In a series of tales fashioned as an old fisherman's reflections, Peruvian-American author and sociologist Muñoz (The Peruvian Notebooks
) offers an elegiac lament for a disappearing way of life along Peru's Pacific coast. Told by the elder Don Morales to young Alejandro, who has returned after years away, the story relates the sad transformation of the port neighborhood of Villa María between 1960 and 1990, as a hydroelectric dam brings in industry, immigrant workers and pollution—decimating the ancient livelihood of Peruvian rock fishers. Don Morales describes this patient, solitary practice, for which no rods are used, but rather hook and line. Requiring utter concentration and the ability to align oneself with the sea's rhythms, the practice is described in short chapters featuring different schools: the net fishermen, the croaker fishermen and the roseteros
—those who catch fish without bait—among others. Memorable personalities crop up throughout the narrative, including heroic Paton and murderous Canchero, but the disaster that invariably intervenes turns Muñoz's nostalgic journey into a meditation on natural disaster and political upheaval. (Nov.)
