The Disappeared - Hardcover

Whelan, Gloria

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803732759 ISBN 13: 9780803732759

Publisher: Dial Books, 2008

Synopsis

A riveting tale about love and sacrifice by a National Book Award winner.

The Disappeared. Los desaparecidos. This is the name given to those who opposed Argentina?s dictatorial government and were kidnapped to ensure their silence. With her hometown of Buenos Aires ensconsced in the political nightmare, Silvia devises a plan to save her missing brother. She?ll make Norberto, son of the general who arrests dissenters, fall in love with her?and he?ll have his father set Eduardo free.

Told in alternating chapters, this powerful and poetic story follows Silvia as she spirals into Norberto?s world, and Eduardo as he struggles to endure physical and emotional torture. Will Silvia?s scheme reunite her family? Or will the pursuit of freedom cost these devoted siblings their lives?

About this title

About the Author

Gloria Whelan is the author of the National Book Award–winning Homeless Bird. She lives in northern Michigan.

Reviews

Grade 7–10—A story set in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s. Despite its peaceful facade, Argentina is rife with guerrilla warfare and run by malevolent generals. Told in alternating chapters by two teenage siblings, the novel relates how one young person decides to stand up for his political beliefs and ideals and ignores his parent's cautions. Eduardo, in his first year of university, is impatient and intolerant of his father's inaction to protest against the vengeful General Lopez. Silvia, his beautiful younger sister, dances from night to dawn. Her brother's outspoken protests seem little more than another family quarrel. As a visible political activist, Eduardo ends up a target. Only when imprisoned, suffering cruel and calculating psychological torture, does he learn the dangers of what it means to be one of Los Desparecidos. Silvia, awakened to the reality of the situation, does everything in her power to free him. Strategically, she sets herself up as bait for the son of General Lopez, believing that she can win him over and secure her brother's release. The deftly handled voices of Silvia and Eduardo follow the well-intentioned, but often grievous, mistakes of youth. Their compelling tale is a chilling account of the manipulative power of corruption.—Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY
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When the police break into Silvia’s home in Buenos Aires in 1976 and drag her beloved older brother, Eduardo, 17, to prison, Silvia is willing to risk anything to save him, even dating the powerful general’s son, Norberto. She dreads the idea that Eduardo will become one of los Desaparecidos (the Disappeared) prisoners who are never seen again. For his part, Eduardo endures torture and worries that Silvia will also be arrested. In terse, alternating present-tense narratives, the siblings talk to one another and reveal their secret thoughts. Most moving are their family memories. Eduardo recalls confronting his physician dad (Why don’t you protest?) and calling Silvia frivolous because she kept quiet and did nothing at first. The plot is sometimes purposive, and there are some stereotypic elements—especially Norberto with his slicked hair, cold blue eyes, and caged birds. But readers will be held by the recent history—many of the victims are still Disappeared—and the teen voices personalize the political cruelty and courage. Grades 8-12. --Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Dial Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803732759
• ISBN 13: 9780803732759
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144