On a Night of a Thousand Stars by Andrea Yaryura ClarkMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Silence is Health
Told in dueling time periods, On a Night of a Thousand Stars, imparts the lead up to the 1976 Dirty War in Argentina, the subsequent kidnappings the military junta enacted to wipe out perceived left-wing antagonists, and the fall-out of all this chaos. The story starts off in 1998 with Paloma, the only daughter of Santiago Larrea, an affluent Argentina man that has traveled and lived around the world and is now going to be named the Argentina ambassador to the U.N. While in Argentina for the ambassador ceremony, Paloma overhears an old friend of her father's comment about how brave he was in keeping a secret house to help people escape during 1976. Paloma's father tries to brush off the thanks and never hearing this about her father, Paloma goes off on an investigative journey that leads her down a path she never saw coming.
When Paloma starts off on this path, the dueling chapters come into play and we jump back to 1973 and get her father's pov and a look at the friends and life he is living. The author does, almost, too good of a job teaching readers who know nothing about the political upheaval in Argentina during this time as the first couple 1970s chapters get bogged down with political history; it slowed the pace of the story and put the focus on a history lesson instead of learning and attaching to the characters at the start. I can see some readers revealing in all the historical names and others wanting to check-out.
When we get to the second half of the story, I thought it picked up as the focus became more personal and the 1975-76 chapters show us what is happening to all these characters we have come to care about. As each 1998 chapter shows Paloma starting to ask more questions and investigate and then the preceding chapter shows the reader what those answers are, I got caught up in the emotional storm these characters were going through. The latter second half also makes good on all the beginning talk/explaining of the desaparecidos, the general feeling of chaos and fear in 1970s, the Madres and Abuelas of Plaza de Mayo, and the HIJOs (sons and daughters of the disappeared) as the author gives a more personal look at it all through the eyes of her characters.
I thought there were some moments that felt forced, Paloma going gung-ho to even look into her father's history and the man helping Paloma seemingly convinced of things and pushing/leading her to hunt for answers, but overall, this was a well thought out story. The Argentina Dirty War went from 1976 to 1983 and it's estimated that 9,000 – 30,000 individuals were forcibly disappeared, with estimated 500 babies taken into illicit adoptions. As with fiction stories that deal with real historical events, there's answers, some left questions, reveals that lead to happiness, anger, and sadness but also love enduring, On a Night of Thousand Stars is no different.
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