Hi folks!

I hope that you've been able to read along, and enjoyed Part 1 of At Night We Walk in Circles as much as I did! It's been hard not to read ahead *too* far.

Just to recap: In Part 1 we meet Nelson, a young actor, who has recently joined the theater troupe Diciembre for a touring revival of a play called The Idiot President. The tour is meant to recreate a tour Diciembre made many years ago in the midst of a brutal civil war. This will take them far from the coastal capital city, into the highlands. Alongside Nelson are two of Diciembre's original members--Henry, who is the playwright, and Patalarga, an actor, and now owner of a seedy theater in the Capital. We also learn that Henry was imprisoned for several months in a brutal prison called Collectors, due to the subversive nature of his writings during the civil war. We learn that while he was there, he became lovers with his cellmate, Rogelio, who was killed in a prison riot after Henry was released. We also meet Ixta, Nelson's ex-girlfriend, Monica, his mother, and hear stories about Sebastien, his late father, and Francisco, his brother who has moved to the United States. At the end of Part 1, we find Diciembre well into its tour, about to change course and head to Rogelio's home town.

I marked a few pages that struck me while reading this section, so I thought I'd throw them out there for discussion.

1. At the end of chapter 3, Nelson and the rest of Diciembre board a night bus to begin the tour. Upon his offhand remark that the city was lovely at night, the narrator writes "There could be no place in the world to which [Nelson] belonged so completely. That was why he'd always dreamed of leaving, and why he'd always been so afraid to go." To me, at least, this was one of the first hints that something bad might happen. How do you think Nelson will react to being away from the only city he knows for an extended period of time?

2. How do you think that their roles in the play mix with their personalities? Henry, you'll remember, is the titular Idiot President, a violent, arrogant, stupid man. Nelson plays his son, who hates him (or does he....??), and Patalarga, the servant, who is more intelligent than he seems. Do you think we'll see the actors further adapt to their roles? Will those roles begin to manifest themselves in their lives outside the troupe?

3. During the tour, Henry wants the actors to remain in "the play's constructed universe," and prohibits phone calls and letters to those at home. In chapter 9, we learn that Nelson is the only one following the rules. Patalarga has been calling his wife, and Henry his daughter. Do you think this loss of innocence is what leads him to his downfall, or "what happens" that the narrator is always alluding to?

4. Finally, I'd like to hear your thoughts of the narrator. Why, do you think, is he so obsessed with this story??

I'll post my answers below.

As a reminder, here is the schedule for the rest of the month:

April 14: Part 2 (ch 11-15)
April 21: Part 3 (ch 16-19)
April 28: Parts 4 & 5 (ch 20-24)