NEWS FROM A FOREIGN COUNTRY CAME

by Alberto Manguel ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1991

A novel from Argentinian writer Manguel, now hying in Toronto, that contains many good things but is spoiled by an implausible conclusion. Part mystery, part meditation on the responsibility for evil, the story takes place variously on four continents: North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. The Berences, a French family now resident in Quebec, are spending the summer on the GaspÉ Peninsula with their guest, a former colleague from Algeria, and their Argentinian maid, Rebecca. The father, Antoine, who had been with the French Army on assignment in Algeria and Argentina, is now retired and spends his days reading. His wife, Marianne, a little younger, is grossly overweight and oddly mute, and their daughter, Ana, born in Buenos Aires at the time of the notorious desaparecidos, plays on the beach but is troubled by strange memories. Hints of sinister doings increase when Argentinan friends of Rebecca arrive looking for a notorious torturer known to be there on vacation. Accidentally they kill Marianne, and in the second, and as it were posthumous, part of the novel, Marianne tells how she met her husband in Algeria, and why she broke down in Buenos Aires. All well done so far, but when papa Berence, on his way back by car to Quebec City, tries to explain just what he did do, he loses more than his daughter Ana when she jumps out of the car. The settings are vividly evoked, and the story appropriately disturbs and provokes, but there is no way a child could be a credible audience for the lengthy exercise in confession and philosophical rationalization the father delivers in the ear at the end. It does not convince. Disappointing.

Pub Date: March 1, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Potter/Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1991

Categories: FICTION