Not to make light of Carnaval’s predicament or anything, but when I read “again and again he counted the pages he had not read, by touch alone,” I couldn’t help but laugh, as I had just done this several times with nearly that many pages to go. Well maybe I used my eyes just a bit too... I finished the book, but am still not keen on it.
I get lost in metaphoric language, and jumbling of characters. Now I’m really not sure why it is called the president, and not Miguel Angel Face and Camila. I just don’t find
This said, I found myself for some reason wanting to know more about the Indian man that Canales met on his journey into exile. I thought his painful story was effectively conveyed, and I felt very sympathetic for his plight.
The biggest message I got from this story is the absolute pervasiveness authority, and the feeling of helplessness that comes with living under such a regime. It’s very big brotherish – everyone is being watched by everyone. Carnaval’s wife is asking an important question on 219 essentially when she wonders how fellow human beings can treat each other in such a way. Where is their humanity? Time and time again people have been put into similar predicaments. We can ask the same question about the holocaust. How can so many people be party to such brutality and inequity? Why aren’t there more people who resist? This is clearly a true testament to just how powerful the authority is that it can create that kind of peon groupthink that suppresses any natural moral sense in countless individuals.
I was also confused by the “conversation in the Darkness,” as I didn’t understand really why the speakers are only numbered at first then named later.
Oh and how long is a “league” exactly? Just curious...
