The Death of Artemio Cruz
As in all his fiction, but perhaps most powerfully in this book, Fuentes is a passionate guide to the ironies of Mexican history, the burden of its past, and the anguish of its present.
The book is written from the viewpoint of the main character, Artemio Cruz, who is now dying on a hospital bed. Every other chapter, we switch from his incoherent end-of-physical-life thoughts to a clearer style, throwbacks to when he was younger. We are meant to follow how a brave revolutionary loses the love of his life and turns calculated and cold, eventually becoming a tyrant and a corrupt figure in the country for which he once fought. It's all about minor decisions that lead his moral
Ah, the mid-century third-world novel. Once, leftist writers throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia, informed by Brecht and Tolstoy, wrote epics of peasants and landlords, colonizers and compradors, but those days have long since passed...Which sucks. These are the sorts of novels we're forgetting how to read, ones both strongly grounded in a specific place and culture, yet universalist and humanist in their aspirations. Novels from the "third world" are of course still popular, but the ones
This was the first Fuentes book I ever read and he hooked me. I am now buying and reading all the rest. He is one of the great writers of the 21st century and totally overshadowed by Garcia Marquez and Vargas Llossa. This book is the story of Artemio Cruz as he reflects upon his life from the Mexican Revolution. He made it rich and did dubvious things to gain power. He seems to have no regrets but I won't give the story away. Written in the early 1960s, Fuentes uses early post modern style which
I thought the premise of the story sounded interesting - Artemio Cruz (no relation to that other guy named Cruz) is a corrupt... well, everything: politician, soldier, man. He's on his deathbed now, and the story hops around in time to tell his story of each major event of his life, back to the "present" of his deathbed experience. The premise is great, I love the idea of the bouncing around, the storytelling aspect.But the story itself was not always easy to read, and by that I mean the way
Artemio Cruz is a man whose impending death compels him to look back over the span of his life to re-live its peak experiences. In a real sense Cruz was more than a man living in Mexico during a time of revolution: he is a microcosm of Mexico itself. I deeply respect and admire the inventive, narrative technique, which in some respects is revolutionary. The switch of narrative voice in its person is daring and works brilliantly to make the narrative come alive. The story line becomes personal
There are pros and cons to my annual read-a-book-in-Spanish self-imposed requirement.Pros:1. I feel oh-so-cultured and smart.2. My Spanish is back to near-fluent levels by the second half of the book.Cons:1. I have basically no idea what happened in the first half of the book.2. It takes freaking forever.Based on what I actually understood, this is a pretty darn good novel about Mexico and an old dude named Artemio. However, shifting perspectives, Mexican idioms, and lots of historical/political
Carlos Fuentes
Paperback | Pages: 307 pages Rating: 3.86 | 8492 Users | 549 Reviews
Describe Books During The Death of Artemio Cruz
Original Title: | La muerte de Artemio Cruz |
ISBN: | 0374522839 (ISBN13: 9780374522834) |
Edition Language: | English |
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Hailed as a masterpiece since its publication in 1962, The Death of Artemio Cruz is Carlos Fuentes's haunting voyage into the soul of modern Mexico. Its acknowledged place in Latin American fiction and its appeal to a fresh generation of readers have warranted this new translation by Alfred Mac Adam, translator (with the author) of Fuentes's Christopher Unborn.As in all his fiction, but perhaps most powerfully in this book, Fuentes is a passionate guide to the ironies of Mexican history, the burden of its past, and the anguish of its present.
Declare Out Of Books The Death of Artemio Cruz
Title | : | The Death of Artemio Cruz |
Author | : | Carlos Fuentes |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 307 pages |
Published | : | May 1st 1991 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 1962) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Latin American. European Literature. Spanish Literature |
Rating Out Of Books The Death of Artemio Cruz
Ratings: 3.86 From 8492 Users | 549 ReviewsAppraise Out Of Books The Death of Artemio Cruz
I recognize why this is a literary masterpiece, but the only satisfying part of the book for me was when I came to the final page. It never captured my attention or caused a desire to learn more about the Mexican Revolution. At the halfway point I stopped and went back to reread from the beginning to try to understand what was happening and where it might be going. That was slightly helpful, but not enough so that I want to reread the entire book.The book is written from the viewpoint of the main character, Artemio Cruz, who is now dying on a hospital bed. Every other chapter, we switch from his incoherent end-of-physical-life thoughts to a clearer style, throwbacks to when he was younger. We are meant to follow how a brave revolutionary loses the love of his life and turns calculated and cold, eventually becoming a tyrant and a corrupt figure in the country for which he once fought. It's all about minor decisions that lead his moral
Ah, the mid-century third-world novel. Once, leftist writers throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia, informed by Brecht and Tolstoy, wrote epics of peasants and landlords, colonizers and compradors, but those days have long since passed...Which sucks. These are the sorts of novels we're forgetting how to read, ones both strongly grounded in a specific place and culture, yet universalist and humanist in their aspirations. Novels from the "third world" are of course still popular, but the ones
This was the first Fuentes book I ever read and he hooked me. I am now buying and reading all the rest. He is one of the great writers of the 21st century and totally overshadowed by Garcia Marquez and Vargas Llossa. This book is the story of Artemio Cruz as he reflects upon his life from the Mexican Revolution. He made it rich and did dubvious things to gain power. He seems to have no regrets but I won't give the story away. Written in the early 1960s, Fuentes uses early post modern style which
I thought the premise of the story sounded interesting - Artemio Cruz (no relation to that other guy named Cruz) is a corrupt... well, everything: politician, soldier, man. He's on his deathbed now, and the story hops around in time to tell his story of each major event of his life, back to the "present" of his deathbed experience. The premise is great, I love the idea of the bouncing around, the storytelling aspect.But the story itself was not always easy to read, and by that I mean the way
Artemio Cruz is a man whose impending death compels him to look back over the span of his life to re-live its peak experiences. In a real sense Cruz was more than a man living in Mexico during a time of revolution: he is a microcosm of Mexico itself. I deeply respect and admire the inventive, narrative technique, which in some respects is revolutionary. The switch of narrative voice in its person is daring and works brilliantly to make the narrative come alive. The story line becomes personal
There are pros and cons to my annual read-a-book-in-Spanish self-imposed requirement.Pros:1. I feel oh-so-cultured and smart.2. My Spanish is back to near-fluent levels by the second half of the book.Cons:1. I have basically no idea what happened in the first half of the book.2. It takes freaking forever.Based on what I actually understood, this is a pretty darn good novel about Mexico and an old dude named Artemio. However, shifting perspectives, Mexican idioms, and lots of historical/political
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