The Story of the Night

The novel is split into three parts across various settings in Argentina and in Barcelona, and takes place in both domestic and public spaces.

Part One

The Story of the Night opens with a discussion of Richard's mother – her patriotism towards England before her death, and how Richard imagines she would have responded to the Falklands War. Richard experienced a lack of political awareness before the war when the generals were in power, but he recalls one time he was having sex with a dark-haired man and heard a revving sound outside. When Richard asked his partner what the noise was, he responded that the police station opposite were using a car to power cattle rods for torture.

Richard attends university during the Dirty War. He befriends Jorge Canetto, the (straight) son of a wealthy family; he teaches Jorge English and develops a crush on him. He eventually confesses to Jorge that he is gay, to Jorge's disapproval. One evening his mother asks him if Jorge is gay and Richard, surprised, reveals his homosexuality to his mother.

The novel then flashes back to Richard's childhood. His mother's family immigrated from England to Argentina when she was a child and, as a result, Richard himself felt he was English growing up. After his father's death, he and his mother were left without funds. Richard's aunts and uncles on his father's side were stingy, and provided little money. His mother decided they would stay with her sister (Aunt Matilda) in Molino, but they soon discover that Matilda and her family are very poor. They are put up in a shed by Matilda's tiny cottage. In the following days, Richard's cousin takes him to play with other boys who live on the estate. Three of these boys take Richard to a barn where they all disrobe and masturbate together. Richard develops a crush on one of the boys (Juan), but discovers that there are rules to this "game" after Juan calls him "queer" for trying to kiss him. Eventually his Uncle and mother fall out, and so Richard and his mother move back to Buenos Aires. Back at home his mother finds a job working in a "very refined" hotel, and is given some money by the English community in Buenos Aires to tide her over.

Back in the present-day, Richard attends university and his mother works in the hotel. Jorge invites Richard on a three-week visit to Barcelona, a friend of Jorge's had pulled out at the last minute. Whilst there, the two meet up with a group of young Chilean refugees from the Pinochet regime. Elena, one of the two Chilean girls, attaches herself to Jorge, but Jorge prefers the other girl, Maria Jose. Nonetheless, Jorge has sex with Elena every night. As Jorge and Richard are sharing a room, Jorge makes Richard pretend to be asleep whilst they are in the bed next to him.

It is revealed that two or three of the Chileans had been arrested and Raul, who had not been very political, had been tortured. Jorge sleeps with Maria Jose and then leaves Barcelona with her for a while. Richard continues to spend time with the Chileans and develops a crush on Raul. Elena gives Richard details about Raul's torture. She says that soon their group will be dispersed and they will have to settle in different places. Jorge and Maria Jose return and spend time alone away from the rest of the group. When it is time for Jorge and Richard to leave, Jorge gives the Chileans a fake address, in case they are arrested again. Jorge is afraid of what might happen if his address was found on them. Richard gives them his real address. They say goodbye and Richard and Jorge return to Argentina.

Richard's mother seems much older and frailer than she did before he left for Spain. She begins to hate Argentina and wishes her father had stayed in England. She eventually becomes too incapacitated to work and so Richard gets a job teaching English. She has a stroke and loses her ability to speak. After a while she dies.

Richard is emotionally numb for months after her death, but eventually begins to feel sexual desire again. He brings a man he met in the street back to his apartment. He starts to go to a sauna twice a week to meet other gay men.

Argentina takes hold of the Malvinas. People treat Richard with a little suspicion due to his being half English, but Richard wholeheartedly supports Argentina.

Jorge's father, Senor Canetto, invites Richard to their house for dinner. There are a number of middle-aged army men in attendance, all of whom are Peronists. As negotiations fail and the Falkland war breaks out, Richard often goes to the Canetto's for dinner and to discuss politics and the war. The men at these dinners are certain that Argentina will win but Richard is sceptical. Richard feels a great sense of shame for his country when Britain wins the war. Richard is at these dinners when important political changes happen; when Alfonsin is elected president, when the generals are put on trial etc. Richard discovers that Canetto has political ambitions, and hopes for American funding. Canetto invites Richard to meet some American diplomats. These Americans are hosting receptions and need someone who can talk to them about democratic possibilities, and who can speak both Spanish and English.

Part 2

He goes to a party where he meets these American diplomats; Susan and Donal Ford. Initially he represents Canetto's interests, Canetto plans to run for president and needs someone who speaks English to convince the diplomats to fund him. Richard finds that he changes into someone new, someone more confident and assured when he talks to them. After this party he meets with Susan privately where they talk intimately; Richard tells her about his parents deaths and his relationship with his father. He goes to dinner with Susan and Donald where they talk politics. Richard says he thinks Argentinians are more concerned with issues like economics, employment and welfare than they are about people disappearing. The three of them begin having drinks and dinner often. They talk about informal things and relax together.

Richard begins to hate his teaching job. One day he goes to the sauna and seduces a young man, but this seduction takes a long time so Richard decides not to go to work that day. He and the man have sex, and then Richard goes to a movie alone during his evening classes. He tells the Ford's how he despises his job and Susan offers him a new job looking after a group of American economists. The economists are coming to Argentina to suggest ways the country can reduce spending so that they can pay debts. Richard doesn't go back to his teaching job, after two weeks he is given a cheque and a letter of dismissal. He stays in a hotel with the economists and works with them well.

Donald talks to Richard about a potential job working towards the privatisation of the oil industry. Whilst at a dinner with the economists, Richard talks to a friend from university who had also been working with the economists. Richard had been discussing with the Americans how he didn't know anyone who had disappeared and that the disappearances weren't important to his life. His friend from university talks about his girlfriend who he is certain was murdered when she disappeared.

Richard returns to his apartment and finds letters from Jorge. Senor Canetto is exasperated and impatient to know whether the Americans will fund him. He meets with Susan and shows her these letters. She suggests that Canetto have a fund-raising party which they will attend to get to know him. She tells him more about the work he will do in the Oil industry. Richard goes to the Canetto's house to tell them Susan's suggestion and he meets Jorge's brother Pablo for the first time Jorge sets up a tennis game – he and Pablo play against Richard and Donald.

Donald and Richard begin playing tennis privately. After one game Donald puts his arms around Richard whilst they are both naked and tries to lift him up. When Donald sees that Richard has an erection his suspicion that Richard is gay is confirmed.

The Canettos throw their party, but Donald and Susan are unimpressed.

Richard decides to go to a new sauna – it is Sunday and his usual one is closed. The new sauna is dingy, with a smell of rot and gay porn playing on a TV. In the changing rooms he runs into Pablo. Richard is desperate to talk to him, but cannot find him after Pablo disappears into the Sauna.

Donald and Susan convince Richard to rent an office and become an independent consultant and translator. An oil tycoon, Frederico Arenas, offers Richard a job involving the "transport" of some goods, saying that no-one would question if these goods were called "oil" and transported as oil. Richard refuses his contract.

Susan invites Richard for dinner while Donald is away. After dinner she brings him to her room. They both get naked and begin kissing but Richard cannot get an erection. Susan finds out he is gay. They cuddle in bed and Susan tells him that she was complicit in the overthrow in Chile. This upsets Richard as he remembers how Raul was tortured.

Frederico Arenas calls Richard again, and Richard refuses his offer again.

Susan finds out about a man running for president from La Rioja, his name is Menem. She asks Richard if he thinks Menem has a chance of winning the presidency. Richard flies out to meet her in La Rioja to check him out, and finds her there with Jorge. Jorge is unsubtle about his relationship with Susan, and the way he flaunts their affair echoes back to his actions in Barcelona.

When Richard arrives home he agrees to Frederico Arenas's offer and becomes friends with him.

