Sergio de la Pava was born and raised in New Jersey, to parents who immigrated from Colombia.
[4] In October 2010, literary site The Quarterly Conversation ran a review by Scott Bryan Wilson that called the book "one of the best and most original novels of the decade" and "a towering, impressive work.
"[5] That review caught the eye of staff at The University of Chicago Press, who signed the book up and published it in paperback in April 2012.
In the Wall Street Journal, Sam Sacks wrote, "[I]n this willfully cryptic book, Mr. De La Pava's sense of moral urgency is ever-present.
In only his early 40s, he is already a writer of mercurial brilliance, and even his strangest detours are worth following",[9] and Bookforum called it " the most galvanizing meditation on the possibilities and ramifications of artistic process that I have read in recent memory.