Martín Santomé, a widowed Montevideo office worker, is nearing retirement. Over a year, he writes in a diary about his routine, his three grown children, his dull job and his loneliness. Then Laura Avellaneda, a young woman who joins the office, shifts his outlook, and the two begin a love affair. Mario Benedetti's novel is told in short diary entries, plain and humorous, showing how happiness arrives late and unexpectedly. The title refers to a pause, a truce, in a life of routine.
Readers who like intimate, short novels about ordinary lives and middle-aged love will find a moving story. It is a classic of Uruguayan fiction that stays with you for its quiet ending.
Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1960
- Language
- EN