Richard also becomes friends with Senor Canetto, who he tells about the oil industry. Canetto introduces Richard to an investment banker who will lend him large sums at a good rate of interest. They both invest in oil. Richard becomes incredibly rich through his investments, and his contract with Arenas.

Richard attends dinner with the Canettos and runs into Pablo again. When Jorge and Pablo drive him to the train station after dinner, Pablo unties Richard's shoelaces in a flirty manner.

Part 3

Part three is shaped around Richard's relationship with Pablo. As this section opens, Richard's infatuation with Pablo grows, but he is still unsure as to whether Pablo reciprocates his feelings. Susan sets Richard up on a date with an American, and he is surprised when Charles (the American) asks him to use a condom during sex due to his fear about aids. He phones Pablo shortly after this encounter and they start dating. Pablo tells Richard the real reason he moved to America to study; the family maid walked in on Pablo having sex with his friend, and shortly afterwards his father pushed for him to go to America. Pablo never asked his father if the maid told him what had happened, but decided he would rather move than ask him.

Richard and Pablo fall in love. When Richard takes Pablo to visit his parents grave he thinks that after years of missing them and being alone he is finally content. They spend a weekend in Motevideo together. Whilst there they go to a gay club where they can kiss and slow dance in public without fear of judgement.

Richard sublets an upscale marina house from a US diplomat and invites Pablo to share it with him. They move in together, pretending to Pablo's family that he is only moving into the spare room so Richard can save on rent.

Pablo has two of his friends from California to stay, Mart and Jack who have been together for twelve years. When Pablo and Richard go to pick them up from the airport they learn that Mart has been treated badly by the airport security after they saw his AIDS medication. The four of them spend time together and Jack tells Richard that Pablo's ex-boyfriend died of aids, something which affected Pablo deeply. They think that Mart might have an infected line and take him to a doctor called Doctor Cawley. Before his friends leave, Pablo takes them and Richard to a restaurant and then to a bath-house where they scout for people to sleep with. Richard is initially reluctant to go to the bathhouse, but ends up enjoying sex with a stranger whilst there.

Donald and Susan reveal that they will be leaving Argentina soon. At a tense dinner Donald asks Richard how long Susan and Jorge have been sleeping together, and Richard reveals to Susan that he has been dating Pablo.

Susan and Donald have a farewell party. The next day Susan comes to say goodbye to Richard and they part. During this, it becomes clear that Mart is going to die and so Pablo decides to visit San Francisco where he and Jack live.

Richard goes to Miami for work, and hooks up with Tom Shaw, a blonde American he'd met a few times during previous trips. Pablo phones Richard once, but then doesn't phone back or respond to any of Richard's calls. When Richard arrives home he sees that Pablo has moved out of their house, and left a note breaking up with him.

Richard, devastated by the break-up, arranges to go to Tom Shaw's for the weekend and flies to New York. They do a lot of cocaine and have a lot of sex, but Tom is cold, only interested in physical gratification. Richard falls ill and decides he has to return to Argentina as soon as possible. On the flight home he cannot stop coughing, and is in agonising pain.

Richard goes to the Hospital who tell him he has pneumonia. Whilst in the hospital he realises he doesn't have anyone to put as his emergency contact, and gives his dead mother's phone number and information. Doctor Cawley visits him and tells him he has Aids. Upon release from the hospital, he calls Susan and breaks down crying as he tells her of his illness. He moves back into his old apartment, goes back to work, and slowly becomes used to the fact that he is going to die.

After his second meeting with Dr Cawley Richard runs into Pablo in the Doctor's waiting room. Pablo reveals that he was diagnosed with Aids during the weekend that Mart died. The pair lean on each other. Pablo has to stay in hospital to treat CMV, an eye disease that can cause blindness, and to have a line put in his chest. Richard visits him every day and when Pablo is released he takes him back to their house. The book ends as with Pablo deciding to live with Richard for a while, in their house by the Marina.

