“A unique, highly emotional novel” —Julio Ortega, El Boomerang
‘Andrea Jeftanovic’s style is absolutely matchless. Her voice is utterly personal.” —Quimera magazine
“This novel reveals a reflective link between terror in the streets and terror in the home” —La Nación
“Andrea Jeftanovic belongs to a group of Latin American contemporary writers with an open perspective on exploring global human issues” —Revista de Letras
“Vividly portrays on the ambiguous and sensual violence of family bonds” —Página12
Theatre of War takes us to a journey into the desolate story of the reconstruction of memory – a universal question that here turns into a reflection on how huge historical events can affect the seemingly insignificant lives of nameless individuals. Tamara, protagonist and narrator, faces the ghosts of a very tangible past that includes her father’s war (an immigrant from former Yugoslavia), a very conflictive family life, suicides, lost landscapes, inherited trauma, absent siblings and a mother who, due to an undefined illness, has suffered from partial memory loss and cannot recognise her own daughter.
Andrea Jeftanovic's debut novel, is an exploration of the empty theatre of operations her memory provides for the domestic war she was part of as a child. The Chilean novelist approaches the ruins of memory to source from them the love needed to build her identity as an adult. An impressive, sensitive, harrowing, widely praised first novel from one of the most important female novelists of Latin America.