Twilight at the Equator: A Novel

by Jaime Manrique

When Santiago Martinez, a gay writer and professor, returns to Colombia after his sister's suicide, he realizes that his years in Spain and New York City have left him longing for a tropical paradise that does not really exist

198 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Jaime Manrique (16 June 1949 - ) Colombian American author, poet, and journalist.

Reviews

[MSJLibrary]

A young gay writer named Santiago Martinez is living and working in Spain, and eventually lands a gig as a university professor in New York City. After a few years of teaching, he suddenly gets the tragic news that his sister has committed suicide, and he must go back to his native Colombia in order to be with his family. While there, Santiago learns more about his childhood and adolescence, including some shocking secrets that leave him questioning the past memories that he once cherished.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I am interested in fiction about Spain since I am visiting there in a few months. Only the first chapter of this novel is set there, as it happens, and the place of that opening story in the subsequent development of the narrative was a little hard to place. There is a lot of frank depictions of gay sex, some mutually agreed upon and satisfying, some violent and non-consensual, but the main character's sexual orientation is always front and center, as is his love of film and connection to his native Columbia. I thought the most moving chapter was the middle, the third, entitled "The Documentary Artist", with its sensitive and heartbreaking account of one of the main character's students and his decline into homelessness and madness. On balance some very good writing, but the overall structure and narrative flow was a little hard to comprehend. It almost read like a collection of five short stories.

[Katie M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I wanted this book to be better than it was.