Popular South American Memoir Books
Find memoir books written by authors from South America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (15)
1.
Black Teacher by Beryl Gilroy, Bernardine Evaristo EN
Country: South America / 
Guyana
Guyana
Description:
The rediscovered classic: an unforgettable memoir by a trailblazing black woman in post-war London, introduced by Bernardine Evaristo ('I dare anyone to read it and not come away shocked, moved and entertained ... One of the unsung heroines of Black British literature.')
2.
Child of the Dark : The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus by Carolina Maria de Jesus EN
Country: South America / 
Brazil
Brazil
Description:
An uneducated Black woman exposes the squalid living conditions and savage human relationships that she experienced in a Brazilian slum.
3.
Deep Down Dark : The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar EN
Country: South America / 
Chile
Chile
Description:
Deep Down Dark is the novel that inspired the film The 33 starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Cote de Pablo and Antonio Banderas. When the San José mine collapsed outside of Copiapó, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. After the disaster, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Héctor Tobar received exclusive access to the miners and their tales, and in Deep Down Dark, he brings them to haunting, visceral life. We learn what it was like to be imprisoned inside a mountain, understand the horror of being slowly consu... continue
4.
Dislocations by Sylvia Molloy EN
Country: South America / 
Argentina
Argentina
Description:
How do you keep a friendship intact, when Alzheimer's has stolen the common ground of language, memory, and experience, that unites you? In brief, sharply drawn moments, Sylvia Molloy’s Dislocations records the gradual loss of a beloved friend, M.L., a disappearance in ways expected (forgotten names, forgotten moments) and painfully surprising (the reversion to a formal, proper Spanish from their previous shared vernacular). There are occasions of wonder, too—M.L. can no longer find the words to say she is dizzy, but can translate that message from Spanish to English, when it's passed along by... continue
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6.
In The Shadow of the Mountain by Silvia Vasquez-Lavado EN
Country: South America / 
Peru
Peru
Description:
WINNER OF THE 2023 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is a warrior. I'm in awe of her strength and courage' - Selena Gomez 'An incredibly powerful story' Sunday Independent 'In the Shadow of the Mountain has all the elements a great memoir requires - a strong voice, cinematic prose, a hero to root for - in essence, an extraordinary story about an extraordinary woman's life' - San Francisco Chronicle 'Silvia Vasquez-Lavado is a woman possessed of uncommon strength, rare compassion, and a ferocious stubbornness to not allow the trauma of her childhood to destroy her l... continue
7.
Magical Realism for Non-Believers : A Memoir of Finding Family by Anika Fajardo EN
Country: South America / 
Colombia
Colombia
Description:
"Magical Realism for Non-Believers is set against the backdrops of Colombia and the United States (particularly Minneapolis) of the mid-1990s, and flashes back to the unsettled freedoms of the 1970s. It's the story of a half-Colombian, half-Minnesotan exploring her past and discovering her future, taking readers on a journey from the US to Fajardo's birthplace in Colombia and the discovery of a half-brother she never knew existed, to the creation of her own family in Minneapolis"--
8.
My Invented Country : A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile by Isabel Allende EN
Country: South America / Peru
Peru
Description:
The author explores the landscapes and people of her native country; recounts the 1973 assassination of her uncle, which caused her to go into exile; and shares her experiences as an immigrant in post-September 11 America.
9.
Nine Moons by Gabriela Wiener EN
Country: South America / Peru
Peru
Description:
From the daring Peruvian essayist and provocateur behind Sexographies comes a fierce and funny exploration of sex, pregnancy, and motherhood that delves headlong into our fraught fascination with human reproduction. Women play all the time with the great power that's been conferred upon us: it's fun to think about reproducing. Or not reproducing. Or walking around in a sweet little dress with a round belly underneath that will turn into a baby to cuddle and spoil. When you're fifteen, the idea is fascinating, it attracts you like a piece of chocolate cake. When you're thirty, the possibility a... continue
10.
Oblivion : A Memoir by Héctor Abad EN
Country: South America / Colombia
Colombia
Description:
Now the basis for the acclaimed film Memories of My Father, directed by Fernando Trueba. "An irreplaceable testimony of the struggle for democracy and tolerance in Latin America." —El País Héctor Abad's Oblivion is a heartbreaking, exquisitely written memorial to the author's father, Héctor Abad Gómez, whose criticism of the Colombian regime led to his murder by paramilitaries in 1987. Twenty years in the writing, it paints an unforgettable picture of a man who followed his conscience and paid for it with his life during one of the darkest periods in Latin America's recent history.