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Awesome for the authenticity of its vernacular style and the incandescence of its lyricism, One Day of Life depicts a typical day in the life of a peasant family caught up in the terror and corruption of civil war in El Salvador. 5:30 A.M. in Chalate, a small rural town: Lupe, the grandmother of the Guardado family and the central figure of the novel, is up and about doing her chores. By 5:00 P.M. the plot of the novel has been resolved, with the Civil Guard's search for and interrogation of Lupe's young granddaughter, Adolfina. Told entirely from the perspective of the resilient women of the Guardado family, One Day of Life is not only a disturbing and inspiring evocation of the harsh realities of peasant life in El Salvador after fifty years of military exploitation; it is also a mercilessly accurate dramatization of the relationship of the peasants to both the state and the church. Translated from the Spanish by Bill Brow… (more)
User reviews
As an American, I can recall hearing the stories during the 70s and 80s of these death squads. It's easy to forget, but this book puts a reader right in the middle of that horror, but in a way that emphasizes the humanity of the situation.
Argueta was a well known author when this novel, his third, was published in 1980, the El Salvadorean authorities ordered the confiscation of all copies and forbade the printing of any further editions. Argueta was forced into a 10-year exile in Costa Rica. He is now back in El Salvador where he serves as the Director of Art and Culture at the national university, the University of El Salvador, in San Salvador.
I found this book at random in a used bookstore, having never heard of it or of Argueta. It's amazing how a random pickup like this can, in 215 beautiful pages, open up a whole world of historical knowledge for a heretofore ignorant reader.