Swallowing Stones

by Lisa St. Aubin de Terán

Lisa St Aubin de Terán's Swallowing Stones is a fictionalized account of the extraordinary life of one Oswaldo Barreto Miliani, code-named Otto — adviser to Castro, confidant of Salvador Allende, and sharp thorn in the sides of both the CIA and the KGB. In the riveting and remarkable invented memoirs of the legendary seventy-year-old revolutionary scholar, the explosive history of twentieth-century Latin America unfolds before us — viewed through the sharp, unflinching eyes of a uniquely indomitable character as he progresses, through consequence and fateful accident, from philosophy student to guerrilla fighter, political activist, and outlaw.

Genres: Fiction

528 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

Lisa St. Aubin de Terán was born Lisa Rynveld in South London. She attended the James Allen's Girls' School. She married a Venezuelan landowner, Jaime Terán in 1971, at the age of 17, and became a farmer of sugar cane, avocados, pears, and sheep from 1972-1978.

Her second husband was the Scottish poet and novelist George MacBeth. After the marriage failed, she married painter Robbie Duff Scott and moved to Umbria, Italy.

In 1982, St. Aubin de Terán published her first novel, Keepers of the House. This novel was the recipient of the Somerset Maugham Award. Her second novel, The Slow Train to Milan, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She received the Eric Gregory for Poetry in 1983. Her work includes novels, memoirs, poetry, and short-story collections.

St. Aubin de Terán has three children, including a daughter by her first husband, Iseult Teran, who is also a novelist.

She currently lives in Amsterdam with her partner Mees Van Deth, where she runs a film company and has set up the Terán Foundation in Mozambique.

Reviews

[Beth Dillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

What started out as a slow, rather hard-to-get-into fictional memoir quickly became a page-turning account of a revolutionary anti-hero and his stumblings through the communist party and volatile Latin America. The author's delicate balance between fact and fiction was so graceful and her storytelling was so seamless that I excitedly journeyed with Oswaldo (the protagonist) from Venezuela to Europe and back and forth, through his enchantment and disillusionment with communism, German intellectual theory, and guerilla warfare.

It's almost like Don Quixote meets Huckleberry Finn with a little Norman Mailer influence. My only hiccup with the book overall is the last chapter (and generally the last 50 or so pages). It's a long book (512 pages in all) and while most of the book was incredibly focused and detailed, the last pages felt rushed and rather pointless. As a (fake) memoir, I could understand the need to tie up loose ends but I felt like the story would have had a stronger ending had Lisa St Aubin de Teran stopped herself short and left the reader wondering.

[Gpritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this author.

This book tells the story of one of the characters from her wonderful book, Slow Train to Milan. This character, Oswaldo Barreto MIliani, was my least favorite, so I was reluctant to buy/read this book, but ended up really enjoying the account of his life, from youth (intellectual, gifted student) through old-age terrorist/guerrilla.

It's a great window into Latin American history.

[Keithie Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give this book 3.5 stars. It’s not a page turner but it kept me interested enough to read it. “Keeping secrets is like swallowing stones.” It’s about a Venezuelen revolutionary who wants to free his country. He goes all over the world to train and be trained to be a revolutionary. He’s in all the interesting places in the 1960s and 70s.

[Eniko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swallowing Stones a fictionalized autobiography of a Venezuelan guerrilla fighter / revolutionary. It is beautifully written, a real page-tuner, I much recommend it!

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. The only thing I did like about it was the revolutionary/guerilla perspective.