I am struggling always with keeping straight with my plans, but there is one that I always follow carefully: expanding my knowledge on world authors and literature. Last year, the Philippines was the guest of honor at Frankfurt Book Fair, but my first Filipino author ever arrived on my reading desk only six month later.
Die Kollaborateure - The Collaborators - by Katrina Tuvera was translated into German by Jan Karsten. In a bit over 200 pages, around 100 years of history are covered, shared from the point of view of a family experiencing various events, such as the Japanese occupation to the martial law and the Marcos dictatorship.
Just before an important surgery, Carlos Armando is rememorating his life, projected against the tormented historical background. Seen from the standpoint of a particular family, the account is more intimate than a simple historical overview, allowing at the same time to discuss concepts like collaboration and complicity, without which individual survival in adverse collective environments is almost impossible.
I´ve found the approach and the context very interesting, bringing up interesting historical facts and moral takes. However, from the literary point of view, I´ve found the book structure as well as the dialogues not necessarily rich. Maybe it was also a result of the translation.
In any case, I am glad to finally be able to include a new country on my literary map, a step that hopefully will be followed by many more.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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