Book Review: The Purchase by Linda Spalding

Why do we have such a fondness for the past when it is so damn horrible? That is one of my thoughts on reading The Purchase by Linda Spalding.

Spalding has crafted a wonderful read with this book. There is great attention to historical detail and the story is truly mesmerizing, yet the past of this story is a dark and unforgiving place indeed.

The story begins in 1798 when Daniel Dickinson and his young family are exiled from their Quaker community in Pennsylvania. Daniel's wife has died and he has married their fifteen year old servant, which doesn't go over too well with the leaders of the community. He moves his young family to Virginia with hopes  for a new life and an attempt to master his pride. Despite his hard work, humanity and compassion, he struggles with what seems to be a never ending set of failures.

The book's title comes from an incident early in the story, when Daniel accidentally, though purposefully, breaks with his Quaker tradition and faith, and buys a young slave boy. As the story unfolds, his eldest daughter Mary claims more of the narrative, her life becoming entwined with a slave woman.

Recalling Cormac McCarthy's The Road, there is much darkness, brutality and tragedy in this story. However, unlike McCarthy's spartan writing style, Spalding's prose is rich and full, biblical and lyrical. While hard to put down, this is not a comfortable book to read; there is a sense of recognition that forces the reader to note, not only the injustice of the past, but with great unease, the injustice of the present.

Rich, raw and powerful in its exploration of faith, family, loss and freedom, The Purchase is a terrific book and not to be missed.

Published in September 2012 by McClelland & Stewart, The Purchase was the 2012 winner of the Governor General's Literary Awards for Fiction.

las Malvinas ~ The Falklands ~ always good for diverting attention

In Argentina every child learns that those islands off the Atlantic coast are called las Malvinas and not The Falklands. They learn that these islands belong to Argentina and that the United Kingdom stole the islands during a war of aggression in the early 1980s.

April 2 is a public holiday in Argentina: Dia de los Caides en la Guerra de las Malivinas, a day to pay tribute to their fallen soldiers in a war that started on the same day in 1982. It began with a simple military occupation and ended 74 days later with over 900 dead (649 Argentines, 255 British and 3 islanders).

The disaster of the war led to massive demonstrations against the military throughout Argentina and ultimately hastened the junta's downfall and a return to democracy in 1983.

Throughout the country there are monuments to the fallen Argentine heroes of the war, and plaques in public buildings and shopping centres alike. Street art often addresses the Malvinas too, usually in highly patriotic fashion.

The issue of the Malvinas often comes up in the politics of Argentina. The nationalism invoked is seen by some as a diversion from more important issues facing the country. Lately President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been trumpeting the Malvinas line, including asking the new Pope for some sort of holy intervention.



While Argentine citizens would probably agree the islands do belong to Argentina, nobody would charge off to another war, or expend energy of any kind to get the islands back. There are more important issues facing this country. Including the rate of inflation.


This morning what is called here the blue dollar, or the black market price for the American dollar, hit 8.75 pesos. When we arrived in early January it was about 6 pesos to the dollar. The official government exchange rate is just over 5 pesos to the US dollar, as it has been since January. As Argentina's inflation rate increases and the savings of its ordinary citizens disappear, the Malvinas rhetoric only seems to increase too, with or without holy intervention.

CFK and Pope Francis photo from AFP/Getty

Our favourite coffee shop ~ Esquina Sinclair

At the corner of our street is a coffee shop. For some reason it doesn't have a sign, nor much of any indication that it is a coffee shop. But this cafe is a favourite for many of our neighbours, and for us too.

Its corner location is also a drop-off for garbage from all the apartments in the area. Garbage in Buenos Aires is another topic altogether, but as you can see, garbage is already collecting.








On our very first morning in Buenos Aires we went to Esquina Sinclair for coffee. It became an almost daily ritual. Fresh facturas, great coffee, friendly smiles. It was our place. Cafe solo for me, cafe macchiato for Sherry, y dos medialunas por favor.

When we first started going to our coffee shop, the weather was hot; ideally we found seating outside and in the shade. By the time we were getting ready to leave BA, autumn had arrived and sadly, on our last day we moved inside for our last cafe in Buenos Aires.




Tamara and Johanna were with us when we stumbled through our first ordering process, now famous by the line I ended up using, "Why don't you just bring us what you want to bring us." We improved over time and our friends at Esquina Sinclair were always gracious.

Great coffee. Great people.

