June 23, 2014
The eighth novel from Brazilian author Ribeiro (I Would Have Loved Him, If I Had Not Killed Him) is a disturbing tale of diplomatic duplicity in South America that covers the 1960s through the 2000s, concentrating most closely on the dirty wars of the 1970s. Drawing on his personal experience as diplomat, Ribeiro brings color and authenticity to this cautionary tale. The unnamed narrator, a member of Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, observes Marcílio Andrade Xavier, known to everyone as Max, take on various embassy and consulate postings throughout South America while spying on friends and enemies alike. Max divests himself of any vestiges of youthful idealism, mastering the art of intrigue and adapting easily to dramatic political shifts. He betrays his own countrymen, helps to destabilize the governments of Uruguay and Chile, leaks sensitive information to discredit a rival, and treats his wife and children with cold detachment. As the narrator points out, Max is the perfect diplomat for an era in which military coups and Cold War power plays rendered democracy expendable. This novel offers a fascinating look at South American politics and revolution while simultaneously anatomizing a man without a soul.
Starred review from September 1, 2014
Labyrinthine conspiracies and betrayals highlight this novel of South American upheaval, abetted by the CIA and British intelligence. Named the best novel of 2011 in the author's native Brazil, this tale of international intrigue (Graham Greene might provide the best comparison) shows how malleable concepts of left and right, and right and wrong, can be during extended periods of political unrest and military repression. A diplomat with the Brazilian Foreign Service before turning to journalism, criticism and fiction (I Would Have Loved Him if I Had Not Killed Him, 1994), the author may well have experienced some of what he writes, for his nuanced and psychologically incisive rendering of survival strategies and personal costs rings true. At the heart of the novel is a half-century's relationship between the narrator, a career Brazilian diplomat, and the mysterious Max, the narrator's colleague and initially his friend, though Max shows himself capable of serving opposing causes and countries, sometimes simultaneously. As he explains, "[c]onvictions are a luxury my friend. Reserved for those who don't play the game." And Max apparently plays the game very well, though there's often some question as to who's using (or watching) whom. "We seemed to be part of a large-scale puzzle, in which numerous pieces were missing," says the narrator, who discovers that those pieces include cocaine, nuclear weaponry, sexual indiscretion, American subterfuge and the systematic dismantling of democracy throughout South America, most often through military juntas with outside support. But if this was a game, the losers paid a dear price: "I found myself thinking that, in the space of a generation, thousands of people south of the equator had been imprisoned, tortured, and killed in the name of priorities long since forgotten," the narrator says. "What place could there be for dramas now relegated to the academic world-on a planet deprived of memory?" A masterful novel that extends over decades and continents yet remains focused on the complexities of individual characters.
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September 1, 2014
During South America's twentieth-century era of ugly wars, military coups, and civilian disappearances, playboy-diplomat Marc-lio Andrade Xavier seems poised to continue his rise to power within the diminishing inner circles of the elite. Called Max by cronies, contacts, and confidantes, an opportunist by trade and a chameleon by necessity, Max smooth-talks and sidesteps his way through decades of political manipulation, convincing even the unwitting woman who becomes his wife that he is more (or less!) than who he claims to be. This page-turner strikes an especially chilling note because Ribeiro not only gives the Terror a human face, but also one that appears enticing, beguiling, and exciting. As Max's exploits expand beyond Brazil and Latin America and the narrator implicates key figureheads at U.S. and British intelligence agencies, the truly international measure of the conspiracy comes to light. A historically grounded and fascinating follow-up to Ribeiro's first novel, I Would Have Loved Him, if I Had Not Killed Him (1996), this is yet another successful coup for this journalist and diplomat turned novelist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)