? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

The Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig is a film buff’s joy in the guise of a book. The events of the novel occur inside a prison cell in Argentina where two men, one of whom is a political prisoner, begin to form a unique friendship through film. Molina, a middle class social butterfly who was arrested due to an immoral act, is placed with Valentin, a political activist whom the government is trying to force to share information about his organization and their next acts of rebellion. When Molina is told that he can get an early release if he can encourage Valentin to confess, he decides to cooperate with the state. Molina’s strategy to win over Valentin is to wait for lights-out and to narrate his favorite films which he saw in the cinema to Valentin — a luxury that Marxist, lower-class Valentin never had before he was imprisoned. The resistant Valentin eventually gives in and befriends Molina, and the latter’s rendering of the films lead to conversations showing the triumph of humanity in one of the most inhumane of places. If you enjoy multiple narratives, politics, suspense with a touch of imagination, this treasure of a novel is a great summer read.

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