In their debut novel, Chatlani shows much promise as a writer. I found this piece engaging and, for the most part, the pacing was great for me as a reader.

As many other reviewers have pointed out, This Country Is No Longer Yours presents snapshots of a time period from three different points of view. I can see (and am just generally aware) that this was not to everyone's liking. However, I quite enjoyed this style.

The biggest challenge I found in reading this work was not knowing enough about the period of time in which it was set. I feel there was perhaps a way to explore that a little more in order to provide stronger contextual foundations for the scenes presented.

I do look forward to learning more about 1970s-2000s Peru though, and to reading whatever Chatlani comes up with next!

This Country is No Longer Yours was a really interesting and engaging read. I appreciated the exploration of issues and would read more from Chatlani.

This Country Is No Longer Yours by Avik Jain Chatlani is a riveting debut that immerses readers in the turbulent history of Peru from the 1970s to the early 2000s. The novel masterfully weaves multiple perspectives, including revolutionaries, government operatives, and journalists, to depict the human toll of political violence and ideological zealotry. Author’s incisive prose and deep empathy bring to life the struggles of ordinary people caught in extraordinary times, offering a powerful commentary on the devastating effects of conflict and the enduring spirit of resilience. Highly recommended!

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random house for the ARC in exchange of an honest review!

Happy to include this title in my recent round-up highlighting spring’s top new Asian Heritage Month reads for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

Published by Penguin Random House Canada/Bond Street Books on May 7, 2024

This Country Is No Longer Yours tells the story of Peru from roughly 1980 to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The story is told from different perspectives in five sections, sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the third.

The focus is on a civil war (or, depending on how you look at it, a fight between the government and terrorists) during the 1980s and 90s. The brief initial section is narrated by a Peruvian student who, at the behest of a professor, is in Cambodia during the late 1970s to study Pol Pot’s version of Maoism. He is tasked with watching “the end of the world” — or, at least, the end of more than a million lives at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, whose members have evacuated cities and towns, forcing residents to work collectively in fields, “liberating” them from capitalist excess while murdering university students, teachers, lawyers, doctors, members of the media, landlords, and Pol Pot’s critics. The student is uncertain that Pol Pot’s methods can be implemented effectively in Peru.

The professor is Abimael Guzman. He wants to lead his own Maoist revolution in Peru. To that end, he founds the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). The Shining Path wages a guerrilla war with the aim of liberating ordinary people from the influence of intellectuals, politicians, property owners, and anyone else who doesn’t follow Guzman’s brand of communism. Terrorizing the population with brazen robberies and killings, the Sendero kill and gut stray dogs before stringing them up on lampposts, symbolizing the fate of the “dogs who betray Mao.”

Within a few years, Sendero terrorists have chased Indians from the countryside into Lima, where they live in poverty. Most people with resources have secured visas and fled the country.

Part two is narrated by a government security officer who works under an advisor to President Garcia known as the Doctor. The officer is later recruited to work for Garcia’s successor, Alberto Fujimori (El Chino). The officer fights against the terrorists by adopting their tactics. He kills Sandero members who try to rob the passengers on a bus but raids aid organizations (purportedly to search for Sandero sympathizers) and steals their cash. He enlists surgeons to harvest organs from the dead. He matches the symbolism of hanging dogs on lampposts by hanging the corpses of terrorists from trees. As the two sides wage war, electricity regularly fails, streets are increasingly empty, food is in short supply, and all the people caught in the middle are losing hope.

Readers who are old enough to remember Dean Acheson will not be surprised that he makes an appearance in the novel, furthering the American policy of supporting any corrupt dictator who claims to be fighting communism. Acheson offers military support to Peru’s president by arming thousands of (mostly South American) soldiers and positioning them in Argentina in anticipation that they will “intervene” in Peru. Acheson is correctly portrayed as “a hopeless man” with “hopeless causes.” Naturally, Acheson supports the Peruvian president’s plan to fight communism by claiming more power for himself, effectively making himself a dictator. People in the streets cheer as members of the legislature are dragged away in handcuffs. So much for democracy. The U.S. is fine with anti-democratic dictatorships as long as the dictator isn’t a communist.

Newspapers are controlled with payoffs rather than overt censorship. The president intends to deal with terrorists by detaining them indefinitely without a trial and gathering information through torture, a reprehensible path that America later followed at Guantanamo and the various dark sites at which it stashed purported terrorists. The Peruvian president's plan also meets with Acheson’s approval. To me, the dissection of America’s exacerbation of Peru’s troubles is at least as interesting as the larger story.

