This is an exploration of how obsession can dominate lives, relationships and actions when a politics lecturer and an aeronautics salesman are forced together in rural Peru. There are some excellent episodes and use of techniques to distance the reader from the characters; and the sometimes baffling power of politics over individuals is well explained. A bit rushed at the end but fascinating.
I see then. I understand. I understand that I am waiting for the right ball. The stiff shirt doesn't offer it. He is outside when Sebastian leaves. He is reading. 'What the hell's he up to?' says Popeye when I spot him. I know what he means, that the stiff shirt always seems to be in one of the courtyards washing or eating or talking. Up to now I had thought it was merely a coincidence but perhaps he was waiting to be engaged in conversation, in some sort of witty repartee that he likes and cannot locate on the island. Perhaps he imagines that he can find it in me.
