The Echo of the Worn-Down : An Inventory of Emotional Malfunctions
Overview
This is not a self-help book. It's an inventory of breakdowns - a country's, and a body's.
Through raw vignettes and uncomfortable mirrors, The Echo of the Worn-Down: An Inventory of Emotional Malfunctions looks at what it means to live in a place of permanent emergency. Set against the backdrop of Puerto Rico, these pieces trace how public crisis seeps into private life until anxiety, insomnia, depression, and burnout feel like public policy rather than personal problems.
Across five sections, the book moves from the national to the intimate:
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collective anxiety, media alerts, and a people trained to live on edge
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silent depression and the "blackouts" no one reports
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suicide, gender violence, and femicide as stories society claims it "never saw coming"
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dementia, child poverty, and homelessness as absences we step over every day
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addiction and emotional corruption as the anesthetics of a worn-down country
This book doesn't offer comfort; it offers a mirror.
In that mirror, each reader is invited to recognize their own fracture, their own "malfunction," and the quiet ways we keep going anyway.
About the author
Edwin Alverio (Puerto Rico) is an educator, painter, and writer. He has published poetry, fiction, and books for teaching Spanish. He lives in Connecticut, where he writes and creates out of wakefulness and memory.
Cover art: Venas (2016), painting by the author.This item is Non-Returnable
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9798276852683
- ISBN-10: 9798276852683
- Publisher: Independently Published
- Publish Date: December 2025
- Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.17 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.27 pounds
- Page Count: 84
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