{"product_id":"the-slackers-and-other-stories","title":"The Slackers: And Other Stories","description":"\u003cp class=\"ql-align-justify\"\u003eThis book, Slackers, is a collection of short stories, part of International Publisher''s ongoing Manuel Tiago series \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgba(35, 31, 32, 1)\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgba(35, 31, 32, 1)\"\u003eThe 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 \u003c\/span\u003elate 1939 and early 1940, Cunhal was forced to complete his\u003cspan style=\"color: rgba(35, 31, 32, 1)\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emilitary service in a Disciplinary Company. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Parallel Stories\" is the centerpiece of the collection, the longest and most developed story in this volume, essentially a novella. \u003cspan style=\"color: rgba(35, 31, 32, 1)\"\u003eSet 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. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe final story, \"Lives,\" reads like the treatment of an epic-long family saga, or even a\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esprawling 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\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehover anywhere between the late 19th century all the way up through the mid-20th. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57390089306494,"sku":"NW9780717808847","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780717808847.jpg?v=1778634922","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/en-usa\/products\/the-slackers-and-other-stories","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}