White Ravens’99/Argentina (Spanish)/74058
Mehl, Ruth 
 El sobreviviente
 (The survivor)
 Buenos Aires: Ed. Sudamericana, 1998. 198pp
 (Imaginario) (Primera Sudamericana)
 ISBN 950-07-1366-7
 Large city - Crime - Violence
 Badly beaten up and seriously injured, Agustín tells his life story from a hospital bed. After the death of his
 father during Argentina’s military dictatorship, he grew up first with near strangers in a poor quarter of
 Buenos Aires until he learned to fend for himself. He gives a realistic account of his life there: personal
 conflicts, social conflicts in the neighborhood, violence, drugs, police intervention, but also solidarity
 among individuals. In this tale, which has elements of a crime novel, the narrative switches skillfully
 between the flashbacks of the first-person narrator, Augustín, and the events in the hospital as told by his
 roommate. (13+)

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