Eduardo Sacheri: "The pack is very comfortable, but distancing is more difficult."

Ascasubi is a waiter at the Government House who neglects his duties "to gossip about what's happening in Plaza de Mayo" during the first opposition demonstration there in a long time. Alcira is a Foreign Ministry employee who participates in high-level meetings between ministers and ambassadors. Carlitos, Antonio, and Rabbit are three young conscript soldiers who traveled to the Malvinas Islands , and their families await them. Three friends meet regularly at a bar; a girl writes letters to her boyfriend on the front lines.

All of them are the characters chosen by Eduardo Sacheri to unfold the narrative of his latest novel, Too Far Away (Alfaguara, 2025), set in 1982, in Buenos Aires, during the war that was taking place thousands of kilometers away and generated great euphoria in society, which with the passing of weeks and the tragic events caused by the armed conflict gradually turned into stillness.

In November, Sacheri will publish What Will Remain of Us, a new novel about the war, but this time set at the scene of the events.

–What was the decision to write a book about the Falklands War in 2025?

–I made the decision first and foremost because I believe that the Malvinas War, as a vindication, a demand, a desire, remains a powerful presence in Argentine identity. I believe that the war that took place in 1982 remains a deeply marked wound in our past, a very uncomfortable and very silenced one. Silenced, above all, in terms of the role of Argentine society in general in accompanying us during those frenetic months. Those are the two reasons I considered more than sufficient to write on the subject: the imprint of identity and the uncomfortable silence.

–Why does the novel take place thousands of miles from where the war took place?

–My original plan, at first, was to cover both the near and far, that is, the war, from my usual small characters, who in this case would be soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and low-ranking officers in the distance with their families, as well as government employees, guys who meet in a café, that is, the rest of the characters who are in Too Far Away . But when I started writing it myself, I discovered that it was impossible for me to handle two such different realities—the concrete, real war experienced by the soldiers and the war narrated as a story we told each other thousands of miles away—in the same novel. That's why my final decision was to divide it into two books: it's not that one is a continuation of the other, but in Too Far Away I recount precisely that war that remains 'too far away,' and in What Will Remain of Us I deal with the real, material, and tragic war of those who experienced it firsthand.

–What were the facts that surprised you the most when conducting historical research to write the novel?

–I think the war itself has two main aspects: on the one hand, the conflict in the diplomatic arena, and on the other, the actual military conflict. On the diplomatic side, what caught my attention was the military government's gross miscalculation. They actually assumed the British reaction would be much more moderate, and that the United States intervention would occur primarily to calm the situation between two countries that—always according to the military government—were important allies, like Great Britain and Argentina. This miscalculation, which was quickly revealed a few days after the landing on April 2, but which later converged into the other, the military outcome of a direct and resounding confrontation, caught my attention. And as for the military, I was surprised by my own prior ignorance. I had only remembered the major milestones of the conflict: the landing on April 2, the dispatch of the fleet, the cannonades beginning on May 1, the sinking of the cruiser ARA General Belgrano on the 2nd, the English landing on May 20, and the surrender that occurred on June 14. Investigating the details of military history showed me how fierce, difficult, ever-changing, and sacrificial the conflict was for many of the soldiers. Discovering this was extremely enlightening for me. I have a degree in History, and yet the war itself, the knowledge about it, was held together in my memory entirely with pins.

–Which of the characters in Too Far Away did you become most attached to?

–It's hard to choose. Because you become attached to some for certain reasons, and to others for different reasons. But I think that because I have children—although mine are a little older than the conscripts who went to the islands, I still believe that parenthood plays a strong role in emotions—then I could say that I felt close to what happens to Carlitos's parents, Carlos and Marisa, or to Rabbit's sister, whose name is Magalí. You could say that Rabbit and Carlos were the characters I sympathized with the most.

–What was it like to include peripheral characters in the plot, but close to the center of power during the war?

–I included in the novel a series of small, almost minuscule witnesses, such as a waiter at the government house, a third-class secretary within an Argentine diplomatic corps, or the families of combatants, precisely because, in my conception of history, I care more about the way history befalls all of us than about great leaders. That was the objective, even though some of these characters are in contact with those who make the great and tragic decisions.

–Why is the book dedicated “to those who try not to be dazzled”?

–Because it seems to me that from that far-away time that the Malvinas War was, just as for almost all of us, for me, who was 14 years old in 1982, what always caught my attention was that dazzled, enthusiastic, festive society, which held an almost frivolous celebration of what happened during those dizzying months. Of course, the families of the combatants undoubtedly had a different approach. And I suppose they were quite alone in that different feeling. I think that the people who thought it was wrong, that it was madness, that supporting the military government's actions in relation to the recovery of the Malvinas was a way of collectively endorsing the dictatorship must have also been quite alone. In reality, I think this applies to the Malvinas War and to any moment in history, even in recent history or the present. The herd is very comfortable. The group, the belonging is very comfortable. It's very comfortable to go with everyone, in some direction. Regardless of what that direction is. Taking distance, stepping aside, enduring the elements seems more difficult to me, but sometimes it is ethically the most correct thing to do.

Eduardo Sacheri will present his book "Too Far Away" on April 27 at 7:00 p.m. in a conversation with Jorge Fernández Díaz in the José Hernández room.