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John Manuel Arias

Goodreads Author

Website

https://www.johnmanuelarias.com

Genre

Fiction, Historical Fiction

Member Since

November 2025

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John Manuel Arias is the National Bestselling author of Where There Was Fire, named a Best Debut by Apple Books and a Finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize. A Canto Mundo fellow & an alumnus of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, his prose and poetry have been published in Harper's Bazaar, Electric Lit, The Kenyon Review, and PANK. He has lived in Washington D.C., Brooklyn New York, and in San José, Costa Rica with his grandmother and four ghosts. ...more

Combine Editions
John Manuel Arias’s books

Average rating: 3.48 · 1,885 ratings · 319 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	Where There Was Fire 3.47 avg rating — 1,871 ratings — published 2023 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crocodilopolis 4.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — expected publication 2026 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I'd Rather Sink—! 4.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Yurássic Park: A Story 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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John Arias and 1 other person liked Adriana's review of Crocodilopolis: "My mind just blow up with this book!!! I only stopped because I had to work hahaha. As a costarican this book feels so close to me and my identity, it even made me look up for historic references. Touching, thrilling, emotional, adventurous, a roller" Read more of this review »
Apr 19, 2026 07:39AM · see review
John Arias and 7 other people liked Felicia's review of Where There Was Fire: "I went into this without any knowledge of the banana plantations. So that's where I should start. This book did a good job of detailing the issues with the plantations and how exploitative they were. It was a good enough jumping off point that I didn" Read more of this review »
Apr 12, 2026 07:42AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Arias and 5 other people liked Amber's review of Where There Was Fire: "Thank you to Flatiron Books for the gifted ARC When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company's most lucrative banana plantation in Costa Rica in 1968, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde's family is changed forever. In the present day, Tere" Read more of this review »
Apr 12, 2026 07:19AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Arias and 6 other people liked Maryel Arias-Anderson's review of Where There Was Fire: "I LOVED IT!! It's so sad that it's a story that is happening in real life, but the way John wrote about a families life dealing with the suffering of AFC, was spectacular. The writing was amazing, and the family aspects he writes about are relatable " Read more of this review »
Apr 12, 2026 07:19AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Arias rated a book it was amazing Last Night in Brooklyn by Xóchitl González (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 10, 2026 07:00AM · like
John Arias rated a book it was amazing There's Only One Sin in Hollywood by Rasheed Newson (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 02, 2026 03:14PM · like
John Arias rated a book it was amazing A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 09, 2025 05:17PM · like
John Arias rated a book it was amazing Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 23, 2025 08:34AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Arias rated a book it was amazing Uncanny Valley Girls: Essays on Horror, Survival, and Love by Zefyr Lisowski (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 17, 2025 01:14PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Uncanny Valley Girls by Zefyr Lisowski. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Uncanny Valley Girls by Zefyr Lisowski <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
John Arias wants to read Crocodilopolis by John Manuel Arias (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 14, 2025 06:31AM · like

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Quotes by John Manuel Arias (?)

“But it was bad luck to eat bananas grown from human ashes. They said those hands of bananas would taste real.”
― john manuel arias, Where There Was Fire

2 likes

“These microcosms of time carved out by uncontrollable laughter… transported them back to a room in which everyone was still together—where there was no such thing as absence. In this elusive, fleeting moment of ebullience, all the world was whole again. Laughter a time machine in which happiness could reconstruct the past, and the present couldn’t do anything about it.”
― John Manuel Arias, Where There Was Fire

1 likes

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