Columnas de humo »

¿Donde esta Dios en medio de las tragedias? Mejor dire, ¿donde estoy yo?
Columnas de humo se situa en el Montevideo de Uruguay de 1857, durante uno de los sucesos menos sonados, pero aun presentes en la memoria de la ciudad: la epidemia de fiebre amarilla. A partir de la llegada de la fiebre, la desagregacion progresiva de las estructuras institucionales lleva la ciudad al caos. Junto a la epidemia, llega a Montevideo el indio charrua Ventura Melendez, nacido el dia del genocidio de su raza y criado entre blancos. Melendez ha tomado los habitos religiosos, pero lucha entre el amor a Dios y el odio al hombre blanco, que ha exterminado a su pueblo. Se situa como profeta y anuncia ante el pueblo y las autoridades de gobierno que Dios vengara la matanza de la nacion charrua, utilizando la fiebre amarilla para aniquilar a los habitantes de la ciudad.

Library Journal

Deftly drawing from his professions as physician and pastor, Pandiani has written an emotionally charged novel that won the Grupo Nelson Prize for Christian Fiction. In March,1857, when an official in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay, falls severely ill and dies, the physicians fear the worst: yellow fever. The epidemic quickly escalates and in two months claims 1000 lives. In a parallel plot, the Indian Brother Ventura is tormented by hatred for those who massacred his tribe and believes that the epidemic is God's means of avenging the deaths of his people. In a rapid denouement, Ventura finds his way to forgiveness and learns that judgment is the privilege of God alone. Based on historical figures, the characters lack depth and breadth, and their dialog often seems forced and stilted, but Pandiani's lightning pace and tight prose seizes the reader as the apocalyptic events unfold. Pandiani succeeds in crafting a historical novel that is strikingly relevant for our time by exploring the political, social, and spiritual dimensions of crisis and the problem of evil. Recommended for bookstores and public libraries with appreciative audiences of historical and Christian fiction.—Carolyn Kost, Stevenson Sch. Lib., Pebble Beach, CA