Review
There is nothing much to say about this book, really.
It was an interesting tale of romance involving time travel. It started off interesting with a group of friends coming for a reunion. They were lounging about and saw an old man whom, together, they guessed who or what he might be. The story commences as the old man came towards them to tell something mysterious.
In tone, the novel felt sort of like a Japanese literature. It has that magical realism feel but it lacks the proper whimsy and weird that the genre has. The time traveling part should have been a huge part of the story but it was laid out quite weakly. The pacing and transitioning was weird that it basically erased an entire set of cast from the story. That aspect aided in the novels collapse. I was introduced to a cast of characters and after reading through a couple chapters, those cast suddenly disappeared and the story focused only with two.
The narration is what I loved most about this story. Edoardo Ballerini really gave it a regality. I enjoyed listening to his voice. It’s as if I’m really talking to a man with a wide experience, a man so antique. It was a delight to hear his narration.
Overall, The Gentleman From Peru was an interesting story with a poorly written flow. The characters felt nothing more than a mortal device to the magical story of the “gentleman”. Even the way his story unravels felt too feeble. It was engrossing to a certain extent but it falls apart as you go through.
