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Kamchatka

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 218 ratings · 59 reviews

Kamchatka is the last word that Harry hears from his father's lips. In that fantastic and inaccessible territory is where the ten year-old boy will take mental refuge to cure his wounds. Due to the abductions during Argentina's coup d’état, and knowing they are being chased, his parents decide to hide away. Through the story of this boy forced to contemplate the dark side...more

Paperback, 400 pages

Published September 30th 2004 by Punto de Lectura (first published January 1st 2003)

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The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges

Todos los fuegos el fuego by Julio Cortázar

Literatura Argentina / Argentine Literature

27th out of 66 books — 15 voters

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Jun 11, 2011 Newengland rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, finished-in-2011

By the end of this book, I had literally moved in. That is, felt like a part of the family, like my soul was lip-synching to the 10-year-old narrator's story, like I had renounced plot forever in favor of voice and characterization. Yeah. I liked it that much, because although it is set in Argentina in the 70s, the allusions are ones that any American can identify with (Superman, Batman, The Saint, The Invaders, Picnic, The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Goofy, Harry Houdini, and on and on). Yes, y...more By the end of this book, I had literally moved in. That is, felt like a part of the family, like my soul was lip-synching to the 10-year-old narrator's story, like I had renounced plot forever in favor of voice and characterization. Yeah. I liked it that much, because although it is set in Argentina in the 70s, the allusions are ones that any American can identify with (Superman, Batman, The Saint, The Invaders, Picnic, The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Goofy, Harry Houdini, and on and on). Yes, you'd think that days of the post-Peron military junta were straight out of Peoria, not Buenos Aires, but whatever. And whenever. It was the kind of book you embrace unabashedly -- like you used to when you were a kid before your inner "literary critic voice" took over, denying you the chance to enjoy books on a more emotional, subjective level.

As for the "story," it's mostly about the kid, who adopts the assumed name of "Harry" (he wants to be an escape artist... get it?), his 5-year-old brother, "The Midget," and his dear parents. They are joined by an 18-year-old (assumed name "Lucas," and we assume his parents have been killed by the military) and they hide away in a safe house in the country outside Buenos Aires.

Here we get into the daily rhythms of life -- how the boys keep finding drowned toads in the brackish waters of a pool; how Harry and Lucas argue night and day over who is stronger, Batman or Superman; how Mom the scientist cannot cook her way out of a Spanish pan. The boys are forced to attend a new school -- a Catholic one run by brothers and fathers -- and the book rolls along with Harry's insightful, humorous, and poignant takes on the world around him.

What should be hell -- life in hiding with an ever-present danger of capture over your head -- becomes a piece of heaven, in a way. Youth will not be denied... not by politics, murders, or intrigue. And, up until the end, the reader doesn't really sense the threat of the military goons who are seeking them and others out, anyway. It's almost as if they live in a time warp, a bubble of defiant tranquility with just a patina of unease about it like the rainbow glow you see on bubbles in the sun.

The title comes from the boy's marathon games of Risk against his dad. The northeastern-most province in the old USSR is called Kamchatka, and it becomes a symbol of sorts by the end of the book. It's a perfect name for the novel, and handling of the symbolism is near-perfect, too.

By the end, you get that sad-happy (happy-sad?) glow to you, that "I- hate-to-say-good-bye-and-move-on-to-another-book" feeling. But good-bye it is and God help the act that has to follow this. It grew on me and ultimately became me by the end. But then, I'm a pessimist with a sentimental core, and if it's drawn out, I don't so much resent it as appreciate how refreshing it feels.

If you're like that, too, I suggest you pick up the dice and march on Kamchatka. It's far away from Argentina but just next door to Imagination. You know the way. Trust me.(less)

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Aug 30, 2011 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, four-star-fiction, central-and-south-america

Pssssst...it's not really about Kamchatka, except as it relates to the board game of Risk. "Because Kamchatka was the place from where you fought back."

This is a rather charming novel about a very uncharming time in the history of Argentina. You witness life during the Dirty War in 1976 through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy whose family has gone into hiding. The way it ends will make you want to hold your loved ones closer than ever.

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Dec 26, 2012 Poingu rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As I read I kept thinking: "Is this author primarily a screenwriter?" until I finally looked the author up online and discovered Figueras did indeed write this novel first as a screenplay.

So here is what is wrong with a novel that is first conceived as a screenplay. There will be no clear sense of an inner narrative voice driving the story. The details will be scanty. There will be no depth in the writing and every scene will feel a little bit shortchanged, word-wise--because after all the film...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: translations

This novel is told by a man looking back at a few months from his childhood the year he was ten.
Structured like a school day with each section a subject, this book follows a young boy in Argentina in 1976. His parents have spoken out against the government and feel threatened. They pull him and his younger brother, referred to as Midget, out of school in the middle of the day, whisking them off to a house in the country with only the items they have with them. His favourite game is Risk. In Risk...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Hayley Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars

An Inspiring, Life-Affirming Novel (from Argentina!)
Kamchatka? Is it a foreign candy? A Native American tribe? For 10-year-old Harry, it's a frozen Russian peninsula—the last stronghold in his favorite game of Risk—and the last thing his father whispers to him before disappearing llike so many other political activists in the '70s during the Argentine "dirty war." When friends start going missing, the Vincente family is forced into a state of suspended animation as they leave their life behind a...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Franziska rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family, politics, argentina, 1976, getaway

1976 in Argentinien, Buenos Aires: Ein Junge wird aus seinem genehmen Alltagsleben herausgerissen und muss mit seiner Familie aufs Land flüchten, denn seine Eltern sind regime-kritisch eingestellt und nach dem politischen Umbruch im Land herrscht Unsicherheit. Harry und sein kleiner Bruder, Zwerg genannt, sind zunächst wenig begeistert von dieser abrupten Umstellung - Harry vermisst seine Freunde, Zwerg seinen geliebten Goofy und seine Kakao-Tasse. Doch das Leben geht natürlich weiter und mit de...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Via the eyes, ears and inner world of a young boy in Buenos Aires, this powerful novel brings to life the atmosphere of disquiet and desperation following Argentina’s military coup of 1976. Our hero is ten and lives in a world of superheroes, school lessons and games of Risk, trying to keep his troublesome little brother, the Midget, from breaking everything he touches, and playing Hangman with his best friend during biology class. His playful father is a human rights lawyer, his mother a physic...more Via the eyes, ears and inner world of a young boy in Buenos Aires, this powerful novel brings to life the atmosphere of disquiet and desperation following Argentina’s military coup of 1976. Our hero is ten and lives in a world of superheroes, school lessons and games of Risk, trying to keep his troublesome little brother, the Midget, from breaking everything he touches, and playing Hangman with his best friend during biology class. His playful father is a human rights lawyer, his mother a physicist who smokes Jockey cigarettes and possesses the superpowers of the Searing Smile, the Glacial Stare and the Petrifying Scream. Theirs is a warm, unruly home frequented by his parents’ politically engaged friends – until the day his mother interrupts lessons for an impromptu ‘family trip’, and everything changes.
Fleeing to a ‘safe house’ in the hills, the family adopt new personae, acquire an enigmatic lodger going by the name of ‘Lucas-just-Lucas’ and try to live unobtrusively in their new surroundings. However, in Mama’s chainsmoking, the Midget’s bedwetting and vigils at darkened windows, the mounting pressures of this life reveal themselves. Papa’s new name, David Vicente, is chosen as a joke after the hero of tv programme The Invaders, in which aliens secretly infiltrate the human population and are identifiable only by their inflexible littlest fingers. The boy renames himself Harry in accordance with his sudden obsession with escape artistry. Not only does Harry practice releasing himself from ropes à la Houdini, but tellingly, he and the Midget construct a ‘reverse diving board’, a plank dipping into the clouded swimming pool, so the toads they regularly find drowned there can be the authors of their own escape.
Although the novel’s subject is grave, there are many very funny scenes throughout, especially those involving the Midget, who has a gift for mischief. The chapter in which the ‘Vicentes’ try to get to grips with Catholicism at their new school is entitled ‘I Am Delivered Up to a Tribe of Cannibals’ and features the Midget free-associating saints’ names: ‘San Roque! San Atorium! San ChoPanza! San Itation! Saint Salive!’ There are also passages of extreme poetic loveliness and those which will tug the heartstrings unmercifully. If there is a flaw to Figeuras’ style, it’s his partiality to ending his short chapters with a snappy revelatory line or two – strikingly dramatic at first, but in overuse it acquires the irritating boom-boom of a punchline.
Interwoven with young Harry’s experiences are the musings of the man he became; learned brief discourses on astronomy, biology, language, episodes in classical history, myths, time and the foundation of Buenos Aires. These are fascinating in themselves, but they also draw deft symbolic – and illuminating – parallels with the tale. Themes of exile, power, escape, love and sacrifice recur in these interludes; it is very much as if the grown-up Harry, by telling his story, is finally making sense of the events of his boyhood, and of a world that could permit such travesties.
‘Kamchatka’ is the last word Papa whispers to Harry at their farewell. A remote, volcanic region of Siberia, it is also the last defensible territory in their fiercely competitive games of Risk, the place to go to ground and hold an aggressive world at bay. Harry mentions the long years he spent in exile there, but his Kamchatka may be akin to King Arthur’s Avalon and Superman’s Fortress of Solitude – a refuge of the imagination. A richly drawn, moving and memorable novel, this is also a fine tribute to ‘los desaparecidos’, Argentina’s ‘disappeared’, and to those left behind.
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Aug 27, 2012 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historic-fiction

As with all historic fiction, the more one knows about the period, the richer the read. And when I don't know, I am prompted to learn the history. This novel is set during Argentina's military dictatorship, 1976-1984 or so, a time of repression, witch hunts, and people disappearing.

Distance is created by two things: The perspective is of an elder, reflecting on life, on past actions, philosophizing. And often the narration slips into the voice of a ten-year-old boy who is somewhat removed from p...more

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Jun 19, 2011 Dale rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, politics, argentina, favorites

Kamchatka is a wonderful novel. It is set in Argentina in 1976, the year of the military coup and the start of the 'dirty war' in which thousands of politically progressive people were rounded up and 'disappeared'. The novel is told mostly from the point of view of the ten year old son of a lawyer and a scientist who are on the run from the coup government. He and his five year old brother ("The Midget") are bundled up and taken to a disused country house, a safe house, to avoid the military pol...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Judith Hannan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I bought this book over a year ago thinking a story about political rebellion in mid-1970s Buenos Aires was going to be some kind of treatise. I was so wrong. Figueras has written a loving and human story. The story is simple. Told in the voice of a man revisiting his childhood, the reader is brought into the intimate family life of a husband and wife, both dissidents, and their two sons. The man's memories are detailed,authentic, and often laugh-out-loud funny as he shows his younger self and t...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Arna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I chose this after listening to Harriet Gilbert discuss it on "A Good Read", broadcast on the BBC. Set in 1970s Argentina, and told from the point of view of a 10 year old, after his parents take the family into hiding. When the family flees, they have to change their names, and our narrator changes his name to Harry, after Harry Houdini - the only things he finds in his room in the safe house is a book about the escape artist. Harry's parents - his mother a professor and his father a lawyer , a...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Mark Staniforth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Beautiful and elegaic, this book tells the heart-breaking story of a family torn apart by the Argentinian military junta in the 1970s. It's told from the point of view of a 10-year-old boy, who uses superheroes and board games to keep the truth at bay in the best way he can. At times it's both funny and chilling, but in a certain respect its beauty and cleverness is also its slight failing: the plot sometimes plods; the terror, always there in the background, never quite comes to the fore; some...more

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Jul 24, 2010 Georg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: german, favourite

Kamtschatka

Das Buch ist, wie schon die Süddeutsche zu berichten weiß, einfach „fabelhaft“ (auch wenn ich das Wort nicht gerne benutze: es klingt so ähnlich wie das „sagenhaft“, das deutsche Touristen so gerne verwenden, wenn das Frühstück reichhaltig war und die Eingeborenen nicht gestört haben).

Es widerlegt eine Menge Vorurteile gegen eine bestimmte Art von Büchern, die ich schon immer gerne gehegt habe:

1. Bücher, die aus der Perspektive von Kindern geschrieben werden. Hier habe ich immer den...more Kamtschatka

Das Buch ist, wie schon die Süddeutsche zu berichten weiß, einfach „fabelhaft“ (auch wenn ich das Wort nicht gerne benutze: es klingt so ähnlich wie das „sagenhaft“, das deutsche Touristen so gerne verwenden, wenn das Frühstück reichhaltig war und die Eingeborenen nicht gestört haben).

Es widerlegt eine Menge Vorurteile gegen eine bestimmte Art von Büchern, die ich schon immer gerne gehegt habe:

1. Bücher, die aus der Perspektive von Kindern geschrieben werden. Hier habe ich immer den (meistens begründeten) Verdacht, dass sich der Autor ein Hintertürchen offenhalten und nicht die volle Verantwortung für seinen Text übernehmen will: Ist etwas sprachlich misslungen oder nicht durchdacht, dann wird das eben als Authentizität ausgegeben. So reden Kindern nun mal. Ganz anders Figueras. Er berichtet von den Erinnerungen eines 10-jährigen, aber aus der Perspektive des Erwachsenen, der 30 Jahre Zeit hatte, über seine damaligen Erlebnisse und Erinnerungen nachzudenken, aber auch darüber, welche Fehler er als Kind gemacht hatte. Dabei gelingt es Figueras in bewundernswerter Weise, beide Erzählperspektiven so auseinanderzuhalten, dass sie sich nicht in die Quere kommen, die Erlebnisse des Kindes und die Erinnerung des erwachsenen Erzählers. Typisch die Verwechslung von Polen und Österreich, die er im Nachhinein korrigiert.
2. Bücher, die überwiegend innerhalb von Familien spielen, in denen sich alle ganz doll lieb und lustige Kosenamen haben. Hier heißt der Bruder zwar „Zwerg“, Mama heißt Mama und Papa heißt Papa, und es kann kein Zweifel darüber bestehen, dass diese Familie wirklich „funktioniert“, aber alle haben einen glaubwürdigen Charakter, eine schlüssige Geschichte, ihre Macken und Defizite.
3. Bücher aus Kriegs-, Bürgerkriegs- und ähnlichen Katastrophenzeiten, in denen aber kein Schuss fällt, keiner foltert und keiner ernsthaft verletzt wird. Hier habe ich immer den Verdacht, es wird etwas verharmlost, und die wirklichen Opfer (ob nun in Auschwitz, Kambodscha, Srebrenica oder Ruanda) werden einfach verarscht. Nicht bei Figueras: Hier ist die Gefahr allgegenwärtig, und auch wenn keine Katastrophe dargestellt wird, ist sie überall zu spüren, und das, was man sich über das wirkliche Schicksal von Lucas, Mama und Papa vorstellt, ist vielleicht noch schlimmer, als wenn es uns in allen Einzelheiten beschrieben worden wäre.
4. Soviel zur „politischen“ Seite der Angelegenheit, aber gibt es auch eine ästhetische? Eindeutig. Entweder ist Figueras (im Original) ein ganz bedeutender Sprachkünstler oder Sabine Giersberg ist (als Übersetzer*) ein Genie. Wer nicht viel Zeit hat, sollte einfach nur Kapitel 56 (S. 197 bis 203) lesen. Das ist nach meiner Einschätzung das beste Stück Prosa, das ich seit „Everything is Illuminated“ (Safran-Foer) gelesen habe. Zwei nebeneinander laufende Gespräche, alles brüllend komisch, jede handelnde Person wird gleichzeitig entlarvt und darf sich in ihrer ganzen Größe beweisen, und in der Mitte steht der Satz: „Der Zucker knirschte zwischen den Zähnen des Zwergs, eine Form der Zustimmung.“ Keine Ahnung, wie das im Spanischen heißt, aber im Deutschen ist es schon allein wegen der Alliteration unschlagbar.
5. Ein Sonderlob gilt Lucas. Anfangs als Außerirdischer verdächtigt, wird er mehr und mehr zu dem außerirdisch sympathischen großen Bruder, den sich jeder wünscht. „Ein guter Typ“, wie man heute sagen würde, aber ohne jede Starallüren, und ohne dass erklärt werden müsste, was Lucas eigentlich auszeichnet.
6. Es gibt viele Details, die ich hervorheben könnte, aber am meisten gefallen hat mit das „Antisprungbrett“, die Erfindung eines 10-Jährigen, mit der man nicht nur Kröten vor dem Ertrinkungstod retten, sondern auch die Evolution der ganzen Spezies positiv beeinflussen kann. Und natürlich die Kurzversion der ganzen Bibel auf vier Seiten (Kapitel 45), und der Eiserne Blick.

Das Beste, was man über ein Buch sagen kann, ist, dass der Schluss am besten ist. Bei Kamtschatka ist alles richtig gut, aber der Schluss ist das Beste. Wer bei „Love-Story“ (hilfsweise „Gone with the Wind“) am Schluss heult, aber bei „Kamtschatka“ nicht, der kommt vermutlich in die Hölle. Wenn es möglich ist, mit lakonischer Geste großes Pathos zu erzeugen, dann hier. Kamtschatka ist am Schluss der Schlüsselbegriff für das, worum es in diesem Buch geht. Der Begriff taucht in dem Buch ansonsten kein einziges Mal auf, bis zur letzten Seite, bis zum letzten Wort, und der Begriff heißt: WIDERSTAND.

*Eine einzige, kritische Anmerkung zur Übersetzung: Übersetzer sollen sich mit Sprache gut auskennen und müssen keine Zocker sein. Aber manchmal ist es nicht schlecht, sich auch mit Dingen auszukennen, die normalerweise „unter Niveau“ liegen. „TEG“, das für Harry so wichtige Würfel- und Kriegsspiel, das dem Buch mittelbar auch den Namen gibt, gibt es seit 40 Jahren auch in Deutschland und heißt hier ganz anders, nämlich „Risiko“. Ich bin sicher, dass 95 % aller Menschen (außer in Russland), die Kamtschatka auf Anhieb lokalisieren können, mindestens einmal im Leben "Risiko" gespielt haben.

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May 29, 2012 Garry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I remember hearing about the 'disappeared' when I was a kid - the rumours (were they rumours?) that people were being kidnapped, thrown out of aeroplanes and never seen again. That's something that stays with you forever... I've thought about it from time to time ever since, and it only seems more ghoulish the older I get.

This is the backdrop to Kamchatka, told from the viewpoint of a small boy whose parents are in the political firing line (a poor choice of phrase, probably). He's a smart kid,...more I remember hearing about the 'disappeared' when I was a kid - the rumours (were they rumours?) that people were being kidnapped, thrown out of aeroplanes and never seen again. That's something that stays with you forever... I've thought about it from time to time ever since, and it only seems more ghoulish the older I get.

This is the backdrop to Kamchatka, told from the viewpoint of a small boy whose parents are in the political firing line (a poor choice of phrase, probably). He's a smart kid, more into Superman than Batman, frustrated at being uprooted as the family moves from one safe house to the next. Captivated by the concept of Houdini the escape artist, he strives to becomes one himself.

I had similar feelings reading Kamchatka than I did with The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Although they were very different, they both discussed a repulsive subject in a way that was thoroughly charming, but ultimately and inevitably shocking and powerful. Which did a better job of it? For me, Kamchatka.

As I look back on my reviews over the past couple of years, I realise that I've been too generous with 5 star ratings. (Actually, I've secretly created a 6th star for myself by putting some of the best of best 5 star books into a favourites shelf). And then I read a book like this one, and it makes me want to retrospectively drop the rating of everything that went before it. From now on, my ratings are going to be a little tougher so that I can save the 5 stars for the books that I truly adore.

