In the Shadow of the Conquistador, by Shane Joseph
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In the Shadow of the Conquistador, by Shane Joseph
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After a silence of twenty years, Jimmy receives an unexpected letter from his old friend and nemesis, George, inviting him on a trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Arriving in Lima, Jimmy finds the ailing George as mercurial as ever. They begin their odyssey, catching up on the intervening years, reliving periods when their lives had intersected, and revisiting the events that destroyed their relationship. Both men are haunted by the enigmatic Denise, the woman they had lured, loved and lost in Canada. Their conquest of Denise parallels the plunder of Peru by conquistadors Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, the topic of a novel that George is writing in an attempt at self-discovery. On the Inca Trail, George and Jimmy meet trekkers Ali and Bea who exhibit the duality of Denise: beauty and introspection. They team up, even share tents. But there are many treacherous turns along the Trail before the travelers arrive in the sacred city where George is forced to confront his personal demons and Jimmy is pushed to reverse the legacy of the conquistadors. In this novel, Shane Joseph explores the hunger for conquest that drives change, the bonds of friendship that sustain faith, and the power of love that transcends evil.
In the Shadow of the Conquistador, by Shane Joseph- Published on: 2015-10-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.02" h x .52" w x 5.98" l, .74 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 246 pages
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A journey into the Andes --and into the human heart By Werner A. Lind Shane Joseph is a thoughtful and perceptive writer, mostly of serious general fiction. By "serious," I don't mean devoid of humor --this novel, for instance, like real life, has its wry moments-- but rather a seriousness of purpose: he seeks to illuminate the human condition, in ways that will make his readers think and feel more deeply, and maybe grow personally as a result. I'm privileged to be one of his Goodreads friends; and since I'd earlier read and liked his story collection, Paradise Revisited, he generously offered me a free review copy of this novel, with no strings attached. It was an offer I was glad to accept, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.From internal references in the book, we can calculate that our main story here takes place in 2007. Like Homer and Bunyan (and many other great authors of the Western tradition) before him, Shane casts his tale in terms of a journey: an arduous trek on foot into the Andes, to the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu. But our travelers here, like many literary travelers before them, are on an inner journey as well, that involves looking back over pivotal events of several decades of their lives, from youth to middle age. The author positions his flashbacks with artistry, the past illuminating the present in a perfectly crafted tapestry. That's not to say it's made up of only, or even mainly, nice materials. In her novel Saint Sebastian's Head, LeAnn Neal Reilly speaks of the interplay of darkness and light in certain schools of visual art, in which both have to be combined to create the masterpiece. That speaks symbolically of the interplay of the two in life and realistic literature as well; and it's an interplay that's never been more evident than it is here.This is an ambitious novel, attempting to cover many themes in a short span, 236 pages (and succeeding admirably despite that constraint --or perhaps because of it; the effect of the honed prose is stronger than a more sprawling novel would be): the power of friendship, for both good and ill; the fleeting shortness of earthly life and the crucial importance of all the choices we make; the question of where you strike the balance between spontaniety and ordered control in your life; the way the sins of the parents, in the form of emotionally distant and/or abusive parenting, are visited on the kids in the baggage that they carry; and above all, the message that life and human relationships aren't about taking for yourself, but about giving to others. A native of Sri Lanka, Shane also is concerned with the negative legacy of colonialism for both conquered and conquerors; but he makes it clear that this macrocosm is a direct extension of the microcosm, how we treat others in our individual lives. (While there's scant reference here to Christianity, this is a message that's very consistent with Christian ethics.)The characterizations here are wonderfully drawn, a great strength of the novel. None are perfect, and George Walton is far from it: a self-centered, lecherous, foul-mouthed egoist and pothead who's capable of extremes of shabby behavior to get what he wants, and ruins lives in his wake. You spend much of the novel wanting profoundly to give him a hard kick in the buttocks. But you also see him as a hurting human who deserves your compassion, and who's capable of some moments where you'd like to shake his hand. Other characters who are more sympathetic also have their flaws; Shane cares about them all, views them all (or mostly all) with compassion, and invites us to do the same. He evokes the milieu of his adopted Canada with ease, and draws Peru with an assurance that suggests he's actually been there and is describing what he knows. Readers should be warned that there is some R-rated bad language here, including a number of f-word uses (mostly by George); there's also some explicit sexual content, used to convey the ugliness of exploitative sex, not to make it attractive. But none of this is gratuitous.What we have here is a warts-and-all look at modern life, with no stinting of exposure to its dark side. But unlike the writers of contemporary "literary" fiction, Shane Joseph's vision isn't one of unmitigated darkness. Rather, it's a vision of reality where hope for redemption and renewal has a grounding, and where truth, meaning and virtue aren't illusions. I'm not familiar enough with modern Canadian literature to say whether or not he's one of the more consequential and gifted Canadian authors of serious fiction writing today. But IMO, if literary criticism in a future generation ever recovers its soul and returns to the integrity it once had, he's sure to be in the running for that status.