A gay young man in Argentina at the time of the Generals and the part he plays in his country's transition to democracy. After his Argentine father has died, Richard Garay lives with his English mother in a small apartment in Buenos Aires. He's gay but timid and is used by handsome Jorge as cover for Jorge's own heterosexual escapades. After the seizure of Las Malvinas/ The Falkland Islands and the subsequent defeat of the Argentine military, Richard is introduced to CIA operatives Donald and Susan and becomes a sort of political gopher. He begins to grow rich as a political consultant and by enabling fraudulent and corrupt practices. Meanwhile he visits gay bars and bath-houses as well as picking up strangers on the street. He meets Pablo, Jorge's gay brother, and they fall in love. But disaster is awaiting him.
It's a tale about the price that must be paid for the loss of innocence.
It was written in what seemed like a very staid prose style with short, mostly declarative sentences. It's very realistic and quite addictive: I found myself thinking to the rhythm of Garay's interior monologue.
The are some complex characters. It's very hard to understand the emotions lying behind how the characters behave and their inconsistencies create a feeling of depth. This is particularly true of the CIA operatives as one would expect - they are professionally Protean - but there are unsolved mysteries throughout. My favourite moment was when Pablo appears to vanish from the sauna. This somehow symbolised the novel: that nothing is quite as it seems, and that no-one can be pinned down.
The plot's a bit like that too. Like life, it seems to be just one thing after another. It ends mid-scene. Like life.
Toibin has also written (reviewed in this blog):
June 2025; 312 pages
First published by Picador in 1996.
My paperback edition was issued in 2024
Synopsis of the full plot: spoiler alert
Richard grows up. His (Argentine) father dies and they discover that there is no family money: they can keep the house but his (English) mum has to go to work. His mum takes him to his aunt's place in the countryside; they discover she is very poor. Playing with his cousins they strip and masturbate but when he tries to kiss Jose, Jose rejects him. His uncle refuses to support them and they go home to Buenos Aires.
At college Jorge, whom he fancies, befriends him, although he too rejects any idea of being gay. He goes on a trip to Barcelona with Jorge. Here they meet Chilean exiles, one of whom has been tortured. Richard pretends to be asleep while Jorge has sex with a girl (and on a later day, another. the one he actually fancies) on the bed next to him. He thinks Jorge takes a long time to come! When they leave, Jorge wants to stay anonymous but Richard, politically innocent, gives his address to one of the girls.
When his mother asks him if Jorge is gay, he comes out to her.
His mother dies. He is now free to meet strangers on the street and bring them home. He goes to gay saunas. He supports Argentina rather than England during the Falklands War. He works as a part-time English teacher.
Following their defeat in the war, the military dictatorship running Argentina is discredited and the country must transition to democracy. Jorge's father wants to stand for president and arranges that Richard works with Donald and Susan, CIA operatives who might help. He acts as a consultant to Donald and Susan and they find him a job escorting economists from the IMF who are suggesting how Argentina can reduce public spending; Richard is brought face to face with public inefficiency and corruption. He then gets involved in the privatisation of the oil industry.
He meets Jorge's brother Pablo and fancies him. They play tennis and skinny dip. On another day, Richard goes to a new gay sauna, a labyrinthine place including a room where gay porn is being screened, and sees Pablo there but Pablo vanishes.
Richard sets up as a business consultant. Frederico, an oil businessman, offers him an opportunity to make money through a fraudulent contract. Richard refuses twice but on the third time he agrees. He also starts investing in the stock market, becoming rich.
He works with Susan and Donald with another presidential hopeful, the governor from a remote state. Susan starts having an affair with Jorge.
He has sex with an American and for the first time is required to use a condom: the American fears AIDS. He meets Pablo again and they have sex and fall in love, moving into a posh house. Pablo invites friends from his ten years in California; Matt has AIDS. Richard and Pablo go to a bath-house where Richard has sex with a stranger. Matt and Jack return to California.
Donald finds out about Susan and Jorge. Donald and Susan return to Washington.
Matt is about to die. Pablo goes to California to help look after him. He starts failing to answer phone calls. Richard is in Miami for work; when he returns he sees that Pablo has moved out.
Richard develops pneumonia and is told he has AIDS. He moves back to his old apartment. At the doctor's surgery, he encounters Pablo; he too has AIDS. They decide to go back to the posh house and live together for mutual support.
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