The Killer’s Tears by Anne-Laure Bondoux
Every now and then you run into a book that simply will not fit into a category. This is one of them. I really don’t know that it is really written for lower secondary and a subject heading is impossible. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Paolo is a small boy growing up on a farm and the very southern tip of Chile. Is is so young that he isn’t even sure of his age. The farm gets very few visitors and the family has developed a routine of greeting them, and sending them on their way. But one day a big man arrives, sizes the farm up as an excellent hideout and murders Paolo’s mother and father before they can say or do anything. When Paolo returns from hunting snakes, Angel is unable to completely eliminate the family. A moment of weakness, humanity or just the child’s simple trust, but Angel is caught. He and the boy establish a relationship and continue to live on the farm. A while later a wealthy educated man Luis arrives and builds a shack on the property. When the shack is destroyed in a storm, he joins the others in the farmhouse. For a very long time the three scratch out a subsistence living, but eventually they are forced to go to the local village market. From the moment they arrive in civilisation, nothing is ever the same again.
The tension in the story comes from the personal insecurities and jealousy between Luis and Angel. Luis is wealthy, educated and an artist. He teaches Paolo to read and write and introduces the child to poetry. Angel is strong, tough and practical, but absolutely unwavering in his love for the child.
This book reminded me of Boyne’s The Boy in Striped Pyjamas. It can only be described as a modern fable. But the story is much more complex than Boyne’s tale. And things appear confused. Why did the author name the character who appears to be completely evil, Angel? This is only one of the questions that haunt long after the book is finished.
I will be recommending this book to others, but I am not at all sure where.
