Review: The Center of the Horizon by Roland Buti

Review of the book “The Center of the Horizon” by Roland Buti.

The Center of the Horizon is a novel written by Swiss author Roland Buti, published in 2018. The story takes place in a small village in the Swiss Alps during the summer of 1976, and follows the life of a family through the eyes of its young protagonist, Gus. Throughout the novel, Gus experiences a series of revelations and discoveries about his family, his community, and his own being.

The Center of the Horizon is a novel by Swiss writer Roland Buti, a work that narrates the crisis of a peasant family in the summer of 1976, marked by drought, climate change and generational conflicts.

The story is told from the point of view of Gus, a thirteen-year-old boy who lives with his parents and sister on a farm in Lausanne. Gus watches his world fall apart: his mother runs off with another man, his father sinks into depression, his sister rebels against the system, and the farm is threatened by a lack of water and pests.

Buti portrays with poetic and emotional prose the end of an era and the passage from childhood to maturity. El centro del horizonte is a novel that reflects on identity, memory, love and nature. It is also a tribute to rural life and to traditional values ​​that refuse to disappear.

The novel has received several literary awards in Switzerland, including the Prix Suisse de Littérature (2014), the Prix du Roman des Romands and the Swiss Radio Télévision (RTS) audience award. It has been translated into Spanish by Josep Sarret Grau and has garnered praise from critics and readers.

The Center of the Horizon is a novel worth reading for its beauty, sensitivity and depth. It is a work that invites us to reflect on our place in the world and our connection with the past. It is a work that moves us and makes us think.

Buti’s prose is beautiful and evocative, describing the rugged beauty of the Swiss Alps and the tranquility of life in a small village. Through Gus’s eyes, Buti paints a vivid and detailed picture of life in a rural community, showing how village life is closely tied to the seasons and cycles of nature.

But what makes The Center of the Horizon an exceptional novel is its ability to present a realistic and detailed picture of human complexity. Buti shows how even the closest people can harbor deep secrets and resentments, and how life can be deeply lonely, even within a close-knit community. The novel also presents a subtle but complex exploration of themes such as sexual identity, religion, and the role of family in a person’s life.

In summary, The Center of the Horizon is a beautiful and evocative novel that paints a realistic and detailed picture of life in a small village in the Swiss Alps. The prose is poetic and the story is moving, with complex characters and universal themes that resonate with the reader long after the book has been finished.