A review by ja3m3
The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto

4.0

I wasn't sure what this book was about, but it was on the short list for the Tournament of Books, and coming in at around 224 pages I knew it would be a quick read. What I wasn't prepared for was how beautifully poetic and dream-like the writing was even when describing some pretty horrific events. There were lines in the story that made me pause and relish the beauty and sadness of the writing.

"You were once a good teller of stories, father. Now you are a story badly told."

[b:The Tuner of Silences|13592037|The Tuner of Silences|Mia Couto|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1342293737s/13592037.jpg|6773991] is the story of a father's madness and how he tries to shield his sons and escape from the brutal realities of the world only to find that the demons that you are hiding from are within.

The book does seem choppy in some places. There are some lost details regarding Marta that makes the story hard to believe. The transition to her story isn't fluid - she just appears. I do think that there is something lost in the translation. The original book is 294 pages, but the translated version is only 224 pages. Regardless of this problem, this has been one of my favorite reads for the TOB, and I am glad I was introduced to this writer.