Let’s Save the Fire

A wild post-modern western where love, creativity, and writing become paths of escape from violence. [...] The plot, truly gripping, is the well-blended alibi that allows Arriaga to prompt us to reflect on the meaning of existence in unhinged and crazy times, within a fragmented and meaningless reality.

– Giorgos-Ikaros Babasakis, Ta Nea

The book "Let’s Save the Fire" is, among other things, a book about the invisible borders that divide people long before their actions do. It is about who has the right to art, to desire, to a second chance, and to forgiveness. It is about how we can speak of morality when we have never had to live in hell. Without justifying everything, Arriaga forces the reader, in his own way, to look at subjects they would otherwise pass by.

Mexican author and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga crafts a voluminous, dark, and breathless narrative about love, violence, and deep social inequalities in contemporary Mexico. [...] Ambitious, exuberant, and profoundly dark.

The author of "Babel" and "21 Grams" knows very well how to handle different narrative shifts and intersecting stories, unfolding the conflicts, fissures, and varying temporalities that characterize contemporary Mexico and its literature, building a novel of almost epic proportions—polyphonic and visceral—where the language changes right along with the people and social classes who speak it.

Despite its harshness and dark atmosphere, the book stands out for its linguistic power and the originality of its writing. The result is a demanding yet captivating read that illuminates the contradictions of a country through a story of love and destruction.

Despite the raw elements and the violence in "Save the Fire", Arriaga’s skill as a narrator, combined with his play with language, use of local dialects, and originality of expression, make it a fascinating, albeit disturbing, read.

Guillermo Arriaga captures, in an epic thriller, the contradictory reality of an entire country, Mexico, plagued by violence and destroyed by division. [...] An explosive cocktail of love, brutality, and sociopolitical criticism.

– Dimitris Georgikopoulos, To Vima