Customer Reviews

Soldiers of Salamis: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In this unusual story of the Spanish Civil War, author Cercas experiments with the voice of his main character and with the form of this novel, which he describes as "a compressed tale except with real characters and situations, like a true tale." The unnamed speaker, a contemporary journalist in his forties, is investigating the story of Rafael Sanchez Mazas, a "good, not great" writer of the 1930s, who, in the final days of the Civil War (1936 - 1939) escaped a firing squad and lived to play a role in Franco's Nationalist government. The speaker believes that "forest friends" may have helped Sanchez Mazas survive the end-of-the-war turmoil, and he becomes obsessed with locating them, identifying the Popular front soldier who chose not to reveal Sanchez Mazas's whereabouts, and learning why they behaved as they did. As he investigates the story of Sanchez Mazas and the complex political alliances of the Civil War, the speaker realizes that he actually knows very little about this war, "not much more than I know about the battle of Salamis."

The speaker, who is obviously Javier Cercas himself, soon begins to expand the scope of his tale, investigating more than the verifiable facts about Sanchez Mazas and musing philosophically about the passage of time, the transcience of youth, the dubious legacy of war, and the nature of heroes. Wartime heroes live only as long as their friends remember them, and lives and memories are short: one must seize the moment and dance a paso doble in the time available.

The complex history of the Spanish Civil War in the first part of the novel is slow, full of unfamiliar names, places, and political alliances, but as the story of Sanchez Mazas unfolds, the reader gradually warms to the speaker's quest to learn everything he can about the incident in the forest. The scenes near the end of the book, set in a nursing home, are full of touching and emotional realizations, conveying powerful, universal messages about war and heroes from one generation to another (and to the reader) without being didactic. Cercas's style is honest and full of self-mockery, though some readers may be put off by his syntactically complex sentences, which are sometimes a page long. Focusing on what it means to be a hero, the novel is a tour de force in which the reader learns as much about the creative process of author Cercas as he does about the almost forgotten author Sanchez Mazas. Mary Whipple

I just had to weigh in when I saw that this book had received two negative reviews, because I absolutely loved it. I read it first in Spanish, so I won't comment on the style (except to say that I thought the translation was fine), but as to the rest...what are these guys thinking? The best I can come up with is that the previous reviewers were looking for a straight historical novel...the kind of thing that spends fifty pages describing what kind of cufflinks people wore and using outdated slang to show how much research the author did. This is NOT that kind of book.

Seriously (and I dearly love GOOD historical novels), Soldiers of Salamis is more about contemporary Spain than about the Civil War. It talks about the war, sure, but the main characters (the narrator, his girlfriend, the old man Miralles, and the late Chilean author Roberto Bolano) exist in the present. They talk about the war because it's important how the war affects PRESENT DAY Spain. The closest parallel I can think of is calling Josephine Tey's novel "The Daughter of Time" a "historical" novel because it talks about Richard III. Like "The Daughter of Time," "Soldiers of Salamis" is a novel about doing historical research (and about looking for the truth, so maybe the parallel isn't so bad). And news flash: research involves "just talking to people" as one of the reviewers below put it.

Anyway, if you're interested in a novel set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, this isn't the book. But if you're interested in a story about modern Girona, with humor, grace, and a great deal of emotion, buy this book.

I want to say that I loved the book, I was born in Girona and I was delighted to read how Cercas described the city and surroundings in a magnificent way. Besides I was surprised about the two bad reviews down there, I think the novel it is a tribute to all the people who fought in the Spanish Civil War and that are often forgotten. I must say that it is very recommendable to read this book in order to understand present spanish politics. I hope this helps to some people.
Jordi

I first read this title because I studied The Spanish Civil War at university and because it had a good review. And I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this title.

I was really impressed by its orignality in form, construction and honesty. I loved the way it flitted between personal narrative and history.

I won't give a synopsis of the story because it is more than adequately explained below. However, it is a wonderful illustration of the way collective human memory can redeem itself by recovering a few names from the forgotten multitude, or how, if you prefer, how the dead cling on through a few individuals.

This is also an important book, because it reveals the variety of experience in a war and what it means to different people and how some just get caught up in events. Moreover, it shows how there is never one single view that can demonstrate why a war happened or what it was about.

This is not a history of the Spanish Civil War, nor does it claim to be. It is a book about, human experience, collective memory, and the part played by chance in human events. It was by pure chance that I read this book review in a newspaper I was about to discard, but just stopped in the nick of time!

Not going to give a long review but when I saw a couple of 1 star reviews I couldn't resist. A fascinating tale amidst the complex machinations of the Spanish Civil War leades the narrator and author to explore not only historical issues but issues of heroism and historical truth. While the writing is at times a tad convoluted, I barely noticed, and I ended up loving this book more than I initially believed I would. I would have liked to have given 4.5 stars if I could.

Cleverly constructed, intimately written, a non partisan portrait of the passions of the Spanish Civil War. The ending
is touching and exquisitely human.

While I was reading a book on Spanish civil war, I came across the title of this book and heard from somewhere that it was a national bestseller in Spain. I expected it to be one of those stories revoling around a stock character republican soldier or an international volunteer, especially one from America or England.However,surprisingly enough, the book began with narration of Middle aged unsuccessful write Javier Cercas. The first half was about minor fascist writer Sanchez Mazas' life and his dramatic escape from mass execution and a unknown soldier who spared his life. the latter half is Cercas' tortuous but interesting journey ( yes, physical journey ) to find that particular republican soldier. I won't state more about the plot ,but last few pages are truly moving . It's not about the civil war and moreover it's not about one of those polemical books after more than half century later still arguing who was right and who was wrong. It's a tale of an one of those silent majority who never wanted anything from posterity but remembered. I think the true purpose of the author was emphasizing "Rememberance" and he superbly succeed to wake us readers.

Reimagining human generosity and history. A novel, already a classic in Spanish Literature with a very original structure.

In Soldiers of Salamis, Cercas weaves a wonderful tale that highlights the challenges of the writer working to craft his story as well as the incredible complexities for those on both sides of the Spanish Civil War. It is a thoughtful, thought provoking, compelling story that brings into light the tragedies and ironies of wartime, especially a war that tears a country in half. Once you get into the story, it is very hard to put the book down.

This book is an interesting read, more for the intricate way it's written than for the story itself. Cercas is obviously a master of the language, one can only imagine that something was lost in the translation from Spanish. Perhaps a bit elliptical but nevertheless worth a go.