A Sımple Story (Una historia sencilla)

A Sımple Story (Una historia sencilla)

Novel | Caballo de Troya, 2011. | 138 pages
A Sımple Story tells the story of a middle-class Argentine family against the backdrop of the clash between Peronism and anti-Peronism.

Narrated by Matïas, the youngest child, the novel traces with seeming ease, various  plot lines against the canvas of a turbulent country: that of Julián, a pleasant, attractive, ever adolescent father; that of Nelly, the mother, the daughter of Calvinist immigrants of British roots, the rabidly anti-Peronist, faithful, self-sacrificing wife; that of Jorge, eight years older than Matías, who in the late 70’s enters the university to study philosophy at which point his political consciousness awakens, which leads him to become active in Peronist youth organizations and in the Montoneros; and that of Julia, five years older than Matías, possessed of a strong, independent character, which studies economics, wants to do away with capitalism and is an active Trotskyite.

The fates of these characters allow the author to discuss the dilemmas facing a generation of Argentinians.

Growing up, Matías observes a reality that comes crashing down on him as he goes through the rites of initiation faced by any adolescent. Years later he remembers those times. “Sobbing she told me “your father died this morning” and a dark emptiness came over me. Then I understand that it is when your parents start to die that we really start to be left alone.”

The narrative starts in 1943 and covers Peron’s first government, dictatorship, repression and the tragedy of the disappeared.

Constantino Bertolo, the publisher, points out on the book jacket that the Spanish have always been incapable of understanding Peronism, but that this novel will bring about a change.

The title of this magnificent novel contains a productiıve irony: making one of the planet’s most complex contemporary national histories simpleBabelia,  El País

There is a lack of texts like this, even though people have been writing a great deal about the subject for quite a while now. Laura Alcoba

Una historia sencilla adopts a Cervantes-like point of view that strives for an understanding of the motives that lead the characters to behave in one way or the other…The language and syntax (of an engaging, friendly, even comical  tone close to orality) remind one of the links between the author and Alfredo Bryce Echenique. Elvira Navarro

There is in Luis Velasco’s novel a Pedro Páramo deconstructed, which along with historical time that advances with the clock, weaves the simultaneity of memories. Clara Obligado

Published bySpanish worldwide Caballo de Troya, Random House Mondadori