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Our story must have a better ending, than the Inca’s. Or else we wouldn’t have progressed in five hundred years. By Waheed Rabbani Preface: This review was previously published in the Book Review Literary Trust of India April 2016 issue---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In a recent interview [1], US President Barack Obama said, “when I think about how I understand my role as citizen, setting aside being president, and the most important set of understandings that I bring to that position of citizen, the most important stuff I’ve learned I think I’ve learned from novels.” Shane Joseph’s latest book, In The Shadow of the Conquistador, is indeed one such novel from which we can learn much. While on its surface it might appear to be a love-triangle romantic story, it has a lot to offer in our understanding of the human spirit that at times lusts for conquest and colonization, but can develop bonds of friendship which sometimes can lead to betrayal, and yet through the power to love it can overcome evil.The novel begins in contemporary Toronto when Jeremy (Jimmy) Spence, a retired university professor, receives an email unexpectedly from his childhood school friend, George Walton, inviting him on a trip to trek up to the famous, Machu Pichu, in Peru. The letter is a surprise for Jimmy, for on account of some personal differences and George having moved to Vancouver, he hadn’t met nor heard from George for nearly twenty years. Although, Jimmy thought that Peru in the November rainy season might not be ideally suited for trudging up the cold mountain, he relents, feeling guilty at not having kept in touch with his life-long friend. His interest is also piqued when George mentions that having given up on academia he is heavily into colonial history and is writing a book about Peru, attempting to discover himself.Their meeting in Lima, while starting somewhat shakily, is like that of long-lost friends and they soon settle, over food and drinks, into reminiscing their past. Jimmy finds the paunchy and greying George just as fast-talking and—from his suggestion that they procure some local prostitutes—over-sexed as ever. He still possesses his violent nature that again gets him in trouble and ends up getting beaten, and his camera smashed. George finds Jimmy “still bone thin,” and when Jimmy informs him that he has been exercising regularly, George responds, while concealing his own terminal illness, “You plan meticulously, Jimmy. Gotta leave room for the unexpected.” While it seems strange that these two with diverging personalities were close friends, their bond was due to their mutual love for an attractive Montreal woman, Denise Langevin, they pursued. While Jimmy was intensely in love with Denise, it was George who ‘conquered’ and married her. We learn much of their private lives—mostly in Toronto—from their musings during the march. They recount their juvenile pranks, and their memorable and forgettable events that destroyed their relationship between them and those they loved.The novel’s plot thickens when they meet two other young Canadian women trekkers, Ali and Bea who bears an uncanny representation of Denise, in beauty and compassionate character. They are there not only for sightseeing but also on a native child adoption mission. Quite naturally the two bachelors get together with the women and even end up sharing tents with them. However, as fate would have it, other precarious twists and turns lie ahead on the trail that the travelers have to confront before they can reach the fabled Machu Pichu.Shane Joseph has skillfully structured the novel in alternating chapters that tell the story of Jimmy’s and Georges’ lives in Canada and their travel in Peru. While some may consider the constant flashbacking of scenes tedious, these in fact tend to keep the reader’s interest alive. The twin story lines come together at the end thereby making the conclusion most satisfying, and reveal the true nature of the characters’ personalities, and highlights their changes.Shane Joseph has also maintained the theme of colonialism and its impact on the native population throughout this novel. This is achieved in a unique way by introducing a historical novel within a modern romantic love-triangle story. Snippets of George’s book on the conquest of the Inca’s by the Spaniards—narrating the account of Conquistadors Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro—are deftly interspersed throughout the novel. From their story, readers can draw a parallel between the old and our present day lives, not unlike conquistadors’, and how we develop when we are young, and have to live with the consequences in our old age. It is then easy to recognize the impact of Jimmy’s and George’s pursuit and conquest over Denise and other women, betrayals of their friendship, and finally the resulting impact on their lives and reconciliatory changes which they attempt.While this novel is based partially in modern day Peru and its colonial past, the similarity to the harsh experiences of the native population from conquest and subservience in other countries is very relevant. There is much to be learned while planning for the future from such novels. Furthermore, in the words of President Obama, they offer an important set of understanding to our role as citizens.This novel will be enjoyed by all seeking to comprehend the human spirit. Highly recommended.Reviewed from an advance review copy provided by the author.[1]Reference: (...)
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