Cien cuyes
Gustavo Rodríguez
Photo credit | Morfi Jiménez
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Cien cuyes, by Peruvian writer Gustavo Rodríguez, is a tragicomedy set in Lima, where apartments are replacing houses at an increasing rate, causing many to be left in the shadows and depriving a few of a valuable ocean view. For senior citizens, the vista from the window may be the only access to the outside world that modern society denies them. And those who take care of them witness their increasing loneliness and loss of autonomy. This is the protagonist's daily routine, Eufrasia Vela, who commutes across the city to care for well-to-do seniors to support her son Nicolas. Kind, curious, and well-meaning, Eufrasia earns the trust of the older adults she cares for and fulfills their last wishes, even if it costs her more than she imagines.
Eufrasia is a migrant from the Andean region, just like many others in Lima. She spends most of the day caring for Doña Carmen, a frail and solitary elderly woman. After Doña Carmen passes away, Eufrasia takes care of retired doctor Jack Harrison. Later on, she starts working at a nursing home where she meets a group of elderly people who call themselves “The Magnificent Seven.” Mindful of their approaching death, the elderly individuals seek Eufrasia’s help to fulfill their desire to die in freedom, choosing how and when to put an end to their lives. With touching and amusing characters, Cien cuyes captures the spark of Peruvian humor and the perennial class performances of Limeños of all ages. One thought-provoking aspect of the novel is the question of who has the authority to decide how to die in the face of imminent death. The controversy over euthanasia or assisted suicide has been addressed in films in poignant ways, such as in Mar adentro (2004), and terrifying ones, such as Johnny Got His Gun (1971). However, Cien cuyes is closer to the film La fiesta de despedida (2014). In this comedy, the elderly individuals in a nursing home build a machine that practices euthanasia to help their friends in a terminal state pass away. Friendship, the loss of autonomy, and the decision to die in freedom are also central themes of Cien cuyes. And empathy. Although the seniors pay her the equivalent of "ten guinea pigs" to help them die, Eufrasia's motivation is not money. Something that many would be unable to understand and that several would question and even prevent. |
Being free to decide about one's body is a central theme of contemporary feminism. It is the basis of the struggle against the decriminalization of abortion in several Latin American countries. Since illegality does not prevent people from deciding and acting on their bodies, the economically fortunate pay for the care and attention they need in the clandestine setting. The elderly adults in Cien cuyes, in a way, are like the women who can afford an abortion in private clinics despite the law.
Winner of the 2023 Alfaguara Prize, Cien cuyes is a fiction book that spotlights the care for elderly adults we will all someday need. The novel invites reflection on aging, class, and the right to die in freedom. In a city like Lima, where racism is internalized, dissimulated, and accentuated by its classism, who can be cared for, listened to, and respected?
Winner of the 2023 Alfaguara Prize, Cien cuyes is a fiction book that spotlights the care for elderly adults we will all someday need. The novel invites reflection on aging, class, and the right to die in freedom. In a city like Lima, where racism is internalized, dissimulated, and accentuated by its classism, who can be cared for, listened to, and respected?
In 2023 Gustavo Rodríguez won the Alfaguara Novel Prize with the manuscript of Cien cuyes. Some of his publications are La furia de Aquiles, La risa de tu madre (finalist for the Herralde Prize) and La semana tiene siete mujeres (finalist for the Planeta-Casamérica Prize).
Cien cuyes is a publication by Alfaguara.
Cien cuyes is a publication by Alfaguara.
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