Gringolandia

I would recommend this novel to high school teachers, especially in Social Studies. An old adage about historical fiction is reinforced by this book: History tells you what happened; historical fiction tells you how it felt.

I've just finished reading GRINGOLANDIA by Lyn Miller-Lachmann. Now I want to tell everyone I know to read this amazing book. Once I began GRINGOLANDIA, I couldn't put it down. A generally slow reader with numerous obligations and interests, I stopped everything to read this book. It's a historically accurate novel about Chile under the Pinochet regime and the effects of the Pinochet regime on the population. The main characters, Daniel, Marcelo/Nino (his father), Tina (Daniel's sister) and Courtney (Daniel's girlfriend) are vivid, believable and haunting. Written in a way that is suitable for Young Adult readers, GRINGOLANDIA is a must-read for any adult, high school or college student concerned about the horrors of torture and political repression. GRINGOLANDIA begins in Santiago, Chile in 1980, when Daniel awakens to see his father being beaten, tortured and hauled away: Someone grabbed Daniel by the hair and jerked his head back. He looked up into the covered face of the tall one. The boss. The man's eyes were black and terrifying in the shadow, and his mouth, a little round hole cut out of the mask, moved like the mouth of a robot. "Boy, you watch this," he snarled. "This is what happens to communists." Daniel, his mother and sister flee Chile and find refuge in Madison, Wisconsin. Six years later, Daniel returns to Chile to visit and to help his father's fight against the Pinochet regime. I want this beautiful country of my birth, where I have spent the past two weeks, to be a safe place for people to live. GRINGOLANDIA concludes in 1991. Pinochet is no longer in power and the country is healing. Marcelo, now living in his own home in Santiago, has a parrot that he has rescued from a cruel neighbor. The beauty of it all filled the hole inside, where torturers had tried to beat out or burn away every emotion except the fear and rage that they expected would eventually consume me. ..."I'm healing, too," I said. "Just give me time."

On October 23, 1980, 12-year-old Daniel Aguilar awoke to a crash and his mother's screams from the living room of his family's apartment in Santiago, Chile. When the young boy got out of bed, soldiers held a gun to his head until his mother told them where his father was hiding. For this reason, Daniel always blamed himself for his father's arrest. If not for him, then Marcelo Aguilar, AKA "Nino" and writer for the underground newspaper Justicia, would not have been sent to prison to endure years of torture at the hands of dictator Pinochet's cruel regime. Six years later, Daniel and the rest of his family anxiously await his father's release to their new home in Madison, Wisconsin. Now a junior in high school, Daniel has adjusted well to life in the United States, playing guitar with his band and for the church that his girlfriend Courtney's father runs. An extensive letter-writing campaign has finally freed Marcelo, who now joins them in exile in "Gringolandia," away from his compatriots who still suffer and die on the streets and in the prisons of Chile. Although Daniel wishes for a close relationship with the hero father he's admired all of these years, he and his family could never have prepared themselves for dealing with the man who bears more scars than his broken body can show. As Marcelo wrestles with his own internal conflict and spirals into a pit of self-destruction, Courtney takes it upon herself to rescue him in any way, and makes it her personal mission to bring Marcelo's cause to the ears of anyone who will listen. But, for Daniel, it's not all about his father's cause, and he may end up risking everything just to set things right in his own world. This politically charged novel brings a powerful twist of humanity to the stories that most Americans simply read about in the news. The aftermath and reconciliation of Marcelo's horrific experiences feel very real, and the effects that they have on the rest of the novel's characters can be quite unexpected at times, making the reader anxious to learn of the outcome. I must note that readers with a weak stomach may find it hard to make it through this book, simply for the descriptions of grisly torture techniques and the resulting physical and emotional scars they leave on their victims. Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

Gringolandia is a novel for young adults about a young Chilean-American. Disturbed by troubled memories of his father's arrest, Daniel Aguilar has escaped from the brutality of Pinochet's Chile. When his father is released and rejoins the family, Daniel sees firsthand what harsh imprisonment can do - his father is partially paralyzed, subject to nightmares, and resents his exile to "Gringolandia". As Daniel seeks to reconnect with his father, he must also confront the turmoil and struggle for democracy in the home nation he thought he left behind for the rest of his life. A thoughtful and emotionally moving story, highly recommended.

I found this book an excellent read . The resemblance to the situation in Iran now is profound . I would reccomend this book to all avid readers ..