Name: The Tunnel Review: Isolation in Ernesto Sabato's Novel
Item: OL617847W
Rating: 100
Author: @cositav

Hello, everyone in Hive and the #Scrobblelife community. Today, I'm sharing a review of The Tunnel, one of my favorite books (El túnel), by the renowned Argentine author Ernesto Sabato.

An oil painting of a solitary woman looking out a small window at a dark ocean; existentialist style, evocative atmosphere.

Sabato was a distinguished writer, essayist, physicist, and painter of international renown, celebrated for a body of work rich in psychological depth and existentialism, and for his keen exploration of the human condition.

We often assume an author must publish dozens of books to achieve greatness, but that rule doesn't apply to Sabato. Throughout his life, he wrote only three works of fiction:

The Tunnel (1948): His most famous and acclaimed work, admired by literary giants like Albert Camus and Thomas Mann.

On Heroes and Tombs (1961): Considered one of the pinnacles of the 20th-century Argentine novel.

Abaddón the Exterminator (1974): The most experimental installment of his narrative work.

(It is worth noting that his later publications—such as the moving Before the End—consist of memoirs and essays, leaving his legacy as a novelist intact as a perfect trilogy.)

Although I read the entire trilogy, the first two works were the ones that truly resonated with me and left an indelible mark.

Juan Pablo Castel and the Obsession in The Tunnel

The Tunnel is a short novel narrated in the first person, in which the author employs an existentialist style defined by pessimism and despair. Its protagonist, Juan Pablo Castel, reveals himself to the reader as a character with a complex and disturbed psyche.

What hooked me from the very beginning was its unforgettable and striking opening line:

"It should be enough to say that I am Juan Pablo Castel, the painter who killed María Iribarne."

That single opening sentence completely captivated me; I couldn't stop reading until I had devoured the final page.

The story’s inciting incident takes place during an art exhibition. Castel notices a woman who is the only viewer to pause before a detail imperceptible to the rest of the crowd: a small window in the background of the canvas that evokes a profound, tragic loneliness. The painter interprets this moment as a definitive sign that he has found the only soul in the world capable of understanding him. That simple gesture was enough for a morbid obsession to take hold of him.

Between the desire for communion and absolute confinement

The woman who becomes the object of his fixation is María Iribarne. Together, they embark on a romantic relationship fraught with torment, anguish, and suspicion. From the start, both believed they saw their own loneliness reflected in the other, forging a suffocating bond.

However, conflict soon erupts. María is married to Allende—a blind man—and Castel discovers that he is not her only lover. The painter’s analytical mind is consumed by jealousy; he cannot conceive of the woman he loves harboring secrets or surrounding herself with mystery and silence. Gradually, this inability to possess her completely drags him into pathological jealousy, mistrust, and absolute isolation.

Amidst this anguish, Castel grasps the tragedy of his existence: his life has always unfolded within a dark, solitary tunnel, while María walked freely through the world. In his troubled mind, he concludes that if their paths ever seemed to cross, it was merely a fleeting illusion; confinement and disconnection were his only ultimate destiny.

The Tunnel Ernesto Sabato review

The outcome: Ultimate loneliness

Upon making the decision that would change his life forever, he utters one of the work’s most intense and revealing lines:

"—I have to kill you, María. You have left me alone." Then, in language as refined as it is harrowing, the narrator describes the crime:

"Feeling as though a lake of oil were drowning me, I plunged the knife into her chest... Then I plunged the knife into her belly, as she writhed in pain... I stepped out into the courtyard. The sky was overcast with dark clouds, and a cold wind blew from the sea. I realized there was nothing left to do—that I was utterly alone."

Upon realizing he could not possess María Iribarne body and soul, Castel decides to destroy her, becoming forever trapped in the very solitude he had tried to escape.

It is, without a doubt, a spectacular, unique, and original work; if you are a literature lover and haven't read The Tunnel yet, go do so—you are missing out on one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century.