Pink Slime

WINNER OF THE ENGLISH PEN AWARD

Winner of the Uruguayan National Literature Prize for Fiction, the Bartolomé-Hidalgo Fiction Prize, and the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Literature Prize.

A port city is in the grips of an ecological crisis. The river has filled with toxic algae, and a deadly ‘red wind’ blows through the city, forcing everyone indoors at the sound of a siren. Those exposed to the wind fall ill; much of the coast has been evacuated, with rich people migrating inland to escape the wind, while others remain behind, sheltering in abandoned houses as blackouts and food shortages abound, and a black-market economy reigns.

The unnamed narrator is one of those who has stayed, looking after a boy who’s been placed in her care. As the city outside continues to break down, she reflects on the collapse of her emotional ties, the uncertainty of this new world, and the emergence of a radical solitude.

With striking prose and vivid characters, Pink Slime offers profound reflections on motherhood, marriage, and caregiving, set against the backdrop of a climate-ravaged, deteriorating city.