An agile novel written in a language perfectly pitched for the subject matter, a ruthless dissection of a fast decaying society”—José Saramago
Three bodies lie at the bottom of a swimming pool in a gated country estate near Buenos Aires. It’s Thursday night at the magnificent Scaglia house. Behind the locked gates, shielded from the crime, poverty and filth of the people on the streets, the Scaglias and their friends hide lives of infidelity, alcoholism, and abusive marriage. Claudia Piñeiro’s novel eerily foreshadowed a criminal case that generated a scandal in the Argentine media. But this is more than a story about crime. The suspense is a by-product of Piñeiro’s hand at crafting a psychological portrait of a professional class that lives beyond its means and leads secret lives of deadly stress and despair. It takes place during the post 9/11 economic melt-down in Argentina but it’s a universal story that will resonate among credit-crunched readers of today.
Production is expected in 2009 of the film of Thursday Night Widows, by Argentine new wave and award winning director Marcelo Piñeyro.
“A razor-sharp psychological and social portrait not only of Argentina, but of the affluent Western world as a whole.”—Rosa Montero
Cascade Heights (twinned with Stepford) is a exclusive community that has its own rules and regulations, a bubble of supposed perfection where according to the residents even had its own unique smell that changed with the seasons, there wasn't a hedge or cable in sight and the residents never locked their doors. This story is narrated from the perspectives of numerous residents of this apparent eutopia, a group of people who went out of their way to hide the imperfections in their lives behind their own personal masks. We all know that nothing in life is truly perfect and that there are often many secrets hiding within the walls and front doors of people's homes. The doors of these residents opened into world's of domestic abuse, anxiety and paranoia, money worries, parenting issues, control and manipulation. Basically all the same types of issues that the people living outside their bubble were dealing with every day. I can't say that I thought any of the adult characters were very likeable especially Mariana although two of them did go up in my estimations when I reached the end of the story. My favourite characters were Ramona and Juani, two youngsters who were just trying to be normal teenagers in a world where they were constantly being judged and found wanting.
This is a domestic drama with a added lesson in Argentinean history and a dash of thriller. I will be honest and admit that the first time I started this book, the story didn't hook me in which was probably just down to my state of mind at that time. The second time I tried reading it I found myself drawn into the author's fictional but realistic world of wealth and perfection and the lives of the diverse characters who resided within the pages. I enjoyed certain elements of the story more than others, I loved how the author ended the story and would happily read more of this author's books in the future.
AUTHOR BIO
Claudia Piñeiro was a journalist, playwright and television scriptwriter and in 1992 won the prestigious Pléyade journalism award. She has more recently turned to fiction and is the author of literary crime novels that are all bestsellers in Latin America and have been translated into four languages. This novel won the Clarin Prize for fiction and is her first title to be available in English.
The Translator
Miranda France wrote Bad Times in Buenos Aires which in essay form won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize in The Spectator magazine. A book by the same title was published in 1998 and met with great critical acclaim. The New York Times described it as ‘a remarkable achievement’ and the Sunday Times as ‘an outstanding book
PUBLICATION DATE: 21st January 2010
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