That Would Be Telling by Daniel Rossi Vargas

That Would Be Telling

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

On the way home to Portugal, Daniel Vargas drops in to see his adopted French cousin Mireille. Her latest plan: Together they’ll figure out sex, as they did tennis. Yikes! He sucks at tennis. "That Would Be Telling is a coming of age story of friendship, love, and d"esire, but also of family loss, grief, anger, and forgiveness. As Daniel struggles, war erupts and threatens to sink him. It’s July 1960, and Portugal lurches toward a bloody independence war in Angola. Daniel is nearly eighteen. Grief at the loss of his mother still flares up, and so does anger at a father turned workaholic. On a bad day soon after his mother’s death, his childhood friend Teresa rescued him at school. He remains her project, her good deed. Resisting Mireille will be a roller-coaster, so Daniel finds solace with his twenty-something beach neighbor. Admittedly “not easy to bed,” she keeps letting him try. Meanwhile, he’s a Good Samaritan to a sick classmate. Accidental nudity ensues, and she stops thinking him a despicable snob. All this, the Mireille roller-coaster too, amuses Teresa. Why does that depress Daniel no end? Thousands are butchered in Angola, and the war is on. Daniel consults the general in charge of logistics, Teresa’s father. His advice: If you won’t cozy up to a safe posting, enlist before AK-47s replace the machetes. Daniel agonizes over his fears, his courage, his integrity, the lines he won’t cross. He tells no one until it’s too late. "That Would Be Telling" is also the story of a place and a time. Hemmed between Spain and the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal is just ninety miles wide and has fewer people than New York City. Yet, it once rivaled Spain for possession of the newly discovered lands. At the time of the story, the country retains an ethos of longing for the past.

Read an Excerpt

Reviews

Amazon

Vargas takes us back to a time when figuring out life and, in particular, the opposite sex are foremost on the mind. Beautifully written, travel along with Daniel as he navigates this new and confusing world of adulthood, filled with equal moments of awkwardness and optimism. Along this ride, meet the supporting cast of Daniel's life, whose advice and own adventures shape his decisions and actions.

Amazon

That Would Be Telling is a charming coming of age story, filled with drama, humor, and sexual tension. In it, Daniel Vargas explores the timeless complexities of the family relationships, schooling concerns, romantic love, and tumescent desire all concomitant with a young man's life -- ostensibly his own.

Set in 1960's, the novel takes place mainly in Portugal, but the characters' paths take them at various times to France, and--with comedic effect--repeatedly to "Brussels." Vargas makes occasional references to the impact of Portugal's contemporaneous fascist regime on certain aspects of daily life, but this does not really darken the mood of the story. Daniel enjoys a life of moderate bourgeois privilege, yet he is confronted with the looming threat of induction into the military while the country is on the brink of a brutal war in Angola.

Throughout the novel, young Vargas struggles to connect with his father, as they are both still grieving for the loss of his mother. However, he is bolstered by a strong extended family, and much of the novel centers around family gatherings. This, of course is the backdrop of many encounters with one of his primary love interests, his adopted cousin Mireille, who loves to tempt and tease Daniel.

However, Mireille is but one of Daniel's romantic concerns. Daniel has been "friend-zoned" by Theresa (a lifelong friend, and crucial emotional support for Daniel), repeatedly rebuffed by Aurélia (a luscious divorcée), and thoroughly despised by Zulmira (an underprivileged classmate). Daniel's dance card is full indeed, and despite his pressing desire for sexual fulfillment, one opportunity after another is foiled by slip-ups, circumstances, or nagging concience.

Interestingly, as much as young Vargas is preoccupied with love and sex, like all teen boys, he needs to eat, apparently all the time. Quart de niche, pain de champagne, Rosette de Lyon saucisson sec, petit-susses, feijão frade, chouriço, pão saloio, marmalada, cozido, pastéis, and more. It seems no chapter is complete without an appreciation of the gustatory delicacies that keep a young Portuguese's motor running.

In all, Vargas tells his story well. The novel employs several overlapping narrative arcs that have interesting interplay. Dialogue is crisp and pithy. Characters have depth, exhibiting unique merits, flaws, and individual needs. While Daniel's sexual aspirations are a driving force in the novel, Vargas's treatment of sex is authentic and free from taboo, without being tawdry. And this novel is about so much more than a boy's romantic escapades; it's also significantly about grief, forgiveness, fear, and romantic and familial love.

Find out the latest indie author news. For FREE.

Password Reset