Carlos Fuentes Books

This book is beautilly edited and beautifully printed on somehow matte paper, prints are somehow very light, delicate. As these photographs are : light, delicate. For me this is the best nude photography I have ever seen. I also like very much the nude photographs made by Edward Weston. But for Weston the nude is a study of lines and forms, at least this shows in a lot of his photographs. For Alvarez Bravo women and beauty are more than that. By the way Alvarez Bravo photographed these women I have these two thoughts : Alvarez Bravo liked photography very much but he loved women a whole lot more. Very highly recommended for anyone who loves photography in a more serious way and loves women.

[It is a thiny little bit of a pity that about 8 pages in my copy are somehow wrinkled but this really is a miner problem and as this is the second copy that was sent to me (first copy never reached me) I really don't mind about it.]

I believe Carlos Fuentes to be the most brilliant Latin American writer of this century; hands down over his closest literary rivals Borges and Garcia Marquez. That in itself is no easy feat and that said, you must understand, reveals my impartial praise for his work(s).This book was published in the eighties so the themes that are often political are now oudated. This is a revealing book that is compromised of different essays Mr. Fuentes wrote, at different times, including the concluding essay at a Harvard Commencement. One of his favorite topics is included,Cervantes's "Don Quixote." This in itself is worth the price of the book alone as Mr. Fuentes tells the reader how to read the novel, that is not a novel to be read only once. He explains the story within the story and how it relates to modern literature. With the insights I learned from reading his assessment I will once again read "Don Quixote" and probably understand it much better. He goes on to discuss Diderot, Gogol, Garcia Marquez and Bunuel(will I ever look at his films in the same light?)and their relationship to literature.It is nothing short of fanatastic the way he weaves stories in and out without losing track of his original thought; he brings everything full circle. There are times when he leads you in his thought process to areas of esoteric darkness, where if you don't have the literary background to follow you will be lost. Have no fear though because before long Mr. Fuentes comes back to the original premise and continues on his masterful storytelling. Carlos Fuentes writes like some painters paint, he uses words or color to bring out his subject and points to the place where they almost walk off the pages or canvas. I can hardly believe that this book has never been reviewed as of this writing. Check it out if you like literature and brilliant writing; there is a reason why he has won the Cervantes Prize. Highly recommended.

Judging by previous comments on The Old Gringo, many readers are perusing the novel for the content relating to the fate of American writer Ambrose Bierce. To read Fuentes' novel for that purpose is to miss the fine points of the novelist's craft. Or, perhaps, The Old Gringo has simply gotten better since it was first published in 1985. It seems to me that the main premise of The Old Gringo is that Mexico and the United States should get to know each other, become less of a mystery to each other. This premise has become more true over the past two decades--particularly as the immigration debate heats up. Near the end of the novel, the revolutionary fighter Inocencio Mansalvo, looks from "What a shame. They're right when they say this isn't a border. It's a scar." To understand that view, the reader has to have read the previous 185 pages.

As a reader, I feel I ought to offer a compelling reason for others to seriously pick up this book--something more substantial than simply to read how Fuentes fictionalizes Bierce, a real person with a well-documented life. What I find so wonderful here is that Fuentes manages to teach me about Mexico and the United States without preaching, without stopping the flow of the story. First of all, the key to how Fuentes constructed the plot is that he knew enough about American life--he spent much of his youth in Washington, D.C.--that he could see very clear reasons how an American journalist like Ambrose Bierce would purposefully go to Mexico in the 1910s. The conjunction of actual, historical events gave Fuentes the main structure: the Mexican revolution coming as Bierce was aging, feeling bitter about his broken family, regretting that he had written lies for a William Randolph Hearst newspaper. It's believable that Bierce desired to escape his own life but didn't want to commit suicide.

The author's masterstroke was to invent the main character, Harriet Winslow. Fuentes was confident enough as a writer that Miss Winslow is entirely believable. Harriet's interior monologue, the thoughts that come from her deep consciousness, are real enough--physical enough--to carry the responsibility of serving as the frame for the novel. Harriet is back in Washington, D.C. remembering the old gringo and General Tomás Arroyo, the "moon-faced" woman, and the other Mexican people she knew. Fuentes provides the music of the text: the careful detail, the balance between spoken dialogue and interior monologue, the Mexican characters' exact reasons for needing a revolution against the oppressive hacienda system. The Mexican characters are very clear about what they hoped for: freedom of movement in their own nation without fear of the wealthy land owners, freedom to choose whom they could love and marry--basic civil liberties. But there is something more. Fuentes makes clear that the human mind has very deep places: if the reader thinks that Americans and Mexican are all surface with no consciousness, read again.

