{"id":6629,"date":"2022-04-08T08:52:33","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T13:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?post_type=book&p=6629"},"modified":"2022-05-17T09:11:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T14:11:57","slug":"the-town-of-babylon","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/book\/the-town-of-babylon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Town of Babylon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alejandro Varela \u201901<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly<\/em> praises Varela\u2019s first novel<\/a> as a \u201cdazzling debut\u201d and an \u201cincandescent bildungsroman.” Its gay Latinx protagonist, Andr\u00e9s, is a professor of public health who returns to his suburban hometown of the title after his father falls ill. With his marriage on the rocks\u2014his husband has been unfaithful\u2014Andr\u00e9s decides to attend his 20th high school reunion, leading him to reconnect with several key figures from his youth. They include his first love (a recovering addict and ex-convict, now married with children); a classmate he long suspected of being a violent homophobe who has since become an Evangelical minister; and a close female friend who has been hospitalized for schizophrenia. As Kirkus<\/em> observes, \u201cthe novel\u2019s achievement lies in its simultaneous depth and expansiveness\u2014its huge ensemble of characters, the precision with which the landscape and culture of Andr\u00e9s\u2019s hometown are rendered.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More books by Cornellian authors<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a starred review, “Publishers Weekly” praises this first novel by Alejandro Varela \u201901 as a \u201cdazzling debut\u201d and an \u201cincandescent bildungsroman.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6713,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"cornell_author":[636],"cornell_year_book":[518],"class_list":["post-6629","book","type-book","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cornell_author-alejandro-varela-01","cornell_year_book-518"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Town of Babylon - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/book\/the-town-of-babylon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Town of Babylon - Cornellians | Cornell University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a starred review, "Publishers Weekly" praises this first novel by Alejandro Varela \u201901 as a \u201cdazzling debut\u201d and an \u201cincandescent bildungsroman."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/book\/the-town-of-babylon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cornellians | Cornell University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Cornellians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-17T14:11:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/babylon-A.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WeCornellians\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/book\\\/the-town-of-babylon\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/book\\\/the-town-of-babylon\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Town of Babylon - 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