Title: Forgotten America: The Untold Adventures of Venezuela
Author: Giovanni Calvarese
Publisher: Austin Macauley
ISBN: 978-1528905169
Pages: 194
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda

Read Book Review

Forgotten America: The Untold Adventures of Venezuela is a probing and astute portrayal on the history, modern events and political realism which has constituted the currents state of affairs in the Latin American country Venezuela. Here, Giovanni Calvarese carves a fictional story which follows Captain Santos, a military officer for the Guardais, an opposition group in Venezuela. After the failed 2001 and 2006 coup of putting an end to the Chavistas, Santos left Caracas to study in the States where he focused on politics and education and met his only American friend, or bro, as he called him, Ezekiel Ian Masefield. He would make an annual journey home when he was studying in the States, but each time he did, he would receive a worse reception due to the ongoing conflicts between the government and the Common people that he referred to as Red Smoke.

Eventually, Santos goes back to his home country after six years to secretly work with the Opposition Force in a non-military capacity accompanied by his friend Ezekiel. Forgotten America: The Untold Adventures of Venezuela follows the adventures of the two as they travel across the country to conciliate the memories of the past to shape forth an understanding of the future against the backdrop of a political system based on populism, personality cult and authoritarianism. The text delivers a newfangled structure with the initial chapters narrating Santo’s life and his home country before moving to the States, with the latter chapters describing his and Ezekiel’s life and adventures in Venezuela.

Calvarese manages to outpace tired tropes in this genre to deliver a shining panorama of what a historical novel should accomplish. His book paints a sharp and uncanny portrait of the crisis that has unfolded in real time in this Latin American country and mirroring this with a heartwarming rumination of the country’s vitality and beauty. The text also provides impressive takeaways from the resilience and hope of its people even under the most challenging circumstances with its overarching message being that we must be there for each other as our problems are inter-related. We thus must be aware of our past, our beliefs and our way of thinking as this is greatly intertwined with our future.

Forgotten America: The Untold Adventures of Venezuela by Giovanni Calvarese is a timely and timeless book which will change the way you read the news and the way you look at world affairs. It is one of those books that I undoubtedly recommend – especially for connoisseurs of this genre.