Talking to Ourselves

Book excerpt: Sooner or later, we all face loss. Ten-year old Lito is sure that he can change the weather, if only he concentrates very hard. His seriously ill father Mario is anxious to create a life-long memory for the unsuspecting Lito, and takes him on a road-trip in a truck called Pedro. Together, they embark on a journey through strange landscapes which blur the borders of the Spanish-speaking world. In the meantime, Lito's mother Elena tries to find solace in books - and undertakes a precarious adventure of her own that will challenge her moral limits. Alternately narrated by the mother, father and son, Talking to Ourselves is a story about how we are transformed by loss, and how words, and sex, can serve as powerful modes of resistance. Each of these solitary, richly textured and strikingly unique voices forms a poignant communication - while none of them dares to tell the others the whole truth. A profound tribute to all those who have ever had to care for a loved one, told with Neuman's characteristic warmth, bittersweet humour and wide-ranging intellect.