Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Five Days Five Nights by Manuel Tiago

2021; American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Volume: 104; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/hpn.2021.0108

2153-6414

Deborah Zamorano,

Philippine History and Culture

Reviewed by: Five Days Five Nights by Manuel Tiago Deborah Zamorano Tiago, Manuel (Alvaro Cunhal) Five Days Five Nights. (Cinco Dias, Cinco Noites). International Publishers, 2020. Pp. 66. ISBN 978-0-717-80789-5. Five Days Five Nights is a captivating novel. Tiago's book depicts an accurate illustration of Portugal around the 1930s. The meticulous description of the people the main character encountered while crossing from Portugal to Spain gives the readers a precise idea of how people dressed and how they acted in the small Portuguese villages. The book provides essential information to situate the readers in relation to the author's background. Such information is both at the foreword and at the short biographical note on the author after the story. Tiago is the pen name of Alvaro Cunhal. In 1961, Alvaro Cunhal was the elected secretary general of the Portuguese Communist Party. Before that time, he was in prison due to his political views. The manuscript of this book was found in the archives of the Forte de Peniche, where Cunhal had been imprisoned. Cunhal had left it behind when he escaped on January 3, 1960, although he did take with him the manuscript to another, much longer and more specifically political novel, Até Amanhã, Camaradas. After the 25th of April 1974 Revolution that brought an end to fascism in Portugal, the military officers in charge of the fort returned the manuscript to Cunhal, and he published it in 1975 under the pseudonym Manuel Tiago, with a fictitious indication that it had been found in the "author's" papers after his death (an explanation he also used for Até Amanhã, Camaradas). It was also turned into a movie in 1997 In the book, André, the main character, had to cross from Portugal to Spain illegally. His narrative is realistic and comes from deep rooted emotions. An example of this is when Tiago narrates Andrés's fears and reactions during his crossing. This makes the reading absorbing and [End Page 751] compelling. André's sigh of relief when he finally realizes he is in Spain could not have been more sympathetic. One of the book's highlights is to show the readers the obstacles and sufferings people who resisted fascism had to face at the time the novel takes place. The author was, as already said, a member of the Portuguese Communist Party and thus was arrested for his political activism. Tiago wrote this manuscript while in prison. Tiago's outstanding and impeccable fiction writing style surely must have made this manuscript be perceived as just an innocent story in the eyes of the law authorities of the time. Otherwise, they would not have allowed him to write it in prison. Another strength of the book is to show a politically persecuted person from a humanistic perspective. In a time when people do not seem to have enough tolerance towards different ideas, the story certainly makes the readers think about such a standpoint. In addition, one of the author's literary strong points is to make the reader figure out details of the story. This is particularly the case of the characterization of Lambaça, the man who helped André cross the border. His mysterious behavior, his lack of words, and the fear he provoked in André definitely creates a great deal of curiosity in the readers. This is one of the reasons that makes the story so engaging. The translation done by Erick Gordon accurately conveys the novel's details. Gordon's translation was the first translation from Portuguese to English. It certainly helped keep the emotions and reactions shown by the characters' precise, reliable, and faithful to the Portuguese version. In addition, the illustrations done by Ilse Gordon complement the verbal detail of the author. This book is highly recommended for a variety of audiences. It is recommended for students, authors, and anyone who researches about the fascist resistance in Portugal during the twentieth century. It is also recommended for students of twentieth-century Portuguese studies, especially because of the author's background provided in the book. Furthermore, the book is an eye opener for anyone who is in the humanities area and, quite...