Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Story of the Night - Colm Toibin



This book is set in Argentina in the 1980's and follows the life of a homosexual Argentinian man. He has grown up with an overbearing British mother (who passes awat when he was 20ish) and his father died when he was young. He has no other family and lives alone teaching English at an institute. The book changes pace about 1/3 in and becomes more interesting after he meets a couple of Americans who are there to promote democracy after the Falkland War. It is an interesting take on how the world sees America. We also see the beginning of the AIDS crisis and how it effects the lives of the people around this young Argentinian man.

I enjoyed this book. I usually do not read fictional accounts of people with HIV/AIDS because I find it too emotional. I can read non-fiction books on HIV, and do read plenty of it, but fictional books always get to me. When I started I was unaware of the books topic but I am glad I read it. I didn't like it as much as Blackwater Light Ship and didnt hate it as much as The Master. I would give it 3 1/2 stars.

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