The Old Gringo is also an existentialist novel, intensely philosophic, an argument for a profoundly nuanced politics: "And the frontier in here?" the North American woman had asked, tapping her forehead. "And the frontier in here?" General Arroyo had responded, touching his heart. "There's one frontier we only dare to cross at night," the old gringo said. "The frontier of our differences with others, of our battles with ourselves."

If we read enough about Mexico and American relations, perhaps we can find healing for the wound, for the scar that is the border. Read. Enjoy. Be intrigued.

Abbas' photos of the everyday scenes of Mexican reality strike an emotional chord within the viewer. It is as if a creative magic compelled and inspired the photographer to capture and convey the life and energy within the mundane, juxtaposing powerful images of the contradictions of Mexican society. While the photos are arranged by themes associated with death, they overwhelmingly breathe and speak of life. Introduction by Carlos Fuentes.

...Terra Nostra" is divided into three sections, translated in English as "The Old World" "The New World" and "The Next World." The first part is set in pre-Colombian Europe and describes the degenerate king of a dying Spanish Empire and his court. This section is loaded with as much intrigue and back stabbing as "I Claudius".

The second section, "The New World", is my favorite and can be read on its own. It has some of the most beautiful prose I have ever encountered. In it, the author describes the pilgrim's journey to the New World and his meetings with its people. The narrative has an immediacy that makes one feel that one has just stumbled upon a new world, with all of its dangers and mysteries.

In the last section, the pilgrim tells his story to the Spanish King, and the rest, as they say, is history.

If you like the magical realism genre so popular among South American novelists, you will love this book. If you are looking for plausible historical fiction, look elsewhere.

TERRA NOSTRA stands as Carlos Fuentes' most incredible achievement -- and as one of the great books of the 20th Century. The depths and heights of Man's history swirl around the reader as a controlled maelstrom -- grab a handle and hang on for dear life. In this masterpiece, Fuentes attempts nothing less than to transfer the last 500 years or so of the New World -- including its origins in the Old -- into words. Alternately achingly real and mind-bendingly surreal, the story unfolds almost as a jigsaw puzzle falling into place before the reader's eyes.

As cliched as it might sound, this is truly a work that MUST be experienced by any reader who recognizes the awesome power of language in the hands of a master craftsman -- there is nothing else like it in Western literature.

I love the story but have never been able to finish the book. I listened to this on a road trip to California and found it very enjoyable. They did cut a major section, but I guess that is what you contend with in an abridged version.

Don Quixote well deserves its place in the pantheon of world classics. For me, it's the ultimate desert island book. It is simply an indescribable jewel, full of fun, hilarity, adventure, beauty, wisdom, social commentary, tragedy, and entertainment. And I believe that J.M. Cohen's translation is the best there is. He obviously had a love for the material and left us a beautifully rendered work. The encomium in his Times obituary was on the mark when it said that he was "the translator of foreign prose classics for our times."

But this audio version of Don Quixote wasn't enjoyable.

The Basics: This is a three hour abridgment of Don Quixote read by actor and stage performer Michael York. Don Quixote is the Spanish classic written by Miguel de Cervantes. It's the story if a disenchanted nobleman who takes on the persona of a Knight in a quest to find love and glory. The real work is much deeper than the popularized versions of this story, which is unfortunate. This is read well byt he talented Miachael York, but isn't nearly as entertaining as it could have been. It just seems to fall flat. Running time 3 hours.

The translation is perfect except, as the translator has noted, on the poems found through out the book. The book itself is just plain beautiful, the author, Cervantes, is a master of prose and creativity, not to mention he has a great sense of humor. In my opinion, he is not too far off from Shakespeare. A+

Don Quixote by Cervantes is often called the first modern novel and many rate it as one of the best novels ever written in any language. That itself stirs enough interest and curiosity for a reader like me, and trust me, reading the novel is a highly rewarding and entertaining experience. The plot and sub-plots are primarily guided by Don Quixote's obsession with knight-errantly, forming acts to chivalry and participating in adventures in a manner he read in such books. Sancho serves as his squire and complements and supplements his master in every possible way. Quixote is kind at heart, his every act is inspired by a good intention, a dreamer trapped in a body that prompts him to be called the "knight of rueful countenance", a loyal lover whose never set eye on her who he so praises and desires in a chaste way! Yet he is so full of imaginary tales and characters that he lives in a make-believe world, where he mistakes windmills for monsters, herds of sheep for armies, and so on, attacks them, defends them, and Cerventes manages to weave a saga of such events in a form that identifies with allegory, fable, epic and comic drama at the same time.

