Like This Afternoon Forever by Jaime Manrique (Kaylie J...

Like This Afternoon Forever by Jaime Manrique

(Kaylie Jones: Akashic Books, 2019)

 

A novel of two Columbian priests which follows them from childhood through seminary and into their lives in the Catholic Church in the tumultuous years of the 199os and 2000s. 

Juan and Ignacio become lovers in their teens and maintain a devoted relationship throughout their lives.  They both end up as priests in Bogota: Lucas ministers to a conventional middle-class parish but Ignacio, whose belief in social justice is stronger than his faith, serves  the poor and disenfranchised in the slums of Soacha.  His life and ministry is complicated by violence, political corruption, guerrilla warfare, and the AIDS epidemic.  Lucas finds himself unable to save his lover and friend from mental, physical, and spiritual self-destruction.  

Jaime writes simply and engagingly about both the world and its people, especially his two main characters.  A brave honest, and appealing book.