(reviewed by JD Jung)
“Pieces of the past arrive that either frighten me or invite me to a reunion. It’s what I see, what I hear. The rest I imagine…”
A seventy-year-old lawyer decides to abandon his current life in Brasília and move back to his hometown in the Northeast, buying a small ranch in the middle of nowhere to harvest cotton. However, his main objective is to reunite with a long-lost childhood love and avenge the murder of his father who died when he was only two years old.
“When I get to Black Creek and above all when I visit Várzea Pacífica, I will still face this fact of the past that doesn’t stop tormenting me…”
But can one return to the past, and not expect it to have changed? Though our narrator acknowledges this possibility, he believes that if he doesn’t pursue this mission, his life would have been “wasted years, spent without purpose”.
The story shifts back and forth in time, so we, the readers, learn about the history of our emotionally flawed protagonist and how it affects his current decisions. We also learn about disparities in race and class, which continue to exist.
At only 128 pages, this novella leaves nothing wanting. It is well structured , not only conveying emotion, but also suspense as he embarks on his current journey into the past. The events took me be by surprise, and I didn’t see a lot of it coming.
The translated prose is poetic while feeling genuine and sincere. The above verses are just a few examples of this. It is emotional without falling into the trap of over-sentimentalizing.
The Last Twist of the Knife not only serves as a cautionary tale of romanticizing the past, but is a poignant and satisfying read.
