From 2007 in Caracas, Venezuela, squatters began moving into an unfinished and abandoned tower. Wilson transforms this real-life event into a novel with mythic power in The Damnificados.

Nacho Morales, exposed by a river at birth because of a withered arm and leg, is taken by a poor man and brought up with his other son. Nacho is brilliant with a talent for languages, and studies enough to support himself as a translator.

When his wretched slum is threatened by a Trash War, he leads some of the inhabitants, damnificados, the invisible destitute, into an abandoned 60 floor tower. They move in by the hundreds, steal electricity from the grid, get water through Nacho's powerful contacts for whom he translates, and set up their own businesses (a bakery, a beauty shop,a school) or work in the unnamed South American city. Then the head of the family that built and abandoned the building decides that he wants it back.

The book is peopled by interesting characters, a polyglot bunch who have found a home and manage to live together under Nacho's leadership. Biblical allusions abound: Nacho as Moses, the tower itself, both Babel and the promised land, a flood. Magical realism underlines the feel of mythology; the Agua Suja (Dirty Water river where Nacho was found) turns into something like the Ganges for the Great Cleansing. We have a wolf pack, crocodiles, and a savior in the form of Nacho's brother Emil, who brings food by boat during the flood in time to save the people from starvation.

It's funny. It's surprising. It's profound. I've just talked myself into another half star! ( )