3 July 2015

Review #261: The Secret in Their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"The brevity or prolonging the life of a human being depends primarily on the flow of pain that person is forced to endure." 


----Eduardo Sacheri


Eduardo Sacheri, an Argentinean author, has penned a gripping novel, The Secret in Their Eyes which has later been translated into English after this book's movie adaption won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2010. So they call it "the novel that became an Oscar-winning film", which traces the story of a retired investigator trying to write a novel based on a decade old rape-cum-murder of a young married woman and in the process of going through the past, old memories as well as romances cloud up his soul thus re-opening the window to his much cherished past but it comes with a price and with some mind-blowing revelations both personal as well as political.




Synopsis:

Benjamín Chaparro is a retired detective still obsessed by the brutal, decades-old rape and murder of a young married woman in her own bedroom. While attempting to write a book about the case, he revisits the details of the investigation. As he reaches into the past, Chaparro also recalls the beginning of his long, unrequited love for Irene Hornos, then just an intern, now a respected judge. Set in the Buenos Aires of the 1970s, Sacheri’s tale reveals the underpinnings of Argentina’s Dirty War and takes on the question of justice—what it really means and in whose hands it belongs.

The original Argentinean title is called, El secreto de sus ojos, that later became the basis for an Oscar winning film called The Secret in Their Eyes in Argentina, directed by Juan José Campanella.



The story opens with Benjamín Chaparro who is a bureaucrat working as a deputy clerk in the Palace of Justice or the Argentinian court of justice. Now he is about to retire from his position and is planning to write a novel about a man named Ricardo Morales, whose young pregnant wife was brutally raped as well as murdered in the very comfort of their marital home. Soon Morales is ruled out of the list of suspects and further intervening reveals that the killer is lurking somewhere near them or someone who is close to the woman. Thus when Chaparro shows few old snapshots of some men to Morales, his facial expression changes and thus judging from a hunch as well as on Morales expression, Chaparro risks his life to capture this killer and becomes successful four years later. But due to inner as well as political corruption in the judiciary and the then periods of Argentinian "Dirty War" allows the killer to walk free who soon disappears into thin air.

This is the central story of the book that occurs in the time frame of late 60s, whereas the present is tuned to the early 90s when the story opens with Chaparro and his idea of his manuscript. The present story is where the author narrates about Chaparro's secret love interest which he harbored within himself for over 30 years, although after two unsuccessful marriages, he is still in love with his then-colleague-cum-intern, Irene Hornos, who is now a judge of the court.

This novel is the perfect example of a complex plot that stitches the threads of complexities into the minds of its readers with it's intricate structure of the mystery. Swaying between two timelines and in between two narrative styles- while describing the present the author uses the third person POV of Chaparro and while describing the past he uses the first person POV of Chaparro, the author never loses away from the exact emotion of the storyline- suspense and anticipation.

The prose is absolutely reminiscent thus knotting the brains of its readers with nostalgia layered with suspense and the urge of finding out what happens next never leaves the room. The pacing is really good although at times Chaparro's difficulty as well as uncertainty in writing a story from his past with so many unfilled gaps proved to be a bit dull in the already intriguingly glowing plot.

The mystery is wrapped under a corrupted judiciary as well as dirty politics in Argentina which proved to be a strong backdrop for this story thus making it engaging as well as thought-provoking for its readers. "Dirty War" is the period when political violence was at it's peak due a defect inside the ruling government of then time lasting from 1976 to 1983. This unstable as well as fractured Argentinian society is vividly described in Chaparro's past with lots of in-depth details. The author even lets his readers question a society so heavily corrupted as well as Chaparro's methods in solving the crime.

The complex characterization proved to be a boon for this plot, from the murdered victim to the secret lover to the killer to the windowed man to the murdered best friend to the protagonist, each and every one questions the readers' minds and leave a long-lasting fragrance of their complicated demeanor.



Overall, this is a brilliant example of Sacheri's literary work. And do read this book, if you've watched the original Argentinian movie or is planning to watch the latest Hollywood version of this book, that is directed by Billy Ray, featuring a star-cast actors like Julia Roberts, Nichole Kidman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dean Norris, Micheal Kelly etc that will release in the month of October, 2015.

Verdict: Always catch a book before it's movie-adaption glitters up the silver screen and when it's movie-adaption has secured an Academy Awards, then you must read it! 
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Author Info:
Eduardo Sacheri (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1967) is an Argentine writer. Degree in history, he teaches high school and college. He began writing stories in the mid-1990s, fut boleros stories found a wide audience through the dissemination of them was Alejandro Apo on its "Everything with affection," which was broadcast by Radio Continental.1 Recognized fan club Atletico Independiente, Sacheri expressed in the stories her great passion for football in a compelling, entertaining, and friendly, showing a perfect understanding of the Argentina soccer popular culture.

In addition to several books of short stories, he has written two novels. First, the question of their eyes (2005) was made into a film by director Juan Jose Campanella by the name of The Secret in Their Eyes and has won numerous awards, including the Oscar for best foreign film 2010. The script the film was written by Campanella and Sacheri.

Some of his stories have been published in print media of Argentina, Colombia and Spain, and included by the Argentine Ministry of Education in their campaigns encouraging reading.

His work is being translated into German, French and other languages.

Currently, Sacheri is working on the adaptation of a story by Roberto Fontanarrosa for the new animated film by Juan Jose Campanella, and bearing the title Metegol. His latest book, "Papers in the wind", published in August 2011. Finally, your best sentence. "Some argue that football has nothing to do with the life of man, with his most essential things I do not know how much people know that life But I'm sure something. They know nothing about FOOTBALL "


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