75 pages • 2 hours read
Yuri HerreraSigns Preceding the End of the World
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Before You Read
Super Short Summary
Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera follows Makina, who navigates perilous terrain to find her brother, crossing from South to North. Along the way, she faces threats, helps others, and ultimately finds her brother, who has assumed a new identity. She then embarks on her own transformation, leaving behind her past life to embrace a new identity in an unfamiliar land. The book contains strong language, violence, sexual harassment, and racism.
Reviews & Readership
Review Roundup
Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World is lauded for its poetic prose and evocative narrative, vividly capturing themes of migration and identity. Critics appreciate its brevity and depth, though some find the symbolism heavy-handed and the plot too abstract. Overall, it's a thought-provoking, richly imagined work that resonates with contemporary issues.
Who Should Read Signs Preceding the End of the World?
Readers who enjoy Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera typically appreciate thought-provoking, lyrical narratives that delve into themes of migration, identity, and transformation. Fans of Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives or Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao will find this novella captivating.