The Setting: There’s a lot going on in this Argentinian novel set in Buenos Aires in 1977, during the days of the iron-fisted military dictatorship that terrorized its own people. Thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured and ‘disappeared.’ The story is told in flashbacks by a gay man who’s in his 80’s now and who had been in his fifties when these events occurred.
(Spoilers follow)
The Story: Our main character is a gay high-school literature teacher. He tries to keep a low profile as, one-by-one, his friends and students disappear. It’s risky to go out evenings, but he picks up men in bars and bathhouses. Several times he and a companion are beaten up by police — he’s even hospitalized once. Often the cops take their money.