O lapis do carpinteiro

Pocketbok, 148 sidor

På Galician

Publicerades maj 1998 av Edicións Xerais de Galicia.

ISBN:: 978-84-8302-261-0
OCLC-nummer:: 39356330

O lapis do carpinteiro é unha historia de amor, melancolía e liberdade. Un grande amor en tempo de guerra e posguerra que chega ós nosos días entre Marisa Mallo, unha fermosa moza de Fronteira, filla dunha familia reaccionaria e o médico republicano Daniel Da Barca, posuídor da beleza tísica e seguidor da teoría da realidade intelixente do doutor Nóvoa Santos. Fronte a eles a mirada escrutadora dun home que non tiña medo, Herbal, o garda da cadea da Falcona que verá restaurada a súa condición de ser humano por obra e gracia de tantas formas de amor como o lapis do carpinteiro lle foi ensinando a debuxar. O lapis do carpinteiro é testemuño dunha traxedia curativa, unha metáfora de tódalas guerras, unha loita contra o esquecemento que demostra o poder salvífico do amor. Esta excepcional novela ficará no lector gravada coma un engrama, coma o sulco dunha cicatriz que rescata …

O lapis do carpinteiro é unha historia de amor, melancolía e liberdade. Un grande amor en tempo de guerra e posguerra que chega ós nosos días entre Marisa Mallo, unha fermosa moza de Fronteira, filla dunha familia reaccionaria e o médico republicano Daniel Da Barca, posuídor da beleza tísica e seguidor da teoría da realidade intelixente do doutor Nóvoa Santos. Fronte a eles a mirada escrutadora dun home que non tiña medo, Herbal, o garda da cadea da Falcona que verá restaurada a súa condición de ser humano por obra e gracia de tantas formas de amor como o lapis do carpinteiro lle foi ensinando a debuxar. O lapis do carpinteiro é testemuño dunha traxedia curativa, unha metáfora de tódalas guerras, unha loita contra o esquecemento que demostra o poder salvífico do amor. Esta excepcional novela ficará no lector gravada coma un engrama, coma o sulco dunha cicatriz que rescata o mellor da nosa memoria.

4 utgåvor

Björn recenserade The Carpenter's Pencil av Manuel Rivas

None

3 stjärnor

A story about two men - a Francoist jailer and a Republican prisoner-of-war - and one woman (and one ghost) set in and around the Spanish civil war. Avoids the obvious traps of either becoming a maudlin love triangle or an angry political novel, thanks both to Rivas' almost-too-poetic prose and the central idea: The story is, for the most part, narrated by the one who'd ordinarily be the bad guy - Herbal, the man who fought for Franco, who became a jailer and an executioner ridding the fascists of political prisoners, and who then becomes haunted by the soul of a painter kills. He takes the painter's pencil, puts it behind his ear, and cannot stop hearing his voice; empathy forced upon those who can't use it.

It's a great idea, and Rivas' prose is often stunningly beautiful. The problem, if there is such a thing because this is …

A story about two men - a Francoist jailer and a Republican prisoner-of-war - and one woman (and one ghost) set in and around the Spanish civil war. Avoids the obvious traps of either becoming a maudlin love triangle or an angry political novel, thanks both to Rivas' almost-too-poetic prose and the central idea: The story is, for the most part, narrated by the one who'd ordinarily be the bad guy - Herbal, the man who fought for Franco, who became a jailer and an executioner ridding the fascists of political prisoners, and who then becomes haunted by the soul of a painter kills. He takes the painter's pencil, puts it behind his ear, and cannot stop hearing his voice; empathy forced upon those who can't use it.

It's a great idea, and Rivas' prose is often stunningly beautiful. The problem, if there is such a thing because this is a quite good novel, is that its two strengths don't necessarily pull in the same direction. Rivas gets so busy shifting perspective, timelines and character focus that the novel gets a bit vaguer than I'd like, at least for a holiday read (which is my bad). In bits and pieces it's breathtaking, I just feel like the heart of it gets lost a bit at times. But very worthwhile nonetheless, and definitely marked for a re-read at some point.