El cartero de Neruda

El cartero de Neruda  by Antonio Skármeta (Chile)                              
Novel, 140 pages (Original title: Ardiente paciencia, 1985)

An unschooled local boy has no interest in working as a fisherman like his father and accepts a job as postman to the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in the coastal village of Isla Negra. Mario’s infatuated desire to woo the village siren inspires him to create some poetic verses of his own as camaraderie develops between him and the reclusive poet. Meanwhile, tension is building toward the military coup that deposed President Salvador Allende and installed as dictator Augusto Pinochet on 9/11/73. The acclaimed Italian film, Il postino, is based on this Chilean novel.

For advanced levels and above; adult readers