29 years ago this month, Salvador Allende’s government in Chile was deposed by a military coup. Here, FRANCES DOCX reviews a novel discussing the legacy of this period in Latin American history.
The Shadow of What We Were was difficult to digest. I was left with few absolute opinions and myriad questions. The novel has been recognised as a triumph; it won the Premio Primavera prize for Spanish Literature. Yet Luis Sepúlveda’s novel is a web of inconsistencies. Plot, tone and focus twist unexpectedly and refuse to settle for more than a minute while the revolutionary spirit appears to be both in earnest and self-mocking.
