Wednesday 4 April 2018

Book Review: Springtime in a Broken Mirror by Mario Benedetti

I picked this book up in a little book shop in London, tucked away on a back street. I'm not going to lie, I was first drawn in my the colour of the cover. It is bright yellow, my favourite cover. I picked up as soon as the colour caught my eye, read the blurb and knew it was a book I would love. 



Springtime in a Broken Mirror is set around the time of the Uruguayan coup d'état, and was written by Benedetti when he himself was in exile from Uruguay in 1973. 

The story follows the protagonist Santiago; a political prisoner, and the people who are closest to him in his life. The book is written in different short bursts from each character, which are then separated into individual mini chapters. Along with Santiago, it also has excerpts from his wife Graciela, his 9 year old daughter  Beatrice, and his old best friend Rolando. 

It follows Santiagos' letters to his wife, explaining his time in prison, how he is clinging on to every last memory of the outside world through imagining Graciela's life. It flicks between Graciela; still very much adjusting even after many years to her husband being away, then to their 9 year old daughter who is just curious about everything - especially why her father is away and in prison. 

It is a little difficult to follow which narrative is which I found at times, but once you really get to know the characters you can really tell. Benedetti has a truly beautiful way of changing his writing style to perfectly match each character he is writing about. 

I read this whilst currently in a long distance relationship. As Santiago is imprisoned, he and Graciela have been apart from each other for years. I found this narrative particularly moving to read - the two react so differently to what is a very different long distance relationship. 

Benedetti, as he lived through this time, and it is almost a semi-autobiographical book, describes just how life was during 1970s for these people. It is done so so well that you can actually learn so much, and I really did from reading this book. I did lots of extra background reading, as his passion that seeped through the words made me want to learn even more about the time period it was written and set in.

This book is so beautiful, I honestly recommend it to anyone who likes to read romantic yet informative political and historical books then this is the perfect book for you. 

Goodreads link here.

Buy the book here
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