Panza, on the other hand, is a fatso, ever hungry for food, wine and money, full of practical sensibility as well as easily misguided simplicity, and is as entertaining a case study as his master. To complete the cast, are two unlikely prime characters: Rocinante, who is a horse as old and shrivelled as his master and Dapple, Sancho's donkey who Sancho considers more dear to himself than anything in the world.

The novel starts at a slow pace, and with the mention of alll sorts of established names of knight-errantry that must have been vogue in those times, Cerventes builds the stage for the rise of our hero. Since I have never read any of the described references, the first fifty or so pages seemed quite obstruse to me. Like for every classic, I knew I had to read on atleast 200 pages for characters to establish themselves. Thereafter, the various escapades and misadventures described in the two books follow like eagerly waited episodes. Again this is a novel that must be read piecemeal.

Besides the humor, knight-errantry, a quixotic master and a pragmatic but simple squire, Cervantes masterfully creates a plethora of characters and situations where he writes about love, war, God, Moors, government, wife, and every conceivable thing related to man as a social being. In some ways, the book is an elegant discourse on how things are and how they could be. Even the humor laden with satire is a subtle taunt at the way good people eat humble pie when their dreamt adventures are deemed ordinary by plotting evil enchanters.

The book is full of proverbs that Sancho throws into his every sentence, so many of these are hilarious and yet all carry the wisdom of that age saved in one epic saga. Similarly, there must have been a considerable play of words, as Sancho misuses and mispronounces many words, and the translator Smollett tries hard to capture some of these.

Don Quixote, in effect, has the appeal and humor to last the humankind forever, and we bow to thee O Cerventes! for creating such a cornucopia of wisdom and instruction for us humble readers .

Aura is a strange work by Carlos Fuentes that incorporates realism and magic, brujeria (witchcraft) and religion, and linear and cyclical time. Good book to read if you know a fair amount of Spanish.
The descriptive setting cannot get much better; Fuentes keeps the reader guessing from chapter to chapter. Although it was written by a Mexican author, this novella can be appreciated and understood by a global audience.

AURA by Carlos Fuentes, translated by Lysander Kemp, is a short read that I found wonderful and highly recommend. My Spanish is only mediocre so I was only able to take small advantage of the parallel text format. The plot has been reviewed by others, my only comment on the lists of comparisons, is to add Henry James' TURN OF THE SCREW that I kept thinking of while reading AURA. To those interested in gothic romance, I believe this novella represents the epitome.

The English translation in this bilingual edition is very well done. Reading the Spanish at first was a bit laborious, but with the help of the side-by-side translation, I soon became quite engrossed in the story and the imagery. If you are looking for a book that helps you learn sentence structure and Spanish syntax, this isn't particularly helpful as Fuentes departs from normal patterns and waxes poetic to the point of being a bit bizarre. However, I became so interested in the story that I switched to reading the English first and then went to the Spanish to fill out the imeragery.

A friend recommended I read this book after I heard Carlos Fuentes read from his work at an event.

Fuentes is a high-profile, politically involved writer, but this novella has no overt political content, although Fuentes would say all writing is political. It is an elegantly written, if slight, story of a young scholar engaged to write a memoir of sorts. The characters are interesting--I cared about them and what would happen to them even as events become more and more eerie and supernatural.

The strength of this edition is that you can read the Spanish version alongside the English translation--and even quibble with the translation if you are given to that.

Overall, a quick and enjoyable introduction to Fuentes' work.

This review refers to the Bilingual Edition of "Aura" by Carlos Fuentes..

This was my first read of Carlos Fuentes, and I was very impressed. I am already adding others by Fuentes into my cart. "Aura" is a novella that will keep you involved from the first page to the last. The story, told as if you the reader are the main character,pulls you right into the emotions he is feeling, from the joy of a new job, to the love and lust towards a beautiful woman, to the fear of the unknown. As others have said, the style is akin to Poe. The words flow beautifully, the story is chilling.

Sr. Montero finds an ad for a chance at the job of a lifetime. The pay will keep him comfortable fo quite a while, and that at first is a big draw. He will be organizing and rewriting the journals and memoirs of a distinguished gentlemen for his very old widow. It must be done before she dies. The old woman is an fragile figure, over 100 years old. She insists he stay at the very dark and gloomy home during his employment.

Aura is the beautiful niece of the Senora, and Montero is immediately under her spell. He begins to notice strange and eerie events going on around him, but his love for Aura, overshadows it all. The Sra. and Aura hold a powerful and mystical secret, and getting to it is an engrossing read.One that may give you a nice little twist at the end.


