Dientes de leche (review)

Ignacio Martínez de Pisón's latest novel, Dientes de leche, recounts the vicissitudes in the lives of the Cameronis over many generations. Much like the author's other novels, the text also focuses on the family with all of its nuances and dysfunctions. Martínez de Pisón accepts that all relationships have some sort of impairment at one time or another, but it is the triumph over these problems that strengthens familial bonds. The author's depiction of each family member and their affiliation with each other is marked by sensitivity and perception. Each character is developed with all of his or her flaws, which simply enhances their portrayal as realistic people to whom the reader can relate.

The novel opens with a prologue that centers on a photo of a young boy, Juan Cameroni, from 1972 or 1973, when he would have been four or five years old. In the photo, Juan is garbed in a traditional fascist uniform: a black silk shirt with two wide white bands and brown pants that reach his knees. Every November 2, the young boy accompanies his Italian grandfather, Raffaele Cameroni, to the ceremony commemorating the deceased Italians who sided with Franco during Spain's Civil War. Each year a photo is taken to record the momentous occasion. Juan's father, Alberto Cameroni, resents his father for involving his son in politics that he does not share. His wife, Elisa, refuses to side with either party and mediates between the two antagonists, a behavior that will serve her well when the relationship between Raffaele and Alberto disintegrates later in the novel. The prologue portrays the solemn homage to the fallen with many vivid details. This ceremony is fundamental to how Juan is perceived by his classmates, who brand him a fascist, but it is not until age fourteen that he is able to confront his grandfather and refuse to participate.

The first part of the novel that immediately follows the prologue concentrates on the young Raffaele and his arrival in Spain to help Franco win the war. He was never a fascist in Italy, but hunger is a powerful motivator. Raffaele enlists to escape the dire poverty that does not allow him to provide for his wife and mentally disabled daughter. Raffaele's intentions are to return to Italy a richer man, but when a young and attractive nurse, Isabelita, nurses him back to health after he is wounded in an explosion, his plans change. He marries Isabelita and remains in her native city, Zaragoza, never alluding to his past life. Isabel, in turn, does not confess to her new fascist husband that her brother was assasinated by the Falange for his leftist tendencies. The strength of Martínez de Pisón's narration is that the Spanish Civil War and its atrocities are not the focus of the novel. Rather, the author examines human behavior and what people are capable of doing to survive in adverse circumstances. Martínez de Pisón does not create archetypes of either the Nationalists or the Republicans. Instead, war in general is seen as a destructive force.

Raffaele and Isabel have three sons: Rafael, Alberto, and Paquito. Paquito, much like his half-sister in Italy, is also mentally disabled. Nevertheless, Paquito plays a vital part in the family dynamics and relationship between his brothers, who adore him, and his father, who chooses indifference as a method to handle his son. The book's title, Dientes de leche, refers to the baby teeth that Isabelita saves from each son and which Raffaele throws into the garbage. This act is extremely symbolic because it represents the loving nurturing nature of Isabelita towards her children that contrasts with the brusque, undemonstrative attitude of Raffaele, who believes parents are always right.

Part II of the novel narrates the romance and courtship between Alberto and Elisa, which greatly differs from that of Isabelita and Raffaele. Elisa, in a much more modern epoch, ardently pursues Alberto, who already...