My thoughts as I was reading this novel were, why is an Irish writer setting a gay coming out story in Argentina in the 1980s? And what, I asked myself, does the title mean? I came to see the setting as a metaphor for the storyline.
In the story, Richard grows up in Argentina with his British mother. We see him discover his interest in other men at an early age, although in the homophobic culture of Argentina, he allows his identity to be repressed, and expresses it only in secret. This parallels his coming to political consciousness, discovering but repressing his knowledge of the brutal dictatorship. As Argentina slowly opens to into a liberal democracy, he finds more room to express his sexuality, although both are distorted by links to the past and the corruption of the present. Richard and Argentina are challenged by an existential threat, which, in Richard’s case at least, he is able to face through the strength of his love. The future of Argentina is less clear.
“Argentina after the humiliation of the war and the disappearances would have done anything to please the outside world, and privatization was the price the outside world required. Everything the country had that was valuable would be sold and this would tie Argentina to outside interests so that it would never be able to behave badly again.”
Is this an illuminating metaphor? It describes a combined win and loss that the gay community took on in the 1980s, a longing for acceptance even at the cost of what made the community unique and valuable. It also works to clarify the situation that Richard finds himself in. Richard, like Argentina after the dictatorship, is very passive, which makes him somewhat unattractive as a protagonist. He hangs around in a dead-end job in his mother’s apartment until an Argentine politico and an American couple find his translation skills useful, and bring him into their world. He gets some money and contacts in a corrupt system, but they allow him to create a gay identity and find a loving partner.
Richard feels alienated and humiliated as a repressed gay men, and he lets other people tell him what to do. Later he becomes successful, but is sick at heart. He pays the price for letting other people control his life. I think this is what the story of the night refers to: the survival of gay men in the darkness of a hostile world where they cannot show themselves. The end feels like the coming of light, although it is a compromised future that Richard faces.
As a novel set in the gay milieu of the 1980s, the story reflects on the devastating impact of AIDS in the characters’ lives, but it’s interesting that it does not define them or their relationship. It’s a hurdle to overcome, but in spite of that the story ends on a positive note of hope.
I did quite like the depictions of Richard’s life, from his first sexual experiences to his callow youth and his later growth in maturity. The hopefulness and the alienation seem very true to the character and situation, and even though they were set in Argentina, I related to them as real stories. In fact, they appear so realistic that they made me think that Tóibín must have spent some time there, although his bio doesn’t refer to any time in Argentina. While wishing that Richard was not so passive, I also found his story offered insight into gay life in a certain time and place.
I also admire Tóibín’s writing. It’s very descriptive and creates an atmosphere that is easy to imagine. I come away with very clear pictures of Buenos Aires, Barcelona, and the other settings in the story. I’ve no idea how these images resonate with an actual Argentinian, but for me they make the story real and relatable. ( )

This is the story of that features the two aspects: the personal struggles of Richard and the political upheaval in Argentina during the 80’s. Author, Toibin masterfully draws the reader into these stories, the link being Richard who we see rise up in political circles and fall in love with another man. Richard struggles to come terms with the intersection of these two aspects of his life, while keeping his personal life secret. I did not find it slow at the start as many have stated, instead I was hooked immediately and enjoyed this novel immensely. ( )

Richard and the likes of him can only be active in the darkness, hence story of the night. He and Paolo both became ill with AIDS. I should feel for them but I don't. Perhaps it is because of Toibin's writing style. He adopts a very descriptive style here, often describing what the characters say from Richard's point of view to the extent that sometimes it becomes a bit primary school-ish. This must be deliberate but I fail to see the effect here. ( )

Corren los tiempos de la dictadura en Argentina. Richard Garay se ve obligado a reprimir su sexualidad ante la sociedad y ante su madre, una inglesa que odia esa tierra. Mientras tanto, Richard atraviesa como en un sueño la dolorosa historia de un país que apenas puede recuperarse de sus reiteradas heridas causadas por la guerra contra la Gran Bretaña, los juicios contra los militares, la corrupción, hasta que el amor y la tragedia se instalan definitivamente en su vida.

This is a wonderful book. Written in the first person, it tells the story of Richard Garay – a half-English gay Argentine – in such warm, intimate detail that you end up sucked in right through to the end. It starts slowly, with so much seemingly irrelevant detail that the first half can get a bit tiring, but it picks up.

Fundamentally, this is a story about Richard’s longing to be loved and accepted for who he is. His parents were unable to give this to him, and despite a series of casual encounters which he very much enjoyed, he couldn’t get it through his love life either until he found Pablo. The passages detailing his love for Pablo, their sweet domesticity, the simple happiness of being in one another’s company, are some of the most enjoyable in the book. However, set in the 1980s, the spectre of HIV/AIDS rears its head and interferes in their blissful relationship.

As well as being a universal story about love, and a “gay” story about HIV/AIDS, this is also a story about Argentina and the tumultuous changes it was going through in the 1980s. This never becomes the main focus of the story, despite Richard being in prime position to observe the changes going on. Early in the book he describes being disturbed from a sexual encounter by lights going off and on at a police station across the street, and all the cars with their bonnets open so the power can be piped into the building. He asks his lover for that evening why, and the answer, of course? Because someone is being tortured inside. Later he tells a group of Americans that he hasn’t known anyone who was harmed by the dictatorship, only for a classmate to interject with quiet indignation, and say that he’s not sure how he can say that, when a mutual classmate of theirs was abducted and thrown into the ocean.

For the latter part of the novel, Argentina is transitioning to democracy, and selling off all its institutions to wealthy businessmen in North America and Europe. It’s known by everyone that this policy will lead to mass suffering in Argentina, but people shrug their shoulders and figure it’s simply what must be done. The picture Tóibín paints of Buenos Aires is bleak and cold, that of a worn-down city which lacks the energy to make anything better of itself. It’s sad, but vividly portrayed.

Overall, this is an excellent book which – despite its slow start – I would highly recommend. ( )