An excellent translation of this mysterious story from Spanish to English by Lysander Kemp. The book is a fast read with Spanish on the left page and English on the right side. It's one that left me thinking about it for quite a while after the read. It will keep you good company and make the time pass on a plane trip or waiting room. Also nice for those learning Spanish or English, to have this bilingual edition to use.

A eerily lovely way to spend a couple of hours.
Enjoy....Laurie

This book is simply beautiful. I especially love that it's a full color reproduction and then an English translation follows. If you are Frida devotee, I suggest getting this book.

for those who love the work of frida kahlo this book has lots to look at im very pleased that i found it

Frida Kahlo's diary has amplified my admiration for her. Her beautifully disturbing drawings and poetic words in this book are more than what I had expected. Though her handwriting is hard to read at times, the translations in the back are a big help. I shall cherish this book for a long time.

When I find out there was a book of all of Frida's actual writings and drawings from her diary, I was amazed! And this book totally fit all my expectations. It includes everything from her infamous red leather bound journal that she sought refuge in until the final moments of her life. You can actually see the ink from the next page leaking through the page before it, so you feel like your reading the actual thing. Its in big, bold, deep colors just how Frida liked it, and it translates and explains everything in english in a detailed and sufficient way. Definitely a MUST for all fans of the AWESOME Frida Kahlo =)

Enrique Torres' review is 100% accurate, so I just want to add a few additional comments.

The reproduction of the diary pages is nothing short of amazing - apparently scanned with a high quality scanner, or perhaps photographed digitally or with film and then digitized. The colors of both the writing and the images appear exceptionally accurate - Frida used many different colored pencils in her diary. Even penciled notations look like pencil, ballpoint ink looks like ink, and all pages are printed on high-quality semi-gloss paper.

The second half, which contains the English translations, also contains small black & white reproductions of each page translated and of each image described/explicated. Makes it easy to return to the first half and look at the original full-color page.

CAVEAT & RECOMMENDATION: The book I have is the 2005 hardback ed. published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. I have not seen nor can I speak of any other published editions. I would buy this edition - the price is more than reasonable and the quality top-notch.

This is literally one of the worst books I have ever read, and I am a bibliophile. I can only equate this book to getting your teeth scraped at the dentist's office for hours on end. The only reason I finished reading this book is because it is required reading for one of my classes.

The only people that I suggest this reading to are those who:
1. enjoy the overuse of ellipsises.
2. enjoy an author who rather than use words that denote intelligence, devotes three pages to nothing but the use of the word "f@&!" and it's derivatives.
3. enjoy tangents that will leave you grasping frantically for a sense of meaning and finding none.
4. enjoy words and tenses that do not match up (i.e. "yesterday you will", etc)
5. enjoy the ever changing narrative perspective (I to you to he to I to you, etc.), but the narrator is the same person in every perspective.
6. enjoy with the changing narrative perspectives many
jumps in time that are not chronological (neither backwards nor forwards).
7. enjoy reading about absolutely meaningless sex that does not enhance or help the story line.
8. enjoy a gross indifference to rape, adultery, political corruption, greed, murder, etc.
9. are a politician and want tips on how to write your biography.


If that floats your boat, I would recommend this book. If not, I would find something else to satiate your literary appetite.

The book was beautifully written, the plot was interesting, and the character development went above and beyond most books.

So why is there such controversy over this book? Well it is easy to say, this is not your cruise vacation book to read while laying by the beach. The first chapter will have you kicking and screaming for anything tangible to grab onto. The only person in this book you have to guide you is Artemio Cruz, who is sharing with you his memories. However, he isn't always the most stable guide. Half the book he is on his deathbed rambling, switching tenses and narratives.

So that is the first warning. However if you are willing to invest some time, you can find an entire new meaning to life within this book. If you can't invest the time, go out and rent Citizen Kane, you'll get the gist in about two hours, rather then the month minimum you'll need to get this book. Even after rereading it, the book leaves dozens of pieces in the book isolated and unconnected. (In fact we never how Artemio gets from being 13 to 23, and if you read the book you'll know why this is important and frustrating).

So what does this book have to offer besides several headaches and why in the world did I give it five stars? Well I could throw a lot of pretty adjectives out at you, but I won't. I will tell it to you simply. This book makes you think. And not in the painful way. If you fight this book, you will never get it. If you embrace it, even in it's most challenging passages, you will be opened to a whole new world of ideas. Ideas about memory, desire, life, death, and our place within society are embedded in this story.

Bottom line: This story is like an excavation site waiting to be dug up, hidden with endless treasures. If you are willing to put in the time, you won't be disappointed. If that sounds like too much work, move right along then.

Artemio Cruz owns a vast empire in Mexico, