Publisher’s write-up:
‘Fins and Brinco are best friends, and they both adore the wild and
beautiful Leda. The three young friends spend their days exploring the dunes
and picking through the treasures that the sea washes on to the shores of
Galicia. One day, as they are playing in the abandoned school on the edge of
the village, they come across treasure of another kind: a huge cache of whisky
hidden under a sheet. But before they can exploit their discovery a shot rings
out, and a man wearing an impeccable white suit and panama hat enters the room.
That day they learn the most important lesson of all, that the mouth is for
keeping quiet.’
Note: The book is originally in Galician, I read its French
translation. Cliquez ici pour lire mon avis en français
All is Silence is a Galician novel from the Spanish author Manuel
Rivas, who is known for promoting works of literature in Galician. In this
book, he tells the story of a small village in Galicia called Noitia, which is
under the control of the patriarch of the village – Mariscal; who controls the
village’s contraband economy.
The story starts by recalling the friendship between three
youngsters – Fins, Leda and Brinco and follows their path of growing up. Leda
and Brinco follow the patron of the village Mariscal by entering the drug trade
whereas Fins becomes a police officer. The story focuses on the change in their
life and the change in the village and Galicia at large given the impact of
globalisation, including in the drug trade.
The description of the Galician landscape by the author was
beautiful, and also thanks to the cover of the
French edition that I had (attached in this review), I could visualise the
village of Noitia, the city of La Coruña, the mountains and the sea. The author
also used several allusions, from Latin, French, Greek and also some Galician
folktales adding a poetic aspect to the writing.
Despite the good writing and my journey through Galicia through his
words, a novel needs a plot to save itself. It is not often that I read 295
pages and at the end of it, I did not quite understand the story that the
author wanted to tell through this book. Manuel Rivas started by describing the
village and the three teenagers, introduced several characters immediately
without giving me time to absorb or understand any of them. I must say that the
write-up by my French publisher was excellent which immediately made me curious
to read the book, given it was an interesting premise with three close friends
from childhood, choosing a radically different path in a changing world.
We are given to know that Fins is a police officer but throughout
the plot, we never saw him carry out any investigation or even ask questions;
just took a few photos which had no impact on the plot. I got the impression
that Fins, Leda and Brinco were the main characters but the book had the
overwhelming presence of Mariscal all over.
In any novel, the author tries to create a world and bring the
reader into this world. However, I found that Manuel Rivas kept the door locked
and kept the keys to himself that I could never enter this world. I would have
liked to extend a benefit of doubt, as to how much was lost in translation,
however, it is difficult for me to justify such a benefit of doubt given I can
understand losing certain nuances but not the whole plot altogether.
To conclude, it was a cumbersome read, which was still a well
written novel, just without any story to tell. I award the book a rating of
four on ten.
Rating – 4/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
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