Awards

• Commended for Kirkus Prize (Fiction) 2015
• Commended for L.A. Times Book Prize (Fiction) 2015
• Commended for National Book Critics Circle Award (Fiction) 2015

Overview

Luiselli was a 5 Under 35 recipient for Faces, a finalist for Three Percent's 2014 World Cup of Literature, and is one of the featured authors at this year's London Book Fair Reforma, Mexico's biggest newspaper, named The Story of My Teeth one of 2014's best books There is already a great deal of bookseller interest and galley requests—she's beloved by tastemakers and was named Brazos Bookstore's staff favorite in 2014. Faces and Sidewalks both appeared on numerous best of lists and received glowing reviews, laying the groundwork for Teeth, which won't have to be discovered—she's now a known commodity. Teeth is funnier and more whimsical than her previous work, almost a romp. It's concern with literary influence, as well as the value of art, is always buoyed by its playfulness and delight (Highway's uncles include Euripides Lopez Sanchez, Juan Sanchez Baudrillard, and Miguel Sanchez Foucault). The novel was written serially and in collaboration with workers at a Jumex juice factory, giving it a terrific back story and lots of talking points.

Full Product Details

9781566894098

Table of Contents

Reviews

[The Story of My Teeth] is brilliant, and has a great story; it began as a commissioned work written in collaboration with workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexcio. -- Publisher's Weekly The Story of My Teeth is a testament to eccentricity, to the willed inclusion of a discourse that Highway considers to be 'infinite' in its permutation sand illuminated in the resplendence of its references. If eccentricity is deviation from a known curve, then Luiselli has created an exceptional 'novel-essay' that irradiates beyond the orthodoxies of literary genre. -- Frieze The Story of My Teeth is an elegant, witty romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli's own literary influences. -- Shelf Awareness

One of the most unforgettable images in any book this year is that of Gustavo Highway Sanchez Sanchez, the protagonist of Luiselli s delightfully unclassifiable novel, walking around the streets of Mexico City, smiling at people with the teeth of Marilyn Monroe installed in his mouth . . . surprising and charming . . . It s difficult not to follow wherever it takes you. Publishers Weekly, *starred and boxed review* [The Story of My Teeth] is brilliant, and has a great story; it began as a commissioned work written in collaboration with workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexcio. Publishers Weekly This kind of writingdirect and gentle, affectionate and satirical, precise and imaginative, memorable and efficientappears throughout, and the character of Gustavo is brought to life with exquisite imaginative power and beautifully judged tics and cadences. . . . It is a sad, beautiful and brilliant book. It will endure. The National (UK) As Mexico takes centre stage at London's Book Fair Matthew Sweet talks to two of the country's award-winning writers. Valeria Luiselli's new novel The Story of My Teeth explores the meaning of home through the antics of an auctioneer, told in his own hyperbolic fashion, who has decided views on the meaning of value and worth in life and art. BBC The Story of My Teeth has a Joycean playfulness with words, events, structure, literary theory, languages (not always translated), and human nature. Midwest Book Review The Story of My Teeth is a testament to eccentricity, to the willed inclusion of a discourse that Highway considers to be 'infinite' in its permutation sand illuminated in the resplendence of its references. If eccentricity is deviation from a known curve, then Luiselli has created an exceptional 'novel-essay' that irradiates beyond the orthodoxies of literary genre. Frieze The Story of My Teeth is an elegant, witty romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli's own literary influences. Shelf Awareness It s easy to see why Valeria Luiselli was chosen by the National Book Foundation as one of the 5 Under 35 Honorees. Within just a few paragraphs of her new novel, The Story of My Teeth, you ll be completely drawn into the weird and wonderful world of Gustavo Highway Sanchez Sanchez. This captivating story is filled with memorable characters and situations, but what is even more intriguing is the background story of how this work was written in collaboration with workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexico City. Shawn Donley, Powell's Books I am so very excited about this book. Luiselli s Faces in the Crowd was one of my favorites last year. Legend has it, Luiselli wrote The Story of My Teeth with help from workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexico. BookRiot [Luiselli writes: ] Something in me resists the ground. It is precisely this resistance which means Luiselli s work remains airborne, impossible to categorise and ultimately so refreshing. Lit Hub [Luiselli's] new novel deals playfully with the literary past, reframing famous writers as the relatives of our narrator (Gustavo Sanchez Sanchez, or Highway as he is known) giving them strange new resonances. Lit Hub There's big buzz from booksellers around a small press hit, translated from the Spanish, The Story of My Teeth (Coffee House, Sept.) by Valeria Luiselli. Jeremy Garber, events coordinator, Powell's in Portland, Ore., casts a vote for The Story of My Teeth. It's dazzling, it's tremendous. Publishers Weekly Valeria Luiselli s second novel The Story of My Teeth is a fiercely intelligent, inventive and hilarious exploration of worth, value and creation in the worlds of art and literature. Bookanista (UK) A lively, loopy experimental novel rich with musings on language, art, and, yes, teeth. . .the whole book is a kind of extended commentary on how possessions acquire value largely through the stories we tell about them. . . A clever philosophical novel that, as the author puts it, has less to do with lying than surpassing the truth. Kirkus Starred Review Set in Mexico City, [The Story of My Teeth] was written in collaboration with Jumex Factory Staff which is a story in and of itself. The Millions The Story of My Teeth . . . is a work of art meant to be viewed front and back, up and down, backward and forward. It should be the level of translation that the future looks forward to, it is truly a rare treat. Heavy Feather

One of the most unforgettable images in any book this year is that of Gustavo Highway Sanchez Sanchez, the protagonist of Luiselli's delightfully unclassifiable novel, walking around the streets of Mexico City, smiling at people with the teeth of Marilyn Monroe installed in his mouth . . . surprising and charming . . . It's difficult not to follow wherever it takes you. -- Publishers Weekly, *starred and boxed review* [The Story of My Teeth] is brilliant, and has a great story; it began as a commissioned work written in collaboration with workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexcio. -- Publishers Weekly This kind of writing--direct and gentle, affectionate and satirical, precise and imaginative, memorable and efficient--appears throughout, and the character of Gustavo is brought to life with exquisite imaginative power and beautifully judged tics and cadences. . . . It is a sad, beautiful and brilliant book. It will endure. -- The National (UK) As Mexico takes centre stage at London's Book Fair Matthew Sweet talks to two of the country's award-winning writers. Valeria Luiselli's new novel The Story of My Teeth explores the meaning of home through the antics of an auctioneer, told in his own hyperbolic fashion, who has decided views on the meaning of value and worth in life and art. -- BBC The Story of My Teeth is a testament to eccentricity, to the willed inclusion of a discourse that Highway considers to be 'infinite' in its permutation sand illuminated in the resplendence of its references. If eccentricity is deviation from a known curve, then Luiselli has created an exceptional 'novel-essay' that irradiates beyond the orthodoxies of literary genre. -- Frieze The Story of My Teeth is an elegant, witty romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli's own literary influences. -- Shelf Awareness

