By Luisa

The Old Man Who Read Love Novels – Luis Sepulveda

I would like to present you the book I’m reading these days: it is Un Viejo que leía novelas de amor or The Old Man Who Read Love Novels. It was written by the Chilean writer Sepulveda. During his life, he gave voice to those people who couldn’t express their ideas. 

In this book, Sepulveda talks about deep and important topics, for instance how the modern man destroyed nature without respecting her, just for the sake of progress.

Sepulveda was born in Chile and it is important to remember that he was a political activist from a young age, first for the Communist Youth of Chile and then for the Socialist party. He was arrested and imprisoned under the military regime of Pinochet. Sepulveda was freed thanks to Amnesty International after more than two years of imprisonment. 

He studied how Western civilizations affected the Indios Shuar. As a matter of fact, one of the main characters of this book is Chico Mendes, who spent his life fighting  against deforestation. White hunters and gold prospectors threaten to destroy the lush Amazon Rainforest by killing endangered species and destroying the ancient habitat of the jungle, its wild animals and its indigenous people, the Shuar Indians. 

I really appreciated how Sepulveda speaks about his personal experience with the Indios Shuar. He had lived with them for seven months and during this time, he learnt about and appreciated their lifestyle.

Unfortunately, Sepulveda died some months ago from Corona-virus.