We will miss our coffee shop.

A visit to a mosque ~ King Fahd Islamic Centre

A day after the new pope had been elected, Francisco from Argentina, we went to the mosque. It seemed the thing to do after all. We were joined by a number of other interested people.






The King Fahd Islamic Centre is located on a large plot of land donated by the Federal Government during the presidency of Carlos Menem, who, while being raised Roman Catholic, discovered later in life his Syrian origin actually included Islamic roots too.





Today there are about 700,000 Muslims in Argentina, the largest Islamic population in Latin America. Argentina also boasts the largest Jewish population in Latin America, though those numbers have lessened in recent years. Currently 1.9 per cent of the country's population is Muslim and 1.3 per cent are Jewish.

The Islamic Centre is located across the street from one of the largest gambling meccas in all Latin America, The Hipodromo, open twenty four hours a day, every day of the year.








Fashion is important at the Mosque as Sherry discovered. Apparently her dress did not cover enough of her legs and she was given a longer skirt to wear over top. And cover up those arms too. If you don't mind, though there isn't much choice if you want to enter. Please. 

Yes, quite a fashion statement.


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The buildings that make up the Centre, housing a school, library, various offices and the mosque itself, are impressive, yet hauntingly empty. We were there for the call to prayer and the actual prayers; only men and boys, no women in view. And no photos please.





Free tours of the Islamic Centre are offered each Tuesday and Thursday at noon. Long winded and slightly incomprehensible, unless you speak Spanish, it seemed a bit boring to me.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2013 by Jim Murray.

El Obrero... and No se olviden de Cabezas

El Obrero is a great little parrilla off the beaten track in La Boca. Started several decades ago by two brothers from Barcelona of all places, it offers good food at reasonable prices in a shrine devoted to Boca Juniors memorabilia. It isn't located on a well travelled street, and while it's easy enough to walk from some places, it might be wise to consider a taxi, especially after dark. We visited for a late lunch, in porteno fashion.



The restaurant features lots of meat dishes, and some great pasta too. There is an excellent wine list in a good range of prices. El Obrero is on some tourist circuits so you will hear English spoken by diners here, and the wait staff, attentive as only Argentinos can be, understand more than they let on. You will also find this is a local place, with friendly folk from Boca and beyond. Customers will argue with staff about the various incorrect placements of posters and photos on the wall, nearly all related to the Boca Juniors.


Service in Argentine restaurants is relatively good especially during the initial phases of ordering your meal. You will not be bothered during your meal by waiters wanting to be your friend, or asking you if everything is okay, or even if you would like a coffee or dessert. The bill won't appear with the "No hurry, take your time" line, even though they actually want you to hurry up. In Buenos Aires, once you are seated and enjoying your meal, you are a guest and have the option of sitting there until the establishment closes.

Should you actually want to finish your meal with a cafe or a postre, or indeed if you would like to pay and leave, you must get your waiter's attention. He, and it usually is a he in parrillas, will normally be staring out the window, kibitzing with another staff member or a customer, or simply invisible.

El Obrero represents what is great about Argentine parrillas. And yes, we did get a wonderful postre: lemon ice cream, and our waiter called a taxi for us too.









Something that caught my eye in El Obrero was the banner for Jose Luis Cabezas. Here, among all the futbol photos, banners and jerseys, was a something from the late nineteen nineties.

It reads: Do not forget Cabezas. Photojournalist. Murdered in Pinamar on January 25, 1997.





At the time Cabezas was working for the newspaper Noticas and investigating corruption between police, businessmen, politicians and crime bosses. He was looking into prominent business leader Alfredo Yabran when, after attending, as a journalist, a party in an exclusive resort community for businessman Oscar Andreani, he was kidnapped, beaten, handcuffed, tortured and killed with two gunshots to the head. His body was then  placed in the car rented by his newspaper and set on fire.

People throughout the country were outraged by this attack on an independent journalist. There were marches, rallies, and photo expositions. The slogan No se olviden de Cabezas became a symbol and a warning to those in power that citizens would not let this crime fade into obscurity and the guilty left unpunished. Ultimately many were brought to justice, including police, mafiosi and politicos.

Throughout this city, and the country, one sees photos of people, in memorial, in various places, sometimes in restaurants. We are never far from the memory of the desaparecidos of the Dirty War, nor more recent events too. This restaurant, El Obrero, and its customers,won't forget Cabezas.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2013 by Jim Murray.