Damnificados
Damnificados by J. J. Wilson, published by PM Press in 2016, is a first edition novel comprising 274 pages in English. The story is inspired by the real-life occupation of the Tower of David in Caracas, Venezuela, where six hundred “damnificados”—vagabonds and misfits—occupy an abandoned skyscraper. They establish a community that includes schools, stores, beauty salons, and bakeries, while also forming a makeshift militia to defend themselves against corrupt police and a brutal military.
Readers will encounter a narrative rich in magical realism, featuring elements such as avenging wolves, biblical floods, and multilingual ghosts. The plot unfolds in an unnamed country at an unspecified time, where the characters’ struggles for survival and dignity are interwoven with surreal events, including arrow showers set to Beethoven’s Ninth. This imaginative world challenges the laws of nature and keeps the past ever-present, offering a unique exploration of community and resilience amidst adversity.
Official synopsis Publisher
Damnificados is loosely based on the real-life occupation of a half-completed skyscraper in Caracas, Venezuela, the Tower of David. In this fictional version, six hundred “damnificados”–vagabonds and misfits–take over an abandoned urban tower and set up a community complete with schools, stores, beauty salons, bakeries, and a rag-tag defensive militia. Their always heroic (and often hilarious) struggle for survival and dignity pits them against corrupt police, the brutal military, and the tyrannical “owners.”
Taking place in an unnamed country at an unspecified time, the novel has elements of magical realism: avenging wolves, biblical floods, massacres involving multilingual ghosts, arrow showers falling to the tune of Beethoven’s Ninth, and a trash truck acting as a Trojan horse. The ghosts and miracles woven into the narrative are part of a richly imagined world in which the laws of nature are constantly stretched and the past is always present.
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