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Cuchilla
Paperback
Published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Evelio Rosero
44 books143 followersEvelio Rosero Diago was born in Bogotá, Colombia, on March 20, 1958. He is a Colombian writer and journalist, who reached international acclaim after winning in 2006 the prestigious Tusquets Prize.
Evelio Rosero studied primary school in Colombia’s southern city of Pasto, and high school in Bogotá, where he later attended Universidad Externado de Colombia obtaining a degree in Journalism. When he was 21, he won Colombia’s Premio Nacional de Cuento del Quindío 1979 (National Short Story Award of Quindío), for his piece Ausentes (The Departed) that was published by Instituto Colombiano de Cultura in the book 17 Cuentos colombianos (17 Colombian Short Stories). In 1982 he was awarded with the Premio Iberoamericano de Libro de Cuentos Netzahualcóyotl, in Mexico City for his earlier stories, and that same year, a novella under the title Papá es santo y sabio (Dad is holy and wise) won Spain’s Premio Internacional de Novela Breve Valencia. After these early successess, Rosero fled to Europe and lived first in Paris and later in Barcelona.
His first novel in 1984 was Mateo Solo (Mateo Alone), which began his trilogy known as Primera Vez (First Time). Mateo Solo is a story about a child confined in his own home. Mateo knows about the outside world for what he sees through the windows. It is a novel of dazzling confinement, where sight is the main character: his sister, his aunt, his nanny all play their own game while allowing Mateo to keep his hope for identity in plotting his own escape.
With his second book in 1986, Juliana los mira (Juliana is watching), Evelio Rosero was translated into Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and German to great acclaim. Once again, the visual experience of a child, this time a girl, builds the world of grownups and family, unveiling all the brutality and meanness of adults as seen with her ingenuousness. Juliana’s world is her own house and family. As Juliana watches her parents and relatives, she builds them. Her sight alters objects as she contemplates them. This was the first book where Rosero involved other themes from Colombia’s tragical reality such as kidnapping, presented here as a permanent threat that in the end justifies Juliana’s own confinement.
In 1988, El Incendiado (The Burning Man) was published. With this book, Rosero obtained a Proartes bachelor in Colombia and won in 1992 the II Premio Pedro Gómez Valderrama for the most outstanding book written between 1988 and 1992. The novel tells the stories of a group of teenagers from a famous school in Bogotá, Colegio Agustiniano Norte, denouncing the education taught by the priest headmasters as “fool, arcaic, troglodite and morbid”.
To date, he has written nine novels, beginning with Señor que no conoce luna in 1992 and Cuchilla in 2000 which won a Norma-Fundalectura prize. Plutón (Pluto) published also in 2000, Los almuerzos (The lunches) in 2001, Juega el amor in 2002 and Los Ejércitos, which won in 2006 the prestigious 2nd Premio Tusquets Editores de Novela and also won in 2009 the prestigious Independent Foreign Fiction Prize organized by the British newspaper The Independent.
Evelio Rosero currently lives in Bogotá. In 2006 he won Colombia’s Premio Nacional de Literatura (National Literature Prize) awarded in recognition of a life in letters by the Ministry of Culture. His work has been translated into a dozen European languages.
Evelio Rosero studied primary school in Colombia’s southern city of Pasto, and high school in Bogotá, where he later attended Universidad Externado de Colombia obtaining a degree in Journalism. When he was 21, he won Colombia’s Premio Nacional de Cuento del Quindío 1979 (National Short Story Award of Quindío), for his piece Ausentes (The Departed) that was published by Instituto Colombiano de Cultura in the book 17 Cuentos colombianos (17 Colombian Short Stories). In 1982 he was awarded with the Premio Iberoamericano de Libro de Cuentos Netzahualcóyotl, in Mexico City for his earlier stories, and that same year, a novella under the title Papá es santo y sabio (Dad is holy and wise) won Spain’s Premio Internacional de Novela Breve Valencia. After these early successess, Rosero fled to Europe and lived first in Paris and later in Barcelona.
His first novel in 1984 was Mateo Solo (Mateo Alone), which began his trilogy known as Primera Vez (First Time). Mateo Solo is a story about a child confined in his own home. Mateo knows about the outside world for what he sees through the windows. It is a novel of dazzling confinement, where sight is the main character: his sister, his aunt, his nanny all play their own game while allowing Mateo to keep his hope for identity in plotting his own escape.
With his second book in 1986, Juliana los mira (Juliana is watching), Evelio Rosero was translated into Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and German to great acclaim. Once again, the visual experience of a child, this time a girl, builds the world of grownups and family, unveiling all the brutality and meanness of adults as seen with her ingenuousness. Juliana’s world is her own house and family. As Juliana watches her parents and relatives, she builds them. Her sight alters objects as she contemplates them. This was the first book where Rosero involved other themes from Colombia’s tragical reality such as kidnapping, presented here as a permanent threat that in the end justifies Juliana’s own confinement.
In 1988, El Incendiado (The Burning Man) was published. With this book, Rosero obtained a Proartes bachelor in Colombia and won in 1992 the II Premio Pedro Gómez Valderrama for the most outstanding book written between 1988 and 1992. The novel tells the stories of a group of teenagers from a famous school in Bogotá, Colegio Agustiniano Norte, denouncing the education taught by the priest headmasters as “fool, arcaic, troglodite and morbid”.
