, not unlike an Old West movie. The setting is vaguely in the future, after the rule of law has collapsed, but with a foot in the Middle Ages. If the age had a historical parallel it might be Late Antiquity when pagan culture was dying off and the Dark Ages beginning. The writing is spare and action oriented with a sinister sense of being hunted - at some point I became so attached to the main characters it left me afraid to keep reading. Carrasco has that power, it is immersive and believable. Highly recommend.
    • 3/5
      A dense, hard story about a boy running away from home, from atrocities, from his personal demon, from stupidity and obedience, from .... his life in fact.Without spoiling too much: it's not pleasant to read, it's about abuse, violence, poverty, disease, no freedom, no future. So be prepared.In an unspecified timeframe but not recent, in an unspecified country but probably the Extremadura region in Spain, as the author has his roots there, little or no names but a very detailed very local setting which contributes again to this density, as do the hard and detailed description of interaction between the very few main characters in the novel. All these elements together must provide a universal background so that the reader can imagine this happening closeby.Internationally acclaimed as being a gem, and yes it is kind of a pageturner, but too unlikely in the end, as if the author wanted to compensate for all the misfortune in the kid's life.
    • 5/5
      In a dystopian world that is almost, but not quite, our world, a nameless boy is fleeing a horrifically abusive situation. He must cross a waterless expanse with little cover. His abuser, an evil man known as the bailiff and the bailiff’s gang which include the boy’s teacher and even the boy’s own father, cannot let him escape. The boy is well aware that most probably his journey will lead to his death, and yet he cannot stay.Unexpectedly the boy comes across an old man, a goat herder. He is one of the few people known to live and travel this empty plain. But is he friend or foe? The boy slowly learns to trust and rely on his new acquaintance. Even more slowly the boy learns confidence in himself. The old herder adheres to a moral code of right and wrong, even in this evil world. Some reviewers point out the allegorical images of the goatherder/(shepherd) and his moral teachings. If so, to me it’s an Old Testament sort of morality at times meeting violence with violence, but at the same time stopping short of revenge.It can be a tough read, but it is a page turner and is one of my favorite books of the year.