The Lisbon Syndrome is the story of two catastrophes. In the near future, an asteroid strike annihilates Lisbon. Few details filter through the censored media in Lisbon's sister city, Caracas, home to many thousands of Portuguese. On the streets of Caracas, a beloved theater teacher and his students are drawn towards danger. The students suffer from what they begin to call "the Lisbon syndrome," an acute awareness that there are no possibilities left for them in a country ravaged by a murderous, criminal regime. The Lisbon Syndrome is the most renchant contemporary novel to offer a glimpse of life and death in Venezuela. But Sánchez Rugeles's apocalyptic vision is lightened by his wry humor, and by characters who show us the humanity behind the stark headlines.