One of the most unforgettable images in any book this year is that of Gustavo Highway Sanchez Sanchez, the protagonist of Luiselli s delightfully unclassifiable novel, walking around the streets of Mexico City, smiling at people with the teeth of Marilyn Monroe installed in his mouth . . . surprising and charming . . . It s difficult not to follow wherever it takes you. Publishers Weekly, *starred and boxed review* [The Story of My Teeth] is brilliant, and has a great story; it began as a commissioned work written in collaboration with workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexcio. Publishers Weekly Though playful and unruly, her fiction feels surprisingly warm and old-fashioned. Kirkus, cover feature This kind of writingdirect and gentle, affectionate and satirical, precise and imaginative, memorable and efficientappears throughout, and the character of Gustavo is brought to life with exquisite imaginative power and beautifully judged tics and cadences. . . . It is a sad, beautiful and brilliant book. It will endure. The National (UK) As Mexico takes centre stage at London's Book Fair Matthew Sweet talks to two of the country's award-winning writers. Valeria Luiselli's new novel The Story of My Teeth explores the meaning of home through the antics of an auctioneer, told in his own hyperbolic fashion, who has decided views on the meaning of value and worth in life and art. BBC The Story of My Teeth has a Joycean playfulness with words, events, structure, literary theory, languages (not always translated), and human nature. Midwest Book Review Training as an auctioneer, Highway hopes these and other skills will help him find the perfect set of teeth. If that sounds like an odd plot, I can only promise you that things get delightfully odder. . . Luiselli s novel arrives in the United States from tiny Coffee House Press with considerable momentum behind it. The Guardian Besides its engaging characters and plot, there s the equally compelling backstory of this book, which Luiselli wrote in collaboration with employees of Mexico s Jumex, an industrial giant that produces and distributes juice. The Guardian Prefigured by her excellent book of essays, Sidewalks, The Story of My Teeth is playful, attentive and very smart without being for a minute pretentious. It s Walter Benjamin without tearssunnier, more casual and more nimble. The New York Times Sunday Book Review This giddy, witty, idiosyncratic novel . . . is a jubilant celebration of the act of storytelling. . . Ms. Luiselli persuasively suggests that our lives would be empty vessels, hardly worth bidding on, without the stories that give them value and meaning. Wall Street Journal The Story of My Teeth is a playful, philosophical funhouse of a read that demonstrates that not only isn t experimental fiction dead, it needn t be deadly, either. NPR Although buoyant, Luiselli's work never seems flippant, perhaps because of her precise prose style . . . Linear at first glance, it soon opens out into a world of stories, like a mouth with one tooth from every artist in the world. Chicago Tribune [The Story of My Teeth is] proof that Valeria Luiselli is one of the most exciting new writers working today. Los Angeles Times In a delicately layered, wryly funny fashion, Luiselli is exploring the actual value of telling made-up stories. Huffington Post The Story of My Teeth is a great read. The writing is equal parts elegant and chatty, with a great sense of humor. The Millions Valeria Luiselli s THE STORY OF MY TEETH is the most likable book this year. Don t misunderstand: likeable doesn t mean it isn t brilliant or original or genre-defying or any of those other great things because, indeed, it is all of those things. But it s also Luiselli s inventiveness, the pure joy she takes in the act of storytelling, that makes this novel so exuberant. Brazos Bookstore The language seldom draws attention to itself, yet occasionally bursts into pyrotechnics. . . Highway emerges as an unexpectedly persuasive character, one who lingers in the reader s imagination. Necessary Fiction The Story of My Teeth is an intelligent and highly funny experiment of a novel. . . . With its manifold textures, a structure reminiscent of early Michael Ondaatje, and a thoroughly entertaining, Walser-esque protagonist in Highway Sanchez, The Story of My Teeth marks another leap forward in Luiselli s already stunning career. 3: AM Magazine [The Story of My Teeth is] hotly anticipated and promises to be playful, sharp, profound, and utterly unusual. Huffington Post Unlike anything in contemporary US fiction, The Story of My Teeth as the unforgettable protagonist Highway explains is composed of hyperbolics, parabolics, circulars, allegorics, and elliptics. Flavorwire The Story of My Teeth is a testament to eccentricity, to the willed inclusion of a discourse that Highway considers to be 'infinite' in its permutation sand illuminated in the resplendence of its references. If eccentricity is deviation from a known curve, then Luiselli has created an exceptional 'novel-essay' that irradiates beyond the orthodoxies of literary genre. Frieze The Story of My Teeth is an elegant, witty romp through the industrial suburbs of Mexico City and Luiselli's own literary influences. Shelf Awareness It s easy to see why Valeria Luiselli was chosen by the National Book Foundation as one of the 5 Under 35 Honorees. Within just a few paragraphs of her new novel, The Story of My Teeth, you ll be completely drawn into the weird and wonderful world of Gustavo Highway Sanchez Sanchez. This captivating story is filled with memorable characters and situations, but what is even more intriguing is the background story of how this work was written in collaboration with workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexico City. Shawn Donley, Powell's Books I am so very excited about this book. Luiselli s Faces in the Crowd was one of my favorites last year. Legend has it, Luiselli wrote The Story of My Teeth with help from workers at a Jumex juice factory in Mexico. BookRiot It s absurd and brilliant. BookRiot [Luiselli writes: ] Something in me resists the ground. It is precisely this resistance which means Luiselli s work remains airborne, impossible to categorise and ultimately so refreshing. Lit Hub [Luiselli's] new novel deals playfully with the literary past, reframing famous writers as the relatives of our narrator (Gustavo Sanchez Sanchez, or Highway as he is known) giving them strange new resonances. Lit Hub Luiselli, a darling of independent booksellers everywhere, is an exuberant writer and Sanchez is one of the singular literary creations of our time. I fucking love this book. Lit Hub With this brilliant, weird, zany second novel, Luiselli has solidified her place as one of the most interesting and imaginative minds putting words on paper today. Lit Hub Wonderful and strange, The Story of My Teeth transgresses against straightforward storytelling by witnessing and remixing to make something so fresh and new that it defies easy description. Just know that it dazzles on every page. Lit Hub Luiselli thrills with her kaleidoscopic mix of narrative styles, metafictional riffs and Borgesian fantasy, and delivers a comic dental autobiography and a shrewd meditation on the worth of art and literature. Star Tribune Quirky and charming, The Story of My Teeth is a delightful meditation on art, value, and truth. BuzzFeed There's big buzz from booksellers around a small press hit, translated from the Spanish, The Story of My Teeth (Coffee House, Sept.) by Valeria Luiselli. Jeremy Garber, events coordinator, Powell's in Portland, Ore., casts a vote for The Story of My Teeth. It's dazzling, it's tremendous. Publishers Weekly Luiselli marvelously redefines the relationship between author and audience. An absolutely unique, truly absurd must-read. Booklist Valeria Luiselli s second novel The Story of My Teeth is a fiercely intelligent, inventive and hilarious exploration of worth, value and creation in the worlds of art and literature. Bookanista (UK) The protagonist, Gustavo Highway Sanchez Sanchez is an odd but lovable auctioneer, the best in the business, whose many pastimes include collecting the teeth of bygone celebrities you shouldn t miss it. Bustle With wondrous prose, Luiselli explores the relationships we have to the objects in our lives, as well as the context of their worth. Bursting with imagination, playfulness, and good-natured invention, The Story of My Teeth is a letter to stories and the profound act of telling them. Brazos Bookstore, #BrazosBest Picks for September An intoxicating and perfectly bizarre story that intertwines fact and fiction to explore the value of art, objects, stories, and a life. . . check her out if you like Roberto Bolano, Haruki Murakami, or Salvador Plascencia! Mac s Backs-Books on Coventry A lively, loopy experimental novel rich with musings on language, art, and, yes, teeth. . .the whole book is a kind of extended commentary on how possessions acquire value largely through the stories we tell about them. . . A clever philosophical novel that, as the author puts it, has less to do with lying than surpassing the truth. Kirkus Starred Review Set in Mexico City, [The Story of My Teeth] was written in collaboration with Jumex Factory Staff which is a story in and of itself. The Millions The Story of My Teeth . . . is a work of art meant to be viewed front and back, up and down, backward and forward. It should be the level of translation that the future looks forward to, it is truly a rare treat. Heavy Feather You don t have to be a surrealist to appreciate this book. You can just marvel that what Luiselli calls a collective novel-essay about the production of value and meaning in contemporary art and literature also happens to be a genuinely delightful read. Slate At most every turn, in fact, The Story of My Teeth breaks faith with the prevailing notion of a collaborative work as a sideline and asserts itself as a fleet, allusive, often humorous novel-essay. . . The Story of My Teeth excels as a fiction because it is committed to its allegorical project without becoming high-handed, but also because it puts the reader and the author on the same level, in the space of two minds who shape a story, who translate each other in order to unite. Flavorwire [In The Story of My Teeth ] other writers are a constant presenceas both high comedy and building blocks for a new kind of literature. Electric Literature Finishing The Story of My Teeth will leave you wanting more of Luiselli s sense of humor and grace, her perfect ear for entertainment and epiphany. But more importantly, this novel will change the way you look at writing and storiesand will reveal that in the end, what is imagined is as important as anything else. BookPage Valeria Luiselli is smarter than all of us. Broadly Luiselli s charming, funny, and moving novel transcends this dental narrative, and is, at its heart, a profound commentary on the power of storytelling, both as a creative force and a way to instil value. Humorous and heartbreaking. The Quarterly Conversation Smart, whimsical and thought-provoking. Full Stop The Story of My Teeth is a discursive, jesting novel that will reward your reading by lighting up the part of the brain where thoughtfulness enjoys itself without requiring the net profit of knowledge. On the Seawall Valeria Luiselli s twisting, elegantly eccentric novel follows the story of Gustavo Highway Sanchez, an auctioneer with a simple goal: to replace all of his teeth with new ones. . . . If that s not strange enough for you, the novel has an equally unusual origin story: Luiselli wrote the novel in collaboration with workers from the Jumex juice factory. KQED All writers love to write. It wouldn't be worth it if we didn't. Very few writers, however, find a way to demonstrate that love at all and even fewer do it so overtly, so joyously, and so, well, delightfully, as Valeria Luiselli does in The Story of My Teeth. In Order of Importance

Author Information

Valeria Luiselli: Valeria Luiselli was born Mexico City and 1983 and grew up in South Africa. A novelist (Faces in the Crowd) and essayist (Sidewalks), her work has been translated into many languages and has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the New Yorker, Granta, and McSweeney's. In 2014, Faces in the Crowd was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award. Her forthcoming novel, The Story of My Teeth, will be available from Coffee House Press in fall 2015.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available