To finish with a passage that appears in the final chapter, and perfectly captures everything that went before it:

I imagine that that someone listing to me talking... might assume that I'm... telling a children't story. But it could also happen that they hear me precisely when I say: love one another madly, the people you know, but more importantly the people who need love, because love is the only thing that is real, it is the light, everything else is darkness; and maybe whoever was listening would understand completely without needing to hear the beginning, without needing to question my moral authority, without needing to know whether I have any moral authority, without needing to know what I have lost - what we all lose.(less)

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Oct 10, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: latin-american

A story about a military coup in Argentina may not sound like enjoyable reading, but in Kamchatka it's told from the point of view of a 10 year old boy, whose focus is not on the coup itself, but on how the coup effects his family and the relationships within the family. And his access to his favourite TV programmes. The book captures very well a child's view of the world - an awareness of bigger things but largely ignoring them to focus on more important small details of everyday life, such as...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Kathy Hiester rated it 3 of 5 stars

Kamchatka is a pragmatic imagining of a child’s understanding of a country in political turmoil. The potential dangers come from eavesdropping on vague conversations. The narrator spends most of his time describing his amusing adventures with his younger brother, his efforts to imitate Harry Houdini and his obsession with Superman. The overall effect is that of a happy childhood occasionally marred by darker overtones. The narrator’s voice is enchantingly youthful and buoyant. The novel thrives...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Cristine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fun, lovely, horrific and fascinating book. The story of a young Argentinian boy during the Dirty War. His parents are Peronista revolutionaries who flee their home in Buenos Aires and assume new identities in an effort to keep the family together. The story develops through the eyes of "Harry" --his assumed named as the family assumes the surname "Vincente" after the character in the TV show the Saint. Harry's musings range from the powers of Houdini and superman to saving frogs from drowning i...more

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May 21, 2012 Friederike Knabe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: latin-america

He calls himself 'Harry' now, after his new hero, the famous escape artist, Harry Houdini, hoping that one day he, too, will be a successful escape artist. Discovering a book about Houdini, the ten-year-old boy finds a new source of inspiration. Without warning, his family had to leave their comfortable house in Buenos Aires with nothing but the bare essentials; they are now hiding in an abandoned country house, a "safe-house". Among all the things he misses, his favourite board game 'Risk' is t...more He calls himself 'Harry' now, after his new hero, the famous escape artist, Harry Houdini, hoping that one day he, too, will be a successful escape artist. Discovering a book about Houdini, the ten-year-old boy finds a new source of inspiration. Without warning, his family had to leave their comfortable house in Buenos Aires with nothing but the bare essentials; they are now hiding in an abandoned country house, a "safe-house". Among all the things he misses, his favourite board game 'Risk' is the most important. His sense of dislocation is further heightened when he is told that he, like the rest of the family, has to take on new names and forget their former ones: it is too dangerous... Set in 1976, against the backdrop of Argentina's "Dirty War" that left thousands of people as desaparecidos - disappeared without a trace -, Marcelo Figueras takes us on a moving and intricate journey, through hope, devotion and betrayal, through human frailty and strength, through loss and perseverance.

By concentrating on the life of one family on the run, Figueras opens a narrow, intimate window into this traumatic reality. Young Harry, the primary voice in the novel, while trying to cope with the day-to-day challenges the family faces, is also living in a colourfully imagined world full of superheroes and successful battles, while he is preparing for his own, Houdini-like, "escapes" from the dangers he senses around him. His subtle depiction of his surroundings, the descriptions of his encounters with the toads in the pool, for example, are lively and endearing. These feel immediate and richly drawn; the voice of the child is totally convincing as it fluctuates between innocently funny to wisely inquisitive.

The novel opens with a decisive moment in time, before it rolls back to the beginning, prior to the events unfolding that led up to this point: Harry has to say goodbye to his beloved parents: "The last thing papá said to me, the last word from his lips, was 'Kamchatka'." Kamchatka, one of the "remotest territories waiting to be conquered" on the Risk board, represents for him a safe place he can retreat to. His father's last word will remain in his mind like a code word between father and son, a promise, a sign of eventual victory. He is a curious child, fascinated not only by Superman and famous battles and their historical heroes. His interests in the ancient philosophers, in biology, astronomy, and geography are just as strong. For as long as he can remember, he knows, for example, that the board game's Kamchatka resembles - in its remoteness and its physical profile - the actual one in the north eastern tip of what was then the Soviet Union: "a frozen peninsula, which is also the most active volcanic region on Earth. A horizon ringed by towering inaccessible peaks shrouded in sulphurous vapours". In his imagination the fictional and the real Kamchatka merge into one, a beautiful place where he will travel to when the time comes...

