This prolific South American novelist, now exiled to the United States, comes highly recommended by my wife. In this historical novel, she vividly describes the horrors of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War (an oxymoron) as many thousands of Republicans die and millions flee to France and then to Chile, to escape the horrors of the winning Franco fascists, supported by the Catholic Church.
Later when, with the help of Chilean Nobel laureate poet Pablo Neruda, thousands sail to Chile, the plot becomes exceedingly complex. In 1973, the legitimately elected socialist government of the author’s uncle Salvador Allende, is ousted by the brutal dictatorship of Augusta Pinochet, with Nixon and Kissinger’s aid and encouragement, and that of the Vatican, leading to more slaughter and separation of families. Affairs and lost illegitimate children with unpronounceable names will lead to some confusion if readers are not careful. I suspect that the atrocities of the Pinochet regime are a bit exaggerated but there is no doubt about it’s cruel repression.
There are a lot of affairs but the sex is described discretely. What saved this book from a poor rating from me is the writing style- straightforward and in places almost poetic, with very vivid depiction of some of the characters, amid their turmoil.
4/5
Thanks, Vera
4/5
