In this provocative darkly funny and unique novel--a mix of Lord of the Flies and The Royal Tenenbaums--a dictators former right-hand man becomes housebound and a family power struggle erupts. Growing up on a Cuba-esque Caribbean island Casandra Calia and Caleb endure life under two tyrannies: that of their parents and the Islands authoritarian dictator Pop-Pop Mustache. Papa was the dictators former right-hand man. Now hes a political pariah and an ugly parody of a tyrant treating his home as a nation which he rules with an iron fist. As for Mom his wife and hateful second in command she rules from the mind. Obsessed with armchair psychoanalysis she spends her days reading self-help books and seeks to diagnose the kids and perhaps even herself. But within these walls a rebellion is fomenting. Casandra a cynical self-important teenager with the most unlikely of attractions recruits Caleb meek yet gifted with a deadly touch to join her in an insurrection against their fathers arbitrary totalitarianism. Meanwhile Calia the silent youngest sibling who just wants to be left alone to draw animals may be in league with the flies--whose swarm in and around the house grows larger as Papas violence increases. Equal parts Greek tragedy and horror with a touch of J.D. Salinger and Luis Bunuel The Tyranny of Flies is a biting and wholly original subversive masterpiece that examines the inherent violence of authority and the frightening and indelible links between patriarchy military and family. Translated from the Spanish by Kevin Gerry Dunn
