The Carpenter's Pencil

By Manuel Rivas

Manuel Rivas has been heralded as one of the brightest in a new wave of Spanish writers influenced by Spanish and European traditions, as well as by the history of Spain over the past seventy years. A bestseller in Spain, The Carpenter's Pencil has been published in nine countries.

Set in the dark days of the Spanish Civil War, The Carpenter's Pencil charts the linked destinies of a remarkable cast of unique characters. All are bound by the events of the Civil War-the artists and the peasants alike-and all are brought to life, in Rivas's skillful hand, with the power of the carpenter's pencil, a pencil that draws both the measured line and the artist's dazzling vision.

Translated from the Galician by Jonathan Dunne.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Aug 1, 2002
• ISBN: 9781468305258

Reviews for The Carpenter's Pencil

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Carpenter's Pencil is set in 1936 and concerns early months of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's brutal suppression of any opposition. It is a portrayal of those involved on both sides of the conflict.The story contains two main characters - Doctor Daniel da Barca and the prison guard, Herbal. Herbal is the narrator so it is through his eyes that we see the doctor. Herbal is a conflicted character, both fascinated and hating the doctor and at the same time, at times his persecutor and others his protector. In contrast the doctor is portrayed as having almost religious qualities, working tirelessly to treat his fellow prisoners whilst seemingly having divine protection akin to the biblical character that he is named after. On his release from prison the doctor goes into exile in America and only returns to his native Galicia after Franco's death.The story is told many years after the end of the civil war and moves backwards and forwards through time and from one viewpoint to another. Herbal is recounting the doctor's story to a young prostitute in a brothel. Early in the book Herbal blows the top off the head of an artist. The pencil in the title is one used by the artist to sketch a church porch in which the faces of the prophets and elders are replaced by the heads of his fellow Republican prisoners. Herbal takes the pencil as a keepsake, but finds when he puts it behind his ear that the artist has conversations with him about art and Da Barca. But this isn't a book that is full of doom and gloom because alongside the horror there is also an enduring love story.The book is little more than a novella (my copy had 160 pages) and the writing is poetic in nature. But it isn't overblown poetry but simple and powerful poetical phrases that evoke imagery and emotions perfectly and is full of humanity and tenderness. As one of the blurbs on the back of my copy states "I have rarely read a piece of writing so poetic."Perhaps I wanted to enjoy this book too much or perhaps I just wanted and hoped to learn more about a conflict that I know little about but despite really admiring the writing style, at the end of this book I felt a little disappointed. The book was originally written in the author's native Galician so perhaps it lost something in translation. But don't let me put you off as all the same I would heartily recommend it to anyone who admires great writing and certainly wouldn't shy away from reading another of the author's works.