Kamchatka

By Marcelo Figueras

In Buenos Aires, in the mid-1970s, a ten-year-old boy lives in world of school lessons and Superman comics, TV shows, and games of Risk—a world in which men have superpowers and boys can conquer the globe on a square of cardboard. But in the outside world, a military junta have taken power; and amid a political climate of fear and intimidation, people are beginning to disappear without trace. . . When his mother unexpectedly takes the boy and his kid brother out of classes, she tells them they're going on an impromptu family "holiday." But he soon realizes that the rules of the game are shifting. This will be no holiday: his parents are known supporters of the opposition, and they are going into hiding. . . Holed up in a ramshackle safe-house in the remote hills outside the city, they assume new identities and make believe that life continues as normal. Naming himself Harry, after his hero Houdini, the boy spends his days of enforced exile learning the secrets of escape. And in a world of seeming chaos and uncertainty, he attempts to imagine he has control over himself and his surroundings. A deeply moving and wise novel, written with immense heart, Kamchatka is an adventure story about a young boy forced to square fantasy against reality when reality and all its trappings—family, politics, history, and time itself—are more improbable than any fiction. Ultimately, it is a novel about the imaginative spaces we retreat to when we need to make sense of an unimaginable world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9780857893611

Reviews for Kamchatka

[katiekrug · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story of a 10 year old boy forced into hiding with his parents and younger brother during the “Dirty War” in Argentina is told in two voices - the young “Harry” and the older one recounting his story. The story is told in short episodes and much of the context of the story is ambiguous, just as it probably would have been to a young boy. He’s pulled out of school, given a new name, and moved out of the city in which he has grown up - all major upheavals which we follow him trying to make sense of, trying to assert order in a chaotic, uncertain world. What I loved most about this novel was how Figueras portrays “Harry” and his family - it’s a beautiful portrait of one’s relationships with parents and siblings, at times loving and warm and at others frustrating and incomprehensible. But it feels very real, and despite everything that they are going through, one feels how lucky they are.

[wassilissa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

1976 in Argentinien. Die regimekritischen Eltern des Ich-Erzählers müssen nach dem Militärputsch untertauchen und verstecken sich mit ihren Kindern in einem Landhaus. Der Leser versteht natürlich, was hier abläuft und auch der mittlerweile erwachsene Erzähler weiß es nun. Das Kind Harry, wie er sich im Versteck nach dem Entfesslungskünstler Harry Houdini nennt (der ebenfalls ursprünglich einen anderen Namen hatte) muss sich hingegen vieles zusammenreimen und deuten. So kommt es zu herzzerreißenden Szenen, wenn die Eltern die Normalität aufrecht erhalten möchten und die Kinder sich wegen Kleinigkeiten beschweren, wo doch eigentlich die Existenz bedroht ist.Das Buch wartet mit einer Fülle von hervorragenden Bildern und Metaphern auf, Houdini, die Kröten, Superman, religion, das Risiko-Spiel und natürlich Kamtschatka, das uneinnehmbare Land. Die Personen sind absolut hervorragend dargestellt. Es ist ein großartiges, wunderbares Buch. Es ist tieftraurig (ich habe bereits wieder Tränen in den Augen) und doch hat es auch einen feinen Humor ("Das Leben ist ungerecht, aber es hat seine Momente").