The premise is fantastic. A war breaks out. A war that never was declared and nobody talks about openly. A war between the old and the young. I almost wonder why this wasn’t enough to keep this book from falling into oblivion. I heard about Bioy Casares „The Invention of Morel“ and wanted to read it. But this book and the even lesser known „The Adventures of a Photographer in La Plata“ were the ones I could get my hands on.
The story is told from the view of Isidoro Vidal, a single man approaching the age of 60, living with his son in an apartment and following his daily routine of hanging out with „the boys“. Nothing new happens anymore, the conversations follow defined rules, nothing is expected as one day follows the other. Until juvenile death squads start hunting older people. Their motives aren’t clear. The government doesn’t take position. The further development is unclear. Suddenly, old patterns are broken. A friend of Isidoro gets killed, others get hurt or are abducted. A young woman develops a romantic interest out of the blue, he moves in with her and leaves his son.
There are common themes with the above mentioned Adventures of a Photographer which I read before this. The uncertainty of reality, things not being what they seem. Odd things going on in society. The estrangement of humans and the inability to live together without conflicts. Conceptually, this is the stronger book. It lacks the lightness of the Adventures but makes up for this with depth. It’s about an important topic most of us have to face: old age and all the disadvantages associated with it.