• Richard Garay– an initially closeted young gay man living in Buenos Aires who first finds work as an English teacher. His friendship with the Canetto family (see below) provides a pathway to a more remunerative and exciting life as a go-between for American interests in Argentina after the fall of the military regime. The novel is seen through Richard's eyes. Toibin portrays Richard as individual who struggles with intimacy and, perhaps as a result, is susceptible to venal and calculating approaches by other individuals.
• Richard's father – An Argentinian who died when Richard was young. His family, the Garays, owned a small shipping business, which was slowly declining, and he was the third son. Richard recalls that his father paid little attention to him, but how special it felt when he did.
• Richard's mother – An English woman whose father brought her and her sister to Argentina after his wife died, in the 1920s. In the aftermath of Richard's own father's premature death, and their consequential impoverishment, Richard and his mother have a close but not intimate relationship which at times becomes a suffocating constraint upon his life. She takes refuge in a cultivated and intense Englishness, while Richard himself, fully identified with Argentina, disappoints her career-wise and conceals his homosexuality until shortly before her death. After her death, her legacy survives and appears to manifest in various ways through his actions and mentalities.
• Jorge Canetto – The Argentinian son of a potential Presidential candidate – Señor Canetto. Richard becomes friends with Jorge at university and tutors him in English. Richard claims to have fallen in love with Jorge but it proves to be more lust than love. They travel together to Barcelona where they meet a group of young Chilean refugees. When they return to Argentina Richard becomes more closely acquainted with the Canetto family; Jorge remains a minor figure through the rest of the novel, his sexual activity being a counterpoint to Richard's own.
• Señor Canetto – Jorge and Pablo's father. A Peronist with unfulfilled ambitions to be president.
• Pablo Canetto – The second son of the potential Presidential candidate. Richard's first real love; the relationship dominates the third part of the book.
• Susan & Donald Ford – Two Americans who dominate the middle section of the book. They enlist Richard's help as a translator and consultant, mainly to ensure a peaceful and smooth Argentine transition to a new political order, with an economy adhering to the norms of international business and open to foreign investment. Donald rather undiplomatically reveals Richard's sexuality by testing his response to a sexual advancement towards him in the shower room. Susan, on the other hand, is actually attracted to Richard, and only discovers his sexual orientation when in bed with him. Her later affair with Jorge is initially seen as an attempt to avenge Richard's lack of receptivity towards her, but she accepts his being homosexual and offers to help Richard find a partner, later setting up a date for him with an acquaintance from Europe. The couple become an essential part of Richard's development in the novel; their trust in him and vice versa builds his confidence and allows him to extend his engagement with the world. He is soon able to settle into the identity that they believed him to already retain, and they are the first people to know, beyond his mother and lovers, that he is gay.
• Mart and Jack – Pablo's friends from America. They have been in a relationship for 12 years when we first meet them. Mart is dying from aids.
• The Chileans – Refugees who live in Barcelona. Richard and Jorge meet them in the communal room of the pensión in which they are staying. They are experienced in political resistance and demonstration, and are willing to put their lives in danger for a greater cause. It appears to readers that they belong to another world, full of political tension, social reformation and a sense of unending possibility, danger, and excitement. His interactions with the Chileans reveal much more to him about himself than he could have initially imagined, and he returns to Argentina with an increased desire to get involved and recognize that which is going on around him.

Tóibín's work regularly explores the themes of living abroad, creativity and personal identity, focusing especially on homosexual identity, and on identity when confronted with loss.

The novel opens when the National Reorganization Process were in Power. The National Reorganization Process was a military dictatorship that controlled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. The Dirty War was also happening during this time, where the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA) killed thousands of left-wing activists. It is estimated that 30,000 people disappeared. When Richard's friend from university says that his girlfriend disappeared during this time, he says that the AAA 'drugged their victims and hauled them into aircraft and threw them into the sea' – a reference to the Death flights that happened during this era.

In 1982 the Falklands War broke out after Argentina invaded the British-owned Falkland Islands. The National Reorganization Process hoped that by taking back the islands they could increase patriotism and support for their regime. Richard celebrates the invasion on p67 of the novel, and discusses the progress of the war with Senor Canetto in the following pages. Argentina lost the war, and Britain took back control of the islands.

