What Goes Unsaid

From one of Mexico's most important writers, a fictionalised memoir about three men who are driven to escape the confines of their traditional lives and roles.

In 1958, Carlos Monge McKey sneaks out of his home in the middle of the night to fake his own death. He does not return for four years.

A decade later, his son, Carlos Monge Sanchez, deserts his family too, joining a guerrilla army of Mexican revolutionaries.

Their stories are unspooled by grandson and son Emiliano, a writer, who also chooses to escape reality, by creating fictions to run away from the truth.

What Goes Unsaid is an extraordinary memoir that delves into the fractured relationships between fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons; that disinters the ugly notions of masculinity and machismo that all men carry with them - especially in a patriarchal culture like Mexico. It is the story of three men, who - each in his own way - flee their homes and families in an attempt to free themselves.




'Many readers will come to Monge's books through What Goes Unsaid which is, seemingly, the easiest of his books. This might be the case when it comes to its style for in this novel, the author is more interested in testing the flexibility of memory than that of language. However, anyone who thinks What Goes Unsaid is an easy novel, is in for a surprise. In my opinion, this is his most complex work to date- it makes the reader laugh and cry in the same line ... One could say that What Goes Unsaid is his best book to date because it still vibrates on the tips of one's fingers several days after one has turned the last page.'
-Paulette Jonguitud, Letras Libres

'An impressive work that addresses complicated topics such as personal and family life, machismo through generations, and how it is addressed.'
-Fernanda Melchor, author of Hurricane Season

'With breathtaking brilliance, the Mexican writer indulges in the art of writing a true novel ... the indefinable Emiliano is a force that takes hold of you and won't let go.'
-Le Figaro