The third section is narrated by a female journalist as she covers the election of 2001. A nationalist is running for president on a platform of expelling all people of foreign blood from Peru. To prove he’s tough, he advocates death by stoning as punishment for nearly every crime, including homosexuality. Sounds like a forerunner of MAGA. He will lose the election to a more enlightened but equally corrupt candidate. His daughter writes letters to the journalist that tell awful truths about her abusive father. Their differing perspectives call attention to the glory and shame of both Lima and its mountainous countryside.

The journalist travels to Andahuaylas in the mountains, where her grandfather was killed during the civil war because he was a shopkeeper. She is interested in the lives of the provincial women. She learns that they profess to be proud of their husbands despite their tendency to be violent, unemployed drunkards. It doesn’t occur to them that the post-war media attention the provinces are receiving has nothing to do with their husbands.

In the final section, two former terrorists meet again in a time of relative peace. One is now a teacher with a family, but he attempts to rekindle a relationship with a woman he once admired as a ruthless killer of dogs. She was captured, imprisoned, and repeatedly raped by soldiers. Now she has no papers and is selling herself on the street.

The changing perspectives over a period of years are a useful way to provide insight into the suffering of Peruvian people inside and outside of Lima because of both political leaders and purported revolutionaries. At the same time, the shifting perspectives impair the reader’s opportunity to become engaged with any character’s story.

I appreciated the novel’s illustration of the failure of leadership in Peru, both in the government and in the use of uncontrolled violence to challenge the government. The reader is nevertheless kept at a distance from the violence that caused so much harm. Characters talk about disappearances and rapes, but the story never focuses on an incident in a way that drives home the pain the country must have felt. For that reason, I admire the novel more as a history lesson than as a dramatic work.

RECOMMENDED

In 1980, the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) went to war in Peru. For almost twenty years, Senderistas terrorized anyone who didn’t follow their radical version of communism: urban and rural, rich and poor. Avik Jain Chatlani’s disturbing novel-in-stories, This Country is No Longer Yours, gives us a sense of what living in Peru might have been like in the last decades of the twentieth century. Chatlani shows us revolutionaries, reactionaries, survivors, and victims. Most of all, Chatlani shows us a country in turmoil with itself.

The first tale was the most unsettling to me. A Peruvian academic and socialist travels to Cambodia to learn from, of all people, the Khmer Rouge. This academic (who may or may not be the founder of Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzmán) approves of the violent changes the Khmer Rouge has inflicted on the population. The cities have been depopulated. Everyone who wasn’t immediately murdered was either sent to work in the fields with the meagerest of tools or to monstrous prisons for torture and execution. Everyone was suspect, even for things as minor as wearing glasses (which apparently indicated that the wearer was an intellectual). Our narrator feasts with Khmer Rouge officials before falling sick. The regime bends the rules for their guest, giving him forbidden Western medicines to cure him before shipping him back to Peru.

The second and longest story features another nameless narrator. This narrator is just as ruthless as the one we met in the first story but he works for the authoritarian government of Alberto Fujimori. We witness not just the violence committed by the Senderistas but also by this narrator as he conducts raids and interrogates sympathizers and suspects. The Senderistas are presented as so vile that it’s easy to side with this government agent at first, at least until the impunity given to him by the Fujimori government corrupts him into using his authority to murder an innocent man in order to gain access to the innocent’s lover.

The third story, one of the few with named characters, didn’t make as much of an impression on me as the other three. The main character of this section, Ximena, is a journalist documenting the last flares of Senderista activity while communicating with someone named Alexandra about her inconsistent efforts to determine if her father really is a leading politician or not.

The last story was, surprisingly given the violence in the first two tales, the one that affected me the most. This layered story is told by two narrators, one reliable and one very unreliable. The unreliable one spots the reliable one on a street one day. He is surprised to see her. He’s surprised but not too surprised to see that she is a sex worker. After he almost gets flattened by a car running across the street to her, we are flooded with his memories of her when they were young revolutionaries. He has idealized her as an indomitable warrior woman. It’s only when the woman gets to tell her side of the tale that we learn that her revolution was devastatingly different from what the man remembers.

This Country is No Longer Yours asks us to reflect on the long shadows caused by years of civil war from the perspective of perpetrators (on both sides of the war) and from those who did their best to survive that war, as well as from the viewpoint of the next generation. We are left to wonder about the cost of remaking the world according to the visions of people who firmly believe that they are right. We have to think about the corrosive effects of committing acts of violence on other humans. We can also think about justice, though I found that difficult because the country in this novel hasn’t known peace long enough to think about truth and reconciliation.

I found a lot of this book very interesting but I struggled to understand it, mostly because of the author’s choice to leave many of the characters unnamed. The lack of names coupled with the use of third-person perspective in most of the stories made it very hard for me to keep track of characters. It’s really hard to know what’s going on when there are so many hes and shes on the page with no names and often no descriptions of their appearance or role.

