cover image Fear the Condor

Fear the Condor

David Nelson Blair. Dutton Books, $15 (144pp) ISBN 978-0-525-67381-1

Set in Bolivia between 1932 and 1938, this debut novel chronicles the hardships of Bartolina Ch'oke, a Native American Aymara girl, as her life is pulled apart by war between Bolivia and Paraguay. As a fearful six-year-old, Bartolina witnesses the atrocities that surround her and learns to understand the events taking place in her country. Blair seasons Bartolina's story with Aymara words, traditions and beliefs, creating a graphic historical portrait of her people, somewhat at the expense of the protagonist's verisimilitude. Her story is compelling, yet one never feels that she is an individual; she seems rather a composite of the mistreated natives of her time. This would make a fine choice as additional reading for a social studies class, but the narrative itself offers little for youngsters to enjoy. Ages 12-up. (May)