Planes Flying over a Monster

Finalist for the PEN Translation Prize
Publishers Weekly, A Best Book of the Year
Literary Hub, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
The Millions, A Most Anticipated Book of Summer

“A pleasing […] book that will hold special appeal for writers, who will probably recognize themselves in the lyrical rendering of the tragicomic, formative chaos of a creative person’s 20s . . . The heart of the collection lies in this ability to cartographically render the relationships between the written word and a city . . . The strength of Planes Flying over a Monster is how it renders cities as texts, not only to be read but to be written. Every visitor to a city is an author, in a way, attempting to organize memory into a coherent picture after they’ve left . . . There’s […] a lot going on in this book, but the chaos is frequently enjoyable. If one is willing to take the time to investigate the byways, there are some wonderful sites here.” —John Paul Brammer, The Washington Post

“The looseness of Saldaña París’s authorial posture deliciously grants readers the space to stretch themselves—their bodies and their private libraries—as they read this stunning work of autobiography . . . Planes is a wise, generous book that contains all the miracles of a little walk taken in the afternoon to wake oneself up.” —Claire Foster, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Saldaña París readies his readers geographically and stylistically for what’s to come in the collection: something like Sergio Pitol meets Daniil Kharms . . . The book’s essays capture moments in the life of a literary knight-errant who has traveled the world seeking the moments of absurdity in the real, and has then sutured them into meaning through writing . . . [Planes Flying Over A Monster] is reflective and allusive; its essays don’t follow the action-based narrative structure of rising tension, climax, and resolution, but rather invest in lush exposition, meander through their events, break the fourth wall with reflections on writing, and have long tails thinking through the role of books in daily life . . . In its off-kilter originality, the book invites its readers to perceive the absurd and literary in their own surroundings. For those who take Saldaña París up on the challenge, it promises to enrich both the lives and writing that follow.”—Caroline Tracey, The Southwest Review

“Tracing the connections between places, people, and events, Saldaña París creates a sense of communion with the world that is at times uneasy, yet always shot through with radical tenderness and a rare species of honesty . . . Among (many) other things, Daniel Saldaña París’ clever, vulnerable, and polyphonic essays show us that you can never step into the same city twice.” —Sofija Popovska, Asymptote Journal

“París’ writing is candid and fascinating, calling attention to underlooked topics right under our noses.” —Sam Franzini, Our Culture Magazine

“A collection of ten essays […]: each of them shot through with humor and forming a kind of Künstlerroman in their totality.” —Literary Hub

“These electric essays linger in the mind.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Expressing humor, provocation, and sincerity, Saldaña París delivers a rewarding reading experience in each essay.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Daniel Saldaña París is simply one of our best living writers and this collection is destined for canonical status. Rarely have I read a book that so thoroughly challenges the boundaries of what nonfiction can be. I was awed by the prose and elevated by the depth and range of thought that imbues these pages, and when I finished reading them all, I started again at the beginning, unwilling and unable to leave the author’s voice behind.” —Chloé Cooper Jones, two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and author of Easy Beauty

“Daniel Saldaña París writes about cities as labyrinths, with each new path twisting through memory and failure and searching and invention, leading readers to corridors where the intimate and the cosmic intersect. Planes Flying Over a Monster is a tremendous work of art.” —Laura van den Berg, author of State of Paradise and The Third Hotel

“Planes Flying Over a Monster is a coming-of-age story written in the same kind of fragments that make up most minds in the 21st century. A lucid book about the surprising drugs to which we become addicted; a book about broken dreams, missed trips, romantic failures—the unwritten books that make up our identities. An unforgettable book for its self-mockery, at turns brutal and endearing.” —Guadalupe Nettel, author of Still Born

“Daniel Saldaña París’s Planes Flying Over a Monster is engrossing and wise and surprising; reading it feels like getting caught in an unexpected eight-hour conversation with a fascinating stranger at a dark bar. These are essays about caregiving, desperation, art-making, recklessness and youth, ghost limbs of all kinds; and these are maps of cities: maps of drug dealers and secret meetings, lost poets, lost gardens, long shadows and blood-stained patios. Throughout, I felt utterly surrendered to the sparkling, wry, self-interrogating tenderness of this voice and these fever dreams. I will teach these essays and ponder them and feel grateful for them for the rest of my days.” —Leslie Jamison, author of Splinters and The Empathy Exams