The Generals who had held power during the military dictatorship were put on trial, and democracy was restored to Argentina. Alfonsín was elected president. In the novel we can see Senor Canetto's response to this change as he attempts to run for president. Susan and Donald's involvement in getting Menem elected is also a result of the Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration after the war.

In order to understand the social context in which this novel takes place, from the late 1970s to the 1980s, it is important to look at the development of the LGBT rights in Argentina that were taking place alongside the political restructuring of the country. Prior to and during the earlier period of the 60s, political attitudes were vague and somewhat contradictory. Yet, like a lot of the western world, Argentina's LGBT movements gained momentum during the 1970s, with the establishment of the first LGBT organisation in 1967 called ‘Nuestro Mondo’.

Unlike western groups, however, Nuestro Mondo and other LGBT groups did not seek political activism or change, but sought to bring awareness to the movement. Groups that developed from and alongside Nuestro Mondo took a different approach to their activism in that they sought equality and political acknowledgement via the upheaval of imperialism, and so aligned with left wing groups that did not necessarily promote LGBT rights.

After the right-wing 1976 coup d’état, Argentina faced an unsettling reversal of the progress made by LGBT groups, and groups as well as individuals faced governmental attacks and violence.

Argentina's democratization in 1983 saw the beginning of the politicisation of the movements and constitutional recognition as well as a greater general acceptance for members of the LGBT community.[3]

Tóibín writes in a direct and unembellished language. He's a master of using this apparent simplicity to convey powerful atmospheres that remain with the reader long after the experience of reading the novel is finished. Reading his work a second time is strongly recommended, as there are layers of nuance to be discovered and explored (Sette, Jorge).

The tone is cool and discreet; Tóibín's fondness for understatement when describing emotional turbulence is admirable and quite effective.

The genre is ambiguous as the novel can fit into a plethora of categories not limited to and including: a political novel, gay romance, historical fiction, a thriller, a mystery, etc.

Tóibín seems to be fascinated with the ways that suppressed feelings can shape and deform character, and the often destructive and always disruptive manner in which long repressed emotions can emerge (Kirkus Reviews).

"A brave and remarkable novel, the impact of which no reader will shed" Dermot Bolger, Sunday Independent

"The Story of the Night is a love story of the most serious and difficult kind. Tóibín has told it with profound artistry and truth" Tobias Wolff

"Nobody before Tóibín has made such honesty stand so clearly for political and personal integrity…In each of his first three novels he has invented a strong central character but Garay is by far his most memorable" Edmund White, Sunday Times

"He writes sentences of classical elegance with staccato insistence… Tóibín is not a writer who lets reders go once he has them in his grasp. There is always, you feel, the potential for surprise, that silences will be exploded, that a revelation is coming" Alan Taylor, Scotsman

However, some reviewers have also argued that Tóibín's political views often overshadow the more personal themes in his works, citing Homage to Barcelona and The Story of the Night as examples (eNotes).[4]

It won the Ferro-Grumley Award for the "Best Gay Novel of 1997".

• "Colm Tóibín Critical Essays." Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/topics/colm-toibin.
• "In Depth." BBC News, BBC, news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457033/html/.
• Tóibín, Colm, and Colm Toibin. "THE STORY OF THE NIGHT" Kirkus Reviews, www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/colm-toibin/the-story-of-the-night/.
• Sette, Jorge. "Review: Colm Tóibín's The Story of the Night." Bookwitty, Bookwitty, 30 Nov. 2016, www.bookwitty.com/text/review-colm-toibins-the-story-of-the-night/5835d88250cef76fe7def833.
• "Fiction Book Review: The Story of the Night by Colm Toibin, Author Henry Holt & Company $23 (312p) ISBN 978-0-8050-5211-4." PublishersWeekly.com, www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8050-5211-4.