Book Review of "The Little School" by Alicia Partnoy

AUTHOR: Alicia Partnoy

ISBN: 978-1-5734-4029-5

PUBLISHER: Cleis Press

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

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BOOK BLURB:

One of Argentina's 30,000 "disappeared," Alicia Partnoy was abducted from her home by secret police and taken to a concentration camp where she was tortured, and where most of the other prisoners were killed. Smuggled out and published anonymously, The Little School is Partnoy's memoir of her disappearance and imprisonment.

BOOK REVIEW:

Argentina has often been a hotbed for political activism. Even those unfamiliar with foreign governments know of Juan Per³n and his wife Eva, immortalized in Andrew Lloyd Webber's catchy musical, Evita. For many of us, the concept of a military coup is unfathomable -- such actions are relegated to footnotes in history books, dates learned in school and forgotten once we're tested on them. The fear that someone could barge into our homes and take us prisoner against our wills is unfamiliar to Americans. We say what we want, when we want, in ways that loudly broadcast our own beliefs, mostly without fear of reprimand or repercussion.

Alicia Partnoy's book, The Little School, is an eye-opener, to say the least. Within the pages of this slim volume lies a fictionalized account of her own imprisonment at the hands of the military that overtook her government. What makes her stories more profound is the knowledge that this didn't happen a lifetime ago but in the late 1970's, when most Americans were reveling in newfound freedoms of expression. While teenagers in the United States were expressing their views on warfare, feminism, and sexuality, their peers in Argentina were being silenced for daring to speak out against the government.

By 1979, over 30,000 people "disappeared." Most of these were young adults between the ages of 18 and 35, though Partnoy's book mentions some friends of hers who were abducted when they were merely 15 years of age. Parents watched helplessly as their children were taken by force from their homes; small children cried on doorsteps or were scooped up by relatives as their own parents were taken from them. These "disappeared" were transferred and held -- blindfolded, immobilized, inadequately fed and clothed, tortured -- in a secret concentration camp Partnoy calls "The Little School."

This book documents the stories of those imprisoned. Though the preface states that the stories are fictional accounts, the truth of Partnoy's experience is poignantly clear. Without detailing exact punishments or tortures, she nonetheless spells out clearly for her readers the agony and pain the prisoners endured on a daily basis. They were kept blindfolded and bound, forced to stand or lie completely still for hours on end in a room full of fellow prisoners with whom they were forbidden to speak.

It is the small details that make these stories so heartbreaking. A child's nursery rhyme that runs endlessly through the mind of one prisoner while being tortured. A friend's jacket that shields the guard's blows once that friend is removed from the school, possibly killed. A broken tooth kept in a matchbox that reminds one prisoner she is still "whole." The glimpses of life another prisoner catches through the bottom of the blindfold, where it doesn't quite lay flat against her cheeks. The sheer delight in catching raindrops in the palm of a hand where the window leaks during a storm.

These elements drive home the desperation and despair hinted at in the stories. They make the moments real, in a way more detailed explanations of the torture endured could not. Even without knowing the exact political views that caused the prisoners to be kidnapped and held, readers will empathize with the stories -- feeling both a lingering helplessness at the prisoners' plights and an overwhelming indignation at the injustice imposed upon the rights of fellow human beings. Such a book will encourage readers to recognize their own freedom, which many take for granted, while serving as a constant reminder to be vigilant against atrocities that endanger freedom everywhere.