like all characters, all moments-past,present,future- are identical and exchangeable.

there's no true novelty, only the repetition of the same. something, somebody, has made the people equivalent and interchangeable.

sacrifice is a game of substitutions, in ancient times, this was a principle of magic. if you knew somebody's name, you could control,seduce,even kill that person.

that sacrificial game hovers over every encounter in the novel.


oscar guardiola-rivera, afterword to  open door, by iosi havilio.