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A poignant novel about Ismael and his wife Otilia in the Colombian village of San José, which is slowly being destroyed by various armies – guerrillas, paramilitaries, the army and drug gangs. A powerful portrayal of the senselessness of civil war and the
Armies (2006) by Colombian writer Evelio Rosero is one of the most powerful novels about the Colombian Civil War. The story takes place in the seemingly idyllic village of San José.
Retired professor Ismael Pasos and his wife Otilia live a peaceful life until the violence of various armed groups – guerrillas, paramilitaries, the state army and drug cartels – slowly engulfs the entire town. Ismael, who likes to watch his neighbor Geraldine, becomes a helpless witness to kidnappings, murders, robberies and the disappearance of loved ones. When Otilia also disappears during one of the attacks, his world completely collapses.
Rosero writes precisely, rawly and without unnecessary pathos. The novel is at once an intimate story about aging, love and loss and a universal allegory of the violence that destroys community and the human spirit. The book won the prestigious Tusquets award in 2006 and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in the UK in 2009.
Armies is a masterpiece of contemporary Latin American literature – a dark, disturbing and deeply humane account of the horrors of Colombia's long-running conflict, which transcends its local context and becomes a universal story of war, fear and human vulnerability.
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