The Slackers

<p>This book, Slackers, is a collection of short stories, part of International Publisher''s ongoing Manuel Tiago series </p><p><span> </span></p><p><span>The title story, "The Slackers," deals humorously with a mixed bag of misfits who are forced to report to a military correctional camp to complete their obligatory service. As in several of his other works of fiction, Tiago, (Álvaro Cunhal), based his tale on his own life. For a time, in </span>late 1939 and early 1940, Cunhal was forced to complete his<span> </span>military service in a Disciplinary Company. </p><p> </p><p>"Hand in Hand" is a teenage love story set against the background of the post-1974 public flowering of the Communist Party as a significant partner in the democratic reconstruction of the country. In this story the author once again calls upon his own memories, having served as a very young man as leader of the Federation of Portuguese Communist Youth.</p><p> </p><p>"Parallel Stories" is the centerpiece of the collection, the longest and most developed story in this volume, essentially a novella. <span>Set in contemporary democratic times, we see a small regional Communist Party organization struggling with its past as primarily a party of the working class at a time when the working class itself was undergoing profound changes. </span></p><p> </p><p>The final story, "Lives," reads like the treatment of an epic-long family saga, or even a</p><p>sprawling multi-season TV miniseries. Its timeframe is deliberately obscure, although to be sure, there is an automobile that plays a small part toward the end. Otherwise, we seem to</p><p>hover anywhere between the late 19th century all the way up through the mid-20th. </p><p><br></p>