panThis started as an interesting story of an angry man living through his brother‘s slow death from AIDS. The writing and tone is a bit manic and in your face, but once I adjusted to it, it worked. But what ruined it for me is the main character is deeply misogynistic without examination of this and it gets so thick by the end it was just bad.
so-soI struggled with this short book. A Nazi photographer moves with his family to #Bolivia, where he‘s keen on making a documentary of his trek to find a lost city in the jungle. He variously takes 1 or 2 of his 3 daughters. We hear the story from the daughters‘ points of view. Most dramatically, 1 daughter, Monica becomes a rebel supporting Che Guevara‘s cause. Her whereabouts and safety are always an issue of concern for her sisters. Unless I ⬇️
My 1st book for #FoodandLit #Bolivia is a novel based on the life of the Ertl family: former nazi Hans (Leni Riefenstahl's cameraman), & his 3 daughters Heidi, Trixi & Monika, revolutionary with Che Guevara. It's all told in alternate viewpoints with no clear delimitation between narrators - you just have to go with the flow & trust things will fall into place (which they do)!
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
Pic from https://mubi.com/en/cast/hans-ertl
pickA great collection of Latin American short stories. Very good ones among them, and little magical realism ?
Julio Ramón Ribeyro, Luis Loayza, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Rodolfo Hinostroza, and Fernando Ampuero are Peruvian writers so I count them for
#FoodAndLit!
#ReadTheWorld2025 Book 22 #Peru
#WeeklyForecast 31/25
I am reading both Deep Cuts and Small Pleasures and both are very entertaining. The tagged book I want to read for #FoodAndLit #Peru so I should read fast! We‘ll see, this will be another busy week working.
#JulyJazz Day 29: #MoonDay - posting way in advance since traveling on Monday and only arriving in the evening on Tuesday (we lose a day going back) next week.
pickAs I was leaving to return this collection to the library, I was telling my wife about Sister Juana. Without really thinking I said, “You know, it‘s pretty amazing that the poetry of a Spanish nun from the 17th century could reach through time to affect someone like me.” I sorta stunned myself.
Power of Poetry.
A favorite sonnet from the collection. The epitaph got cut off though. It says:
“On the death of the most excellent Señora Marquesa de Mancera”
Ok. I had a tough time figuring how to get both these in the same shot; this ⬆️ was the best I could do. The top is Edith Grossman‘s translation in the tagged book. The bottom I posted a few weeks ago from an anthology called The Serpent & the Fire; that translation is by John Campion. Notice where they differ & where they align? Do you prefer one over the other? I think I like Campion‘s best but Grossman‘s is probably closer to the original.