The adult Harry is a constant companion voice to that of the ten-year-old, recalling vivid memories, filling in what his younger self didn't know or couldn't conceive and trying to make some sort sense of his life by reflecting on memory and the passing of time. "Time is weird." He muses. "[...]Sometimes I think everything happens at once, which is anything but obvious and even weirder." Between the two voices the novel contains much more than the story of a young boy who desperately tries to maintain his playful childhood, his study, and his new-found friendship with the mysterious Lucas, while at the same time hoping to support his haunted parents by "playing his role" in the family. He observes, more than he understands, and yet senses why the "uncles" have disappeared one after the other, why his adored and adoring mamá does no longer behave like the "rock" of the family, why the psychological stresses show on his parents' faces... With great apprehension he watches them in their constant challenge to demonstrate the emotional strength needed to keep the family together as long as possible and to provide for Harry and his young brother the sense of safety and normalcy in a dangerous period of history.

Beyond the child's story, KAMCHATKA is also the adult's multifaceted meditation on history, on learning about life and the universe, on time and memory. Figueras, in fact, structures his novel along the lines of school periods: Biology, Geography, Astronomy, Language and History. In each section, young Harry learns at a child's level and through observations and practical experiences what the older Harry then places into the respective context. The two voices are so intricately intertwined that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish which voice is speaking to the reader and affording young Harry maturity he cannot have had. As Harry later describes himself: "Who I have been, who I am, who I will be are all in continual conversation, each influencing the other." For me, a few of these "scientific excursions", while interesting and valuable in their own right, can take the reader too far away from the essence of the story. They tend to turn, at times, the political and personal story more into a subtext than may be warranted given the overall direction of the narrative.(less)

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Aug 11, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, literature, south-america, teen

This is not a book to read when one is in a hurry. If you have a stack of things to “get through” and want to check this off the list, I urge you to put it aside until you have time to savor the language, and the languorous time of childhood when small realities intrude upon days of fantasy and play.

The time is Argentina in the 1970’s, when political disappearances are common. A new government has taken over from the Peron government and suddenly opponents of the new government find themselves...more

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Aug 30, 2011 Maia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Maia by: val

Shelves: argentina, contemporary-fiction, world-lit

SO I finally get to this book--we saw the movie years ago, before our son was born, at the NYC Latin American Film Festival and I doubt I exaggerate when I say there was not a dry tear in the theater at the end of it. Not that it was a particularly good movie (just so-so) but the story was seen through the boy's eyes was heartbreaking. Now that I'm mother to a boy soon to be that age, it breaks my heart even more--especially, of course, because it hits so close to home for me.

As to the book itse...more SO I finally get to this book--we saw the movie years ago, before our son was born, at the NYC Latin American Film Festival and I doubt I exaggerate when I say there was not a dry tear in the theater at the end of it. Not that it was a particularly good movie (just so-so) but the story was seen through the boy's eyes was heartbreaking. Now that I'm mother to a boy soon to be that age, it breaks my heart even more--especially, of course, because it hits so close to home for me.

As to the book itself--again, I tried to read it in both Spanish and English and, again, this helped. But I was still not convinced enough to give it more than 3 stars--maybe another half if that were possible here. The problem is, as always, this Argentine (and Latin American) obsession with fantasy and magic realism. Instead of bringing the story closer, for me it pushes it away--the horror of the Arg military dictatorship, of the disappeared and the murders and the fear, the cracks within relationships as loyalties shifted, the many broken marriages, the betrayals and, above all the fear, all take a back step as we are forced to view it only through the lens of the small boy's fantasy world--Kamchatka. He grows increasingly more attached to the fantasy the further away from ordinary reality--and the more powerful the threats, the worse the fears in his family--becomes. This makes sense, at some level, because that's what many sensitive children do in order to survive turmoil. On the other hand, it's actually a free pass to the reader to NOT experience the full horror of this history.

