WITHIN THESE WALLS

by Luis Arturo Ramos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1997

Yet another novel from Mexico, this is a richly detailed multigenerational story of two passages from Europe to Latin America, undertaken two wars apart, and destined for similar fates. Gabriel SantibÊÛez, who fled Spain and ""arrived in America in 1915, believing there were still lands to be conquered and, after forty-five years of struggle, knew only defeat,"" succumbs to the rivals who destroy his grocery business and to the pressures of an unbearably demanding family life. His nephew Esteban NiÛo, whose emigration during the Spanish Civil War is adroitly juxtaposed against his uncle's earlier experiences, is likewise prevented, by Gabriel's very legacy, from fulfilling his dreams of success as a writer and teacher. And the fate of a shadowy third character, the political refugee Finisterre (whose very name sounds an ominous note), powerfully underscores their ordeals and losses, in a dramatic tale of strangers in a strange land that raises the experience of assimilation very near the level of genuine tragedy.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 221

Publisher: Latin American Literary Review

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997

Categories: FICTION