The Truce

Once in a while you read a book about the journey of one’s life that touches you deeply; this was the case with Mario Benedetti’s The Truce, a book translated from the author’s native Spanish language.  The book is written in a “journal format” with daily entries by the protagonist, a forty-nine year old man (Martín Santomé), beginning in February 11 and ends February 28 the following year.  Martin, a widower of 22 years, works in a government accounting office and has three children, all in their 20s.  His wife died during the childbirth process of their third child, Jaime.  The other two children, Estaben the oldest, and Blanca the middle child all live with the father.  Over the course of the year Martin is faced with the idea of retiring at 50 (man can one believe that?  Who retires at that age now?) and is encouraged by his son Estaben.  Over the course of his journal entries, Martin explores his relationship with his children, his lost life with his wife, and a developing relationship with one of his staffers, a young woman (Avellaneda) who is the same age as his children. Benedetti perfectly captures the anguish and internal debate the widowed father has first, for the feelings he has for the woman, second for the challenge of how to share this with his children, and third for the development of the budding relationship with Avellaneda while working with her side by side in the office each day.  For 22 years Martin has satisfied his sexual needs with 1-1 secret trysts with women he meets on the street and through colleagues who visit the shop.  Martin also has trouble with understanding the relationships he has with his own children, having played father and mother to his children.  Martin’s youngest son disappears from the family after announcing that he is gay, a troubling lifestyle during the period in which the story was set (circa 1960s).  The love story that evolves is quite beautiful and the author takes painstaking measures to present in a way that is quite beautiful.  Finally through his struggle of realizing the thirty year difference between he and Avellaneda is something superficial because of the love he has for her, Martin faces his final fate once again…. well, I will leave that part out as I don’t want to ruin the ending for you.  Being 49 years old and thinking about what life would be like as a widowed man, I felt a real connection to the feelings that Benedetti described in the book.  What a joyous and sad book all wrapped into one.  I hear that the book is also a movie… (you know how I feel about books into movies…oh well).  This is a very poetic read with extreme character development for a very short book.  Exploration of a father and a man nearing the “declining days of his life”.  I guess in today’s world it would be a 69 year old man J  Definitely worth reading.