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Adult Books - Fiction - General Fiction
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The Story of the Night.
Toibin, Colm (author).
May 1997. 312p. Holt, hardcover, $25 (0-8050-5211-9).
REVIEW.
First published May 15, 1997 (Booklist).
Questions of identity haunt this novel by Irish writer Toibin. Only child of an Argentinian father and an English mother, Richard never feels quite at home in Buenos Aires. His sense of dislocation is intensified by a string of events that mark his adolescence: his father’s death, his mother’s impoverishment, his growing awareness of his own homosexuality. A trip to Spain with Jorge, the wealthy young man whom he tutors in English, further exacerbates Richard’s isolation. His mother’s death, which coincides with the Falklands War, is the catalyst that finally allows Richard to shed some of his Britishness. In the heady, dangerous times that follow, he becomes involved with an American couple, who probably work for the CIA and have been sent to Argentina to help protect U.S. interests. Richard’s ability to negotiate both the Latin and Anglo worlds is useful, and he finds himself taking on another identity as a player in the new political and economic environment. Privately, Richard continues to explore his sexuality. The author’s careful prose works well with Richard’s dispassionate way of conveying his life story. (Reviewed May 15, 1997)0
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