Springtime in a Broken Mirror was written in a way that was intriguing and captivating. I am looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Beautiful, political, putting you in an experience you couldn't even imagine. Highly recommend it. I can't quite write more than this at this point.

This was beautifully written and conveyed interesting, thoughtful ideas and arguments, but ultimately I found it difficult to follow. I had to spend the beginning of each chapter trying to figure out who was speaking (with the exception of young Beatriz and sometimes her mother Graciela, the men seemed indistinguishable). Also, the translation was a bit clumsy and the galley needed a good copyedit—words with the letter f (like “off,” “definite,” “affect,” etc.) were cut off and difficult to piece together.

If you go to war to win what you know will only be a moral victory, are you still a revolutionary, or are you a mad man?

The story is told from multiple perspectives, a man in prison in Uruguay and his wife, daughter, father and friend in exile in Argentina. As Santiago fights to stay alive and sane in his prison cell, his family struggles to adapt to life in exile, and life without him.

“Springtime” is a poetic reflection on the Uruguayan revolution and its repression. I was surprised and enlightened by the historical aspects of the book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have loved most of Mario's books in their traditional Spanish versions. But translated versions never sum it up for me, the meaning are lost in translation, both culturally, and literally,

I would not be able to make a decent feedback on this book. I miss Mario Benedetti !

I wanted to visit the streets described in his book but the images would not come up this first edition had a lot of missing characters making it even more difficult to read

Sorry but this will not mak e the book shelves in it's present form perhaps it needs a more colorful description although not Benedettis style, he is more morose but down to earth, he speaks from the core of his being drawing life to what is not.

Uruguayan Mario Benedetti (1920-2009) is regarded as one of the most important Latin American writers, and this novel is an impressive introduction to his work. It tells of Santiago, imprisoned after the military coup in Uruguay in 1973. Benedetti himself was forced into exile for his political activities and it was while he was living in Mallorca in the 1980s that he wrote this novel about political repression, with his own experiences giving an added authenticity to the story. Santiago’s partner Graciela, their daughter Beatriz and his father are now in Buenos Aires along with his friend Rolando. In alternating chapters we hear from each of them in turn as they express their own feelings and thoughts, plus there are chapters in the third person from the author himself chronicling his own experiences of exile and that of the people he meets. So it’s a multi-layered tale, exploring themes of political oppression, exile, imprisonment, loyalty, betrayal and loss, and the cost of political opposition, a constant theme in Latin American literature, and one presented very sympathetically here. I became more and more absorbed in the novel as time went on and I came to know the characters in more depth. I found them empathetic and their plight moving. Well-written and well-paced, I found the book very interesting and thought-provoking and it’s one I heartily recommend.