Archive for March, 2008
March 27, 2008 at 12:59 pm
· Filed under Fiction ·Tagged Book, Romance, Science Fiction, Time Travel
by Audrey Niffenegger
Henry DeTamble has Chrono-Displacement Disorder, which has him jumping from one moment in time to the next… literally. But he only jumps around within his own lifetime. Basically, instead of living his years in a normal linear fashion, he gets thrown about from one point in time to the other.
It’s not a controlled or purposeful leap, so we get to watch Henry stumble through, learning to deal with his temporal inconsistency while trying to build a life.
Part of that life, is of course, his wife Clare Abshire, who he meets as a little girl. As Clare grows, their lives continuously intersect, but his age doesn’t follow the linear progression of hers: when she’s 6 he’s 40, when she’s 20, he’s 28.
The story telling alternates between her point of view and his, so we get the perspective of the unwilling traveler and his partner in love and life who gets constantly left behind for unknown periods of time. Clare of course, grows up with this and finds clever ways to predict when Henry may be flung back to her.
It’s a great story that blends genetic science fiction with a love story rather well. The characters are well written and the story line fascinating. The author offers interesting dilemmas. I won’t ruin the end, but I loved it.
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March 14, 2008 at 6:06 pm
· Filed under Book / Libro, Fiction, Historical, Mystery ·Tagged calculus, England, murder, Mystery, novel, oxford, scientific method, suspense, thriller
by Ian Pear
What’s especially cool about this book is that it’s told from four perspective, and there is no single omniscient narrator who is always telling you the objective truth.
The story centers around a murder that takes place in England in 1663. But each narrator has a different recollection of the events surrounding the incident, and they each assume a different guilty party.
The New York Times compared it to The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I agree, it’s got the same tension.
The title relates to Francis Bacon’s system of logic that says the essence of something is the process of reduction. The fingerpost refers to the sign at a crossroads: a post with arms or “fingers” radiating from it that point you in the direction to the various places listed. The idea is that to find the truth, you must first find where the stories of the four narrators intersect.
There’s a handy list in the back of all the characters detailing which ones were real people in history (lot’s of them) and which are fictional–and when they are fictional and based on someone real, the list give you the story and identity of the person the character was based on.
It’s a little long, but completely fascinating. Absolutely worth reading.
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March 10, 2008 at 2:47 pm
· Filed under Book / Libro, Ficción (en español), Uncategorized ·Tagged Cuba, historia, mafia, política
por Mayra Montero
Es una novela interesante que se lleva acabo a finales de los cincuentas en Cuba. Mayra Montero toma algunos datos historicos y con ellos crea toda una fantasía estilo El Padrino.
Todo comienza con el asesinato del cruel y muy real mafioso Umberto Anastasia en Nueva York. Un periodista joven e inexperto llamado Joaquín Porrata descubre la conexión de esa muerte lejana con el crimen organizado en Habana, y claro, en el proceso le pasa de todo.
Montero descibe un mundo emocionante de matones, casinos, cirqueros, enredos amorosos y reporteros. ¡Bueno, hasta incluyó un leproso! Me gusta que desde el principio hay algo extraño o peligroso o raro, no nos hace esperar.
El personaje principal, Joaquín Porrata, de hecho me cayó medio mal, pero es buen personaje para el cuento. Y el personaje de Yolanda, la manca de la que se enamora Joaquín, es rarísimo y fascinante.
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March 9, 2008 at 7:36 pm
· Filed under Book / Libro, Español, Ficción (en español), Literario
por Crisitna Harari
Este libro lo disfruté muchísimo. Es el reencuentro entre dos personajes que comparten una memoria pasada común.
Me recuerda un poco a Todos los fuegos del fuego de Julio Cortazar donde dos historias suceden en el mismo lugar aunque en distintos tiempos; pero en este cuento se maneja una intersección de los dos tiempos que resultan en una confusión interesante.
La mujer del presente se llama Isabel y la correspondiente del pasado, Livia. Me encanta el contraste entre la aprensiva e introvertida Isabel y la libre y juguetona Livia.
El hombre del presente se llama Luca y el correspondiente del pasado se llama Flavio. Con él sentí menos el contraste, pero igual me gustó el “par”.
Un elemento en particular que gocé mucho fue el hecho de que los personajes modernos están en Italia, país donde existe su memoria compartida, pero ninguno es de ahí. Ese pasado remoto los jala y los sigue.
Y sumado a esto están los recuerdos de la niñez de Isabel intercalados. Está bueno el libro. Se los recomiendo.
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March 9, 2008 at 12:43 am
· Filed under Autobiography, Book / Libro, Nonfiction ·Tagged autobiography, English, Middle East, Morocco, Nonfiction
by Malika Oufki
Hello world! Let’s talk about books! I’ll start us off.
This book was lent to me by a friend who know I love Middle Eastern culture. It’s the true story about the incarceration of a noble family after a coup in Morocco in the early 70’s, written by the oldest daughter, Malika Oufkir.
She talks about palace life, the confusion and pain of being a political prisoner for twenty years, and the surreal re-entry into a society that has changed beyond imagination.
She goes into all sorts of detail about the ways they coped and worked around the guards. The very real escape reads like an action movie. It’s fabulous.
And the pictures included in the book are a great touch. Especially because they show up after page 120, when as a reader you have gotten to know the people in the story rather well. There’s something very intimate about looking into their eyes and understanding these aren’t characters, they’re real people who have survived this.
She’s written a follow-up called Freedom, which I definitely want to read.
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