John Segovia, a lost teacher of English living in Piura, Peru, struggles to come to terms with the murder of his young wife Pilar by an anonymous city taxi driver, leaving him to bring up his infant daughter Mariangel all alone.
The novel intertwines John’s personal fragmented version of events with the complex history of South America into which he has been drawn and become enthralled with. He is an unreliable and traumatised narrator, keeping his searing grief close to the surface and his obsessive desire to find the murderer and exact revenge simmering away furiously, while nursing a loving, growing relationship with his young daughter.
Pacazo is a beautiful adventure in structure and language, and a brave, honest exploration of extreme and conflicting emotion.
Comments