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A review by blueyorkie
The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas
5.0
I enter this book on tiptoe, and I am caught by the rise in power of the text, letting myself be carried away and then subjugated by the end and until the last line.
He instigated a coup that spread in the hemicycle of the Spanish Congress on February 23, 1981.
"Everyone down!"; "Down !"; "Do not move !"; shout the Civil Guards.
The bullets fired, and yet three men remained standing. They rise to disobey the soldiers' injunction, intimated to them, while some 400 deputies disappear under their seats. Who are these three men? What is the ethics of this gesture of resistance? Is there supremacy of ethics in politics? The first is Adolfo Suárez, Phalangist, Francoist, then ensuring the Democratic Transition. The second is General Gutiérrez Mellado, the Francoist, former coup leader of 1936; the third is Santiago Carrillo, Secretary-General of the Communist Party. They are heroes. They are ready to die for the honor and have nothing more to lose by dint of conviction. But have no fear; if it is the Anatomy of a moment, each man will present to us his career, military, political, or life, in the most extraordinary lucidity but above all in a search for truth. The story's progress is faultless, and the author ensures our accessibility regarding understanding the report, the men, and the concordance of events. The writing is beautiful and robust since it brings together these three men who are so different and close simultaneously, even though they will have oppositely gone through history. Ultimately, this multitude of portraits creates richness by giving it scope and a universal reading.
He instigated a coup that spread in the hemicycle of the Spanish Congress on February 23, 1981.
"Everyone down!"; "Down !"; "Do not move !"; shout the Civil Guards.
The bullets fired, and yet three men remained standing. They rise to disobey the soldiers' injunction, intimated to them, while some 400 deputies disappear under their seats. Who are these three men? What is the ethics of this gesture of resistance? Is there supremacy of ethics in politics? The first is Adolfo Suárez, Phalangist, Francoist, then ensuring the Democratic Transition. The second is General Gutiérrez Mellado, the Francoist, former coup leader of 1936; the third is Santiago Carrillo, Secretary-General of the Communist Party. They are heroes. They are ready to die for the honor and have nothing more to lose by dint of conviction. But have no fear; if it is the Anatomy of a moment, each man will present to us his career, military, political, or life, in the most extraordinary lucidity but above all in a search for truth. The story's progress is faultless, and the author ensures our accessibility regarding understanding the report, the men, and the concordance of events. The writing is beautiful and robust since it brings together these three men who are so different and close simultaneously, even though they will have oppositely gone through history. Ultimately, this multitude of portraits creates richness by giving it scope and a universal reading.