I remember when I was about 12 and read The Diary of Anna Frank for the first time. What fascinated me, and appalled me, and terrified me (but ultimately made it very, very real) was how clear-sighted Frank was in her descriptions of the horrors--alongside her ordinary everyday experiences like fights with her mother and falling in love. It was this 'realism' that truly brought home the depth of horror.

Instead, I never get this from Kamchatka--or from most novels writing about that dark period in Argentina. Just once I'd like to find a novel that is as unflinching in its illustration of that horror as I know for a fact it was.(less)

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Oct 25, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

I really liked this story until I was nearly 3/4 finished with it. By then, I wanted to know more about the actions of the parents and exactly what was going on politically in Argentina. Felt the author did an excellent job in creating the voice of a ten year old boy. Would have liked more about his later life. Strange that there was mention of his meeting with the parents of his older friend, but nothing about his own parents.

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Feb 15, 2011 Andy Weston rated it 4 of 5 stars

Made a special effort to read this as, living in Chile, I want to know more about the Argentinian problems of recent years.

This is extremely well-written and amusing despite it's subject matter. Thoroughly commended to adults even though it's a book aged at teenagers.

Tremendous. Lots of good quotations and facts as a bonus also!

Also - one of those books with a very satisfying ending - special also for players of Risk!

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Mar 07, 2011 Linda Cohen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, fiction

What an absolutely wonderful book! I wish I could write a review that would do this justice. This could have been an extremely depressing book considering the subject matter(Argentina & the coup in the 1970's) but instead it's very sweet & moving. There was a moment a little more than half way thru that just about broke my heart in two. When I finished I just sat there,barely breathing.

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Nov 03, 2011 Kathleen Resendes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well written. Thought provoking, however at times I got lost in the plot line, but this was not serious enough for me to give it up. Unsettling circumstances, that few in this country have lived through or would want to live through. I think the question on the cover was poignant "How do we stay sane in a military dictatorship.".

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Aug 11, 2011 Toni Miranda rated it 3 of 5 stars

I originally picked up this book because I thought it was going to be about the revolution in Argentina. It has a few references to the revolution, but mostly it is the thoughts and life of a 10 year living in hiding with his parents. It is pretty good. But I was disappointed because I wanted to learn more about the revolution.

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Jul 24, 2011 Andra Watkins rated it 4 of 5 stars

Against the backdrop of The Disappeared in Argentina, a little boy struggles to stay connected with what matters to him. His family is in hiding. His parents both lost their jobs. His little brother doggedly demands the things that make life stay the same. People ebb and flow from his life, while he spends more time saving the toads from death in the back yard pool. This book will make you hug someone you love, reach out to a person you need to touch, value a relationship anew. It is a gorgeous...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Ennie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romans

Een indrukwekkend boek. Ik zal het niet snel vergeten. Het wordt verteld vanuit het perspectief van een kind. Hoewel de omstandigheden waarin het boek zich afspeelt zeker niet rooskleurig zijn, is het boek met een zekere humor geschreven. Ik kan zeker aanbevelen om het te lezen.

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Jun 15, 2012 Shanna Covey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

We have a chance to enter the mind of a ten year old (interspersed with his adult perspective) as his world is turned upside down when his family is forced to go into hiding during Argentina's "Dirty War" in 1975.

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Dec 19, 2012 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow. This really resonated with me. I loved the lyrical writing style and the narrator's thought process and the Renaissance topic list. It will make you laugh, and then it will break your heart.

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Oct 28, 2011 Benjamin Kratchmer rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the style and content of this book, and the slightly eliptical form was beautiful. It felt unfinished, though, and while I appreciate open endings this one felt disappointing, like the book had built all this meaning, all this momentum and it all evaporated into nothingness.

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Quotes from Kamchatka

“I know it doesn't sound logical but that's the way it is ' said papá. 'There are people who try to control the people they love or try to make them feel insecure or inferior or unworthy. They can be very hurtful but they're the sad people. They're afraid of being abandoned they're afraid of not being loved.' pg 116” — 3 people liked it

“If life was a movie and someone asked you what kind of a movie it was the best answer would be: it's a movie that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. Grandpa knew that. pg. 223” — 2 people liked it

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