Review of 'Something Fierce:Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter' by Carmen Aguirre. Douglas & McIntyre. 277 pp.
Would you expose your child to the terrors of a life given over to revolution? Carmen Aguirre's parents did, and in the end it didn't seem to hurt her. The Aguirre family fled Chile in the l970's after General Pinochet overthrew the left-leaning government of Salvador Allended. But her mother and stepfather returned to Latin America. They joined the left wing underground that tried to overthrowm Pinochet.
"They killed him later because they said he was a terrorist," says a young woman about the famous revolutionary Ernesto 'Che" Guevara. Meanwhile in Latin America, one right wing dictator after another siezed power. They killed thousands of their own people, smashed unions, scrapped social programs, and abolished legislatures.
But 'Something Fierce' not only revolves around revolutionary dreams and counterrevolutionary reality. It also spins out tales of teenage romance, fights and love in the Agiurre family, and journey's into many Latin American lands. It is a very fine story that takes us back from time to time to Vancouver which Aguirre often refers to as 'cold and rainy'.She tells us one side of tghe l970's that has not been mentioned a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment