by Mario Vargas Llosa
A short story told mostly from the point of view of Lituma, a simple Guardia Civil man, a cholo, about his and his boss's attempts to solve a horrible crime - the torture and murder of a young handsome and talented singer, Palomino Molero. The story is set in 1950s and it's interesting to see the tensions between the "whites" and the "cholos". Lots of racism going on... And the power of rumors.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Yours, Sandro (Shelcha, Sandro) - Hebrew
by Zvi Yanai
An interesting compilation of letter the author writes to his long lost brother, that for an unknown reason was left in a foster home. Through letters that Zvi (Sandro) writes to his brother Romulo, citing letters to their mother, we learn what happened to that particular family during the years 1930-1944 in Italy and Hungary, and then a little bit about their years in Israel. Hebrew.
An interesting compilation of letter the author writes to his long lost brother, that for an unknown reason was left in a foster home. Through letters that Zvi (Sandro) writes to his brother Romulo, citing letters to their mother, we learn what happened to that particular family during the years 1930-1944 in Italy and Hungary, and then a little bit about their years in Israel. Hebrew.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
!HUGO! The Hugo Chavez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution
By Bart Jones
What a fascinating book about such an amazing person!
Having watched a movie about Hugo Chavez a few years ago (The Revolution will not be Televized) followed by a discussion with history professor who seemed very favorable of the man, but then only hearing bad things about him, in the mainstream media and even from South American friends, I felt confused - what should I believe? Bart Jones help me get to a conclusion. But also he made me think of all the lies governments and media tell us. In the case of Chavez - incredible lies and propaganda that seems absolutely ridiculous when confronted with the facts, nonetheless, if it is not (and it usually isn't) it can be very easily considered as the truth by most people.
And that's really scary. What else are they lying to us about?
This book has opened my eyes to all the horrible things US governments were involved in over decades in Latin America. I heard some anecdotes here and there, but never knew to what extent it was striving (and still is) to get rid of leftist leaders. I think it's good to know these things. Better than to be blind.
How can anyone still listen to Bush's lies and not get enraged? I wonder...
What a fascinating book about such an amazing person!
Having watched a movie about Hugo Chavez a few years ago (The Revolution will not be Televized) followed by a discussion with history professor who seemed very favorable of the man, but then only hearing bad things about him, in the mainstream media and even from South American friends, I felt confused - what should I believe? Bart Jones help me get to a conclusion. But also he made me think of all the lies governments and media tell us. In the case of Chavez - incredible lies and propaganda that seems absolutely ridiculous when confronted with the facts, nonetheless, if it is not (and it usually isn't) it can be very easily considered as the truth by most people.
And that's really scary. What else are they lying to us about?
This book has opened my eyes to all the horrible things US governments were involved in over decades in Latin America. I heard some anecdotes here and there, but never knew to what extent it was striving (and still is) to get rid of leftist leaders. I think it's good to know these things. Better than to be blind.
How can anyone still listen to Bush's lies and not get enraged? I wonder...
Friday, March 14, 2008
Other People's Trades - Primo Levi
Primo Levi is one of my favorite authors, but this collection of essays was not up to my expectations. From the few sentences of the first essay I read while still at the bookstore, it seemed to me that this book would be similar to The Mirror Maker. It was, in a way. But while in The Mirror Maker each and every essay was eye-opening, amusing and interesting, a lot of the stories in Other People's Trades were not as interesting or revealing. But every prolific author has some books that are better than others. I still think that Primo Levi has an amazing way of portraying life, nature, and human nature and he always amazes me with the wide knowledge he has in so many aspects of science.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
by Mario Vargas Llosa
A nice book with an interesting interweaving of plot: half of the book is an autobiography, and every other chapter is a description of a radio serial by the scriptwriter, Pedro Camacho. Poor Pedro is a workaholic, and writing is his life. He writes episodes for 10 different serials a day - no wonder he ends up mixing them up and confusing the enthusiastic and fascinated audience. It becomes really annoying at time, I must say, to read a story about someone who starts out as a football (soccer) player, and ends up as a bullfighter. The autobiography part is my favorite - the hardships of a couple in love - the author and his aunt Julia. She's not really his aunt - only the sister of his uncle's wife - but she is 14 years older than he is, and a divorcee, which is important to his Catholic family. Since he's a minor (18 year olds still need to get permission from their parents to get married in Peru of that time), they have to overcome so many obstacles, it's really exhausting just to think about it.
I read another book of his years ago, and it didn't leave any impression on me. This is definitely not the case with this book.
A nice book with an interesting interweaving of plot: half of the book is an autobiography, and every other chapter is a description of a radio serial by the scriptwriter, Pedro Camacho. Poor Pedro is a workaholic, and writing is his life. He writes episodes for 10 different serials a day - no wonder he ends up mixing them up and confusing the enthusiastic and fascinated audience. It becomes really annoying at time, I must say, to read a story about someone who starts out as a football (soccer) player, and ends up as a bullfighter. The autobiography part is my favorite - the hardships of a couple in love - the author and his aunt Julia. She's not really his aunt - only the sister of his uncle's wife - but she is 14 years older than he is, and a divorcee, which is important to his Catholic family. Since he's a minor (18 year olds still need to get permission from their parents to get married in Peru of that time), they have to overcome so many obstacles, it's really exhausting just to think about it.
I read another book of his years ago, and it didn't leave any impression on me. This is definitely not the case with this book.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Pigs in Heaven - Barbara Kingsolver
It took me a while to realize that this is a sequel to the only other Kingsolver book I read - The Bean Trees. I liked this one a lot. Seems like nothing about it is flat... I also like the way she thinks - things can work out somehow, even if sometimes it feels like nothing good can come out of a situation.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
1984 - George Orwell
Well, this is the second time I read this book. I was a mere teenager when I read it first, and I didn't remember how intense it was! Maybe now that I'm older I'm more easily affected by things like that.
But more than the fact that it's a scary book, I find it also scary that even though it was written more than half a century ago, some of the ideas expressed in it are still not common knowledge nowadays.
For example: torture. The Party doesn't use torture to get information - they know it's useless for that. They use it to dehumanize people. To make them stop being humans.
Another example: desperate means. When Winston and Julia are asked whether they'd do anything if it worked against the party - they both said yes. Would they kill innocent people? Yes. Would they throw acid in a face of a child? Yes. Yet their answers are not automatic - made just to please the questioner, because they do say NO when asked whether they'd be willing to separate and never see each other again. Millions of people have read this book, and yet it doesn't seem like many of them remember this part when they talk about suicide bombers.
But more than the fact that it's a scary book, I find it also scary that even though it was written more than half a century ago, some of the ideas expressed in it are still not common knowledge nowadays.
For example: torture. The Party doesn't use torture to get information - they know it's useless for that. They use it to dehumanize people. To make them stop being humans.
Another example: desperate means. When Winston and Julia are asked whether they'd do anything if it worked against the party - they both said yes. Would they kill innocent people? Yes. Would they throw acid in a face of a child? Yes. Yet their answers are not automatic - made just to please the questioner, because they do say NO when asked whether they'd be willing to separate and never see each other again. Millions of people have read this book, and yet it doesn't seem like many of them remember this part when they talk about suicide bombers.
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