An short novel about the Peruvian revolution, recounting the violence born out of the uprising from the 70s to the early 2000s. The story is written with a very experimental style, it has at least three narrators, two of whom unnamed, but I might have missed more — the story is very confusing, deliberately so, in order to convey the sense of urgency and restlessness and senseless violence at the hands of every party involved.

I think I would have appreciated the book more had I known more about this period of history; while reading it really does feel as if I’m missing the cornerstones of the foundation knowledge I’d need to fully understand the novel.

I was a little torn about how to rate this book. On the one hand, I understand the artistic choices and agree with them, but I feel as if something is missing in the writing. The change in narrative, for example, made it a little difficult to follow the story. I also think that the story told and the history of Peru at the end of the 20th century deserves to be explored more, which would slow down the pace and make it easier to consume. Although the author's effort must be admired, the end result seemed confusing.

The period in Peru in which Sendero Luminoso fought for its ideals was indeed very chaotic, so perhaps this was a stylistic choice. But, it just didn't work for me because I had to read and reread it many times to get the thread, which, at least for me, was not a pleasant or thought-provoking experience. I picked up the book again because the story interests me but it would be very easy to put the book down when I got confused.

If you are familiar with Peru's recent history, you will find it easier to follow the narrative. I would have developed the story more - or at least made the time frames and protagonists more obvious -, especially for a foreign audience.

However, it's an important topic to explore, and all in all, I'm glad I stuck with it and learned a little more about the story that I wasn't previously familiar with. Something I really liked about this book was that both the terrorists, the military and the government are presented as the same side of the same coin. Ideologues who justify their violence with their "principles" and act with total disrespect for the population they claim to protect.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This Country Is No Longer Yours is a complicated book.
Taking on the history of Peru via a series of stories is a lot to take on!

Utilizing a student who moves to Cambodia to study with the Khmer Rouge, Avik Jain Chatiani creates a story based upon Peru in the 70's and the destruction of the culture and society via The Shining Path. A series of stories strung together, this novel is enlightening and also complex.
#penguinrandomhouse #thiscountryisnolongeryours #avikjainchatiani

This is a very short book a little over 200 pages. It is actually a collection of four short stories each dealing with a phase in Peru's political crisis. In this manner, we get glimpses into the political, economic and societal upheaval caused in Peru by the Maoist-leaning Shining Path. The Shining Path call themselves freedom-fighters whereas the Government of Peru and the CIA labels them terrorists. We are introduced to El Chino and El Dotor and Professor Gonzalez. The writing is not linear and the story is told from multiple points of view. I had to Google some of the history of Peru to better grasp what was going on. Then in a layers chapter we hear about the shenanigans of President Toledo and his illegitimate daughter. Thus we get scattered glimpses into the politics of Peru right from the 1970s to the 2000s. This is not a book for everyone and if you do plan to read it I would suggest doing it in a single sitting so as to not lose track of what is going on as well as the multiple characters.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin publishing for the ARC

For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

This Country Is No Longer Yours by Avik Jain Chatlani explores ideology and tragedy in war-torn Peru from separate people. Mr. Chatlani is a historian and author.

The Shining Path, Sendero Luminos, a Maoist terrorist organization terrified Peruvians from the 1970s to the 2000s. The war is seen through the eyes of a student, a leader in the revolution, and a conservative, ruthless government agent. Both witness acts that horrify them but inspire them nonetheless.

After the war, a journalist attempts to expose a sexual predator running for the Presidency.

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed my visit to Peru and hold a soft spot for its history and people. And while I found the novel creative, it was told in a manner that didn’t hold my interest and often was difficult to follow.

This Country Is No Longer Yours by Avik Jain Chatlani does a decent job summarizing the chaos of the country that The Shining Path sowed. Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Fujimori (El Chino), and Shining Path’s Chairman Gonzalo play a large background role as well.

What I liked about the book was that the terrorists as well as the government agents are presented as the same side of the same coin. Ruthless ideologues who justify their violent means with complete disregard for the population they claim to protect.

Nevertheless, the book was difficult to follow, narration changing without any warning. I had to read and re-read many times to pick up the lost thread which, for me at least, was not an enjoyable or thought-provoking experience.

If someone is familiar with the recent Peruvian history they might find it easier to follow the narrative. I would have fleshed out the history more, especially for a foreign audience.

I hated the author’s passive-aggressive agenda. It just rubbed me the wrong way and seemed hell-bent on incorporating it into his book come hell or high water. For example, he completely forgot to mention that first lady Elaine Karp was born and grew up in France, but was sure to mention several times that she’s “Israeli-Belgium-American”. A description of “French-Peruvian” would be more apt, especially for the time the story takes place. Besides the author’s agenda, I have yet to understand why she even merits a mention (or two, or three) along with Peruvian terrorists and fascists.

This was a demanding read. The shifting diegesis and the weaving of historical facts and fiction make for a disorienting experience, at times. I found the book especially gripping, since I have been studying the history of US-Latin American relations in the 20th century for an exam this year. It was refreshing to see some of the information with which I have been grappling presented in narrative form.

I would argue that gaining a basic understanding of the events and protagonists of 1990s and 2000s Peru will serve the reader well. The book doesn't do any of that legwork for you, and it pays to know, for instance, that El Doctor is Vladimiro Montesinos, head of SIN and shady CIA asset, while El Chino is President Fujimori. This is certainly not a historian's neutral account of the events: the SIN agent, the illegitimate daughter of Toledo, the ex-Senderistas, everyone has skin in the game here. Those voices are all the more haunting for it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A series of what one might call short stories, each representing an episode in the evolution of Peru from a military dictatorship towards today's model, via effectively civil war with the Shining Path, the years of Fujimori's corrupt government, and, finally, his successors in the role of President. The stories are not orderly or linear, but rather could be read as memories of Peru as a nation of people, told via the perspective of individuals experiencing these memories. These events are intimate and gentle and violent and visceral, and, together, present a tapestry of what living in Peru in those years must have felt like.

While I wasn't sure when reading, in retrospect, I really liked the writing style and structure. The episodic nature brought to life the ubiquity of the horrors and pain that were happening, and, rather than drawing attention to specific individuals, creating, via the anonymity of the narrators and protagonists, a meta narrative and experience that came across as more universal and all-encompassing. Also, while I was at first afraid that the structure of the book will make it difficult to read, each episode, in its own right, was thrilling and interesting, making it quite difficult to put the book down. Finally, I loved learning from this book, as well as from the side exploration I felt encouraged to do while reading it. It was eye opening, especially for someone who had limited exposure to the topic to date.

I do think that the book might be harder to read for those uninterested in the historical events underpinning the narrative, or those who struggle to tie loose ends of a story without a clear linear flow in the writing. It's not for everyone, but it was definitely for me - it was a well written book, that made me feel, think, and learn. Excellent experience, for which I am grateful to the author for.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with an early copy of the book in return for an honest review.

i'm a little torn about this book. on one hand i understand the artistic choices, and i agree with them. but on the other, i feel as though there was something missing in the writing. the change of narrative made it a bit difficult to follow. i felt like it got too much at times. and i feel as though the story told and the history of late 20th century peru deserve to be fleshed out more, which would slow down the pace and made it easier to consume.
however, it's an important topic to explore and despite it all, i'm glad that i stuck to it and learned a little more about history that i was previously unfamiliar with.

DNF - I'm sure the right reader will appreciate this story but I really couldn't engage with the writing style, it left me struggling to pick up the book.

Avik Jain Chatlani's debut novel, This Country Is No Longer Yours, opens in startling and dramatic ways. There has been a shift in power, and a student has been sent to learn from the Khmer Rouge. There is violence, there is horror. The novel shifts perspectives, even countries, and moves from the 70s to the early 2000s, yet the connections are there. It is an ambitious novel which says a lot in a short space, and packs quite the punch at times.

I read this in one sitting which I think was the best way to approach this novel - I picked up the connections more freely, it kept my engagement throughout and really does make me very keen to see what Chatlani does next.

This novel was a lot. It seemed to want to do all the things both meaningfully and creatively, and while the effort is to be admired, the end result felt chaotic. The time period in Peru where Sendero Luminoso came to fight for their ideals was indeed chaotic (as has been described to me by people who lived there during that time and their descendants), so perhaps this was a stylistic choice. It simply didn't do it for me and there are other novels about this time period and topic that I have liked more.

Intense, harrowing, affronting..

Set in warm torn Peru spanning the 1970s to early 2000’s narrated with politics, domestic terrorism, idealism and a country in chaos.

Super hard to follow with the narrator changing almost without warning, and it took me a few pages each time to pick up the threads.

Challenging but totally worth reading to better grasp the Peruvian politics from this period.


Thanks to NetGalley and the Penguin Random House Canada for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

This Country is No Longer Yours by Avik Jain Chatlani is a novel covering various perspectives of the events of the political instability and terrorist campaigns in Peru in the late 20th century. The book is written as a series of perspectives of individuals living through these tumultuous events. I found the topic to be very interesting and something that I want to further study. However, the format of the writing made the narrative hard to follow. Some sections of the book are in the 3rd person, some in the first person, and others in the form of letters. The book left me intrigued and wanting to learn more about Peruvian history.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.