The News from Paraguay : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A compelling historical novel
Review: I'm not a fan of historical novels but this one won me over While nobody could define this book as a page-turner, there is no suspense of sorts as its main focus is Ella's somewhat boring life, it quickly grab me by its unaffected and detached writing style and its unassuming honesty. The book never pontificates and instead lets the circumstances (and their own words and thoughts) describe the characters, these are shown as neither good or bad but just immensely human. But the book never goes too much into detail about their thoughts and motivations - it even hints, at some points, of how we can't trust Ella's own words when we see her writing and rewriting a letter to a friend in France - and ultimately doesn't let us like them or dislike them. Their human pettiness makes it difficult for us to suffer for them when they are faced with terrible trials (and torture and death are common elements in this story), but their stories build upon each other to produce a glimpse of the horrors of war and of dictatorships.

There are no heroes on this story, nobody who saves the day or is even left with any measure of honor (if that word really has any meaning). People are shown as victims of circumstances, including their own weaknesses, and nobody rises beyond their nature. And that is refreshing and makes the story so much more human.

If there is a message to this book is how small, weak and petty men in power can be. You could also see a message of divine retribution, everyone, ultimately, meets a bad end (something foreshadowed by the circumstances of some other elderly characters we meet here and there in the book), but for that same reason, it seems more a fact of life than a divine plan. If anything, the book seems to tell you that however wonderful your life is right now, don't count it will stay the same.