The Distance Between Us

Peruvian writer Cisneros’s revelatory English-language debut, expertly translated by Petch, is a fictional biography of his late father, Lt. Gen. Luis Federico Cisneros Vizquerra (“El Gaucho”). Born in Buenos Aires in 1926, the Gaucho earned his nickname at the age of 11 and carried it with him to military college. A forbidden romance, however, detoured the Gaucho from a career in the Argentine military to one in the Peruvian. After a coup in 1975, the Gaucho is promoted to minster of the interior, while a scandalous affair with his secretary brings the younger Cisneros into the world. A notorious and bombastic public figure, the Gaucho mingled with Henry Kissinger and Augusto Pinochet while imprisoning and disappearing dissidents. (His outbursts, such as “I don’t imprison people out of malice, but out of firmness,” frequently made headlines.) It is to the author’s credit that he interrogates both his father’s villainy and the villain’s fatherhood. A stern man who boxed ears at academic mishaps was also capable of sharing a beer with his boy. Whether those rare moments are enough for Renato to forgive the Gaucho for his trespasses is what this book seeks to answer. Cisneros’s brave gaze into the abyss of a strongman’s heart is worth a look. (Aug.)