To date, he has written nine novels, beginning with Señor que no conoce luna in 1992 and Cuchilla in 2000 which won a Norma-Fundalectura prize. Plutón (Pluto) published also in 2000, Los almuerzos (The lunches) in 2001, Juega el amor in 2002 and Los Ejércitos, which won in 2006 the prestigious 2nd Premio Tusquets Editores de Novela and also won in 2009 the prestigious Independent Foreign Fiction Prize organized by the British newspaper The Independent.
Evelio Rosero currently lives in Bogotá. In 2006 he won Colombia’s Premio Nacional de Literatura (National Literature Prize) awarded in recognition of a life in letters by the Ministry of Culture. His work has been translated into a dozen European languages.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 10, 2022
Es un libro al que le tengo mucho cariño, ya que fue el primer libro que lei por voluntad propia. Nada, que tiene 5 estrellas, no es perfecto, pero siempre estará presente en mi memoria, y eso es invaluable. ❤️
June 1, 2023
4.5
Lástima el final rosado.
Es el Toño Ciruelo para niños (o Toño Ciruelo es Cuchilla para adultos).
Lástima el final rosado.
Es el Toño Ciruelo para niños (o Toño Ciruelo es Cuchilla para adultos).
February 14, 2025
I shared this book with my brother, and I believe it's one of those rare finds that touches your heart, wraps you in a warm embrace, and brings a joyful smile to your face. It's a story about the teacher nobody wanted, who has a life, struggles to teach, suffers, and loves. It's about brothers who love, accuse, help, and stand by each other. It's about the blurred lines between war and games. It's about friendship, camaraderie, and brotherhood. It's life in all its beauty and complexity.
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Este libro se lo leí a mi hermano, y creo que es de esos que te llenan el corazón, te abrazan y te sacan una sonrisa de felicidad. Tiene una familiaridad contagiosa.
El profesor que nadie quería, que tiene una vida, que no sabe ser profesor, que sufre y que ama.
Los hermanos que se aman, se acusan, se ayudan y se acompañan. Las guerras que parecen juegos y los juegos que se convierten en guerras.
Amigos, compañeros, hermanos. La vida en todo su esplendor.
______________________________________
Este libro se lo leí a mi hermano, y creo que es de esos que te llenan el corazón, te abrazan y te sacan una sonrisa de felicidad. Tiene una familiaridad contagiosa.
El profesor que nadie quería, que tiene una vida, que no sabe ser profesor, que sufre y que ama.
Los hermanos que se aman, se acusan, se ayudan y se acompañan. Las guerras que parecen juegos y los juegos que se convierten en guerras.
Amigos, compañeros, hermanos. La vida en todo su esplendor.
February 13, 2019
Es un libro lindo, emotivo y bien escrito.
Nos lleva en un viaje en el tiempo a tener esos sentimientos de miedo y alegría que poseemos en nuestra infancia que con el pasar del tiempo algunas personas los percibimos un poco tontos y para otros podrán tener más vigencia que nunca.
Nos lleva en un viaje en el tiempo a tener esos sentimientos de miedo y alegría que poseemos en nuestra infancia que con el pasar del tiempo algunas personas los percibimos un poco tontos y para otros podrán tener más vigencia que nunca.
April 29, 2021
Es un libro muy interesante la verdad, demuestra que a veces no conocemos las circunstancias que los profesores están viviendo, me hizo ver que los profesores también son humanos y que a veces se equivocan.
En todo sentido el libro es muy bueno
RECOMENDADISIMO
En todo sentido el libro es muy bueno
RECOMENDADISIMO
April 15, 2019
En la escuela se ama, se ríe, se sufre, se teme y se aprende, pero sobre todo se vive ( o por lo menos debería ser así). De allí que nunca se pierde, por el contrario se gana. Te quiero.
May 2, 2019
Mi libro favorito de la infancia
June 3, 2020
Brillante!!
July 17, 2020
Leído en la primera mitad de mi adolescencia, recuerdo haberlo disfrutado bastante en medio de un viaje a Boyacá.
Te enseña y trae nostalgia colombiana.
Te enseña y trae nostalgia colombiana.
May 8, 2021
Muestra lo duro que es la vida para las personas de cierto modo y como esto puede generar que seamos una persona en el mundo u otra para nuestros seres cercanos
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2021
Me encantó, puedo decir que a sido uno de mis favoritos, hasta ahora.
La trama muy buena, todo estaba espectacular.
La trama muy buena, todo estaba espectacular.
November 7, 2021
Con este libro me enamoré de la lectura.. tenía 9 añitos
December 31, 2021
Amadísima obra de mi infancia.
January 30, 2023
¿Quieres recordar tus años estudiantiles? ¿Traer a la memoria a los profes que nos hicieron la vida imposible? Con Cuchilla se recuerda con humor, nostalgia y reflexión esos años escolares.
June 3, 2023
Me pareció muy entretenido, se mantiene la tensión y la historia es muy linda
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September 5, 2023lo leí por la universidad, pero está bueno 👍🏻
November 7, 2023
Libros de mini gabi 🫶🏻
June 28, 2024
Fue mi libro favorito cuando tenía 10
September 18, 2024
No me gusta este libro porque es muy aburrido
October 8, 2024
Que bonito que es recordar. De lejos este fue el primer libro que disfruté leer, hoy vuelvo y leo de un sentón y me doy cuenta porque, muy entretenida está historia, divertida y veloz.
December 10, 2024
Entretenida novela juvenil. Y quien no tuvo un profe Cuchilla?
August 9, 2025
Al parecer una cruda realidad anterior.
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July 3, 2010otro libro que lei de pequeña , donde contaba la historia de un estudiante y su profesor
August 5, 2025
él solo era un señor medio calvo incomprendido
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May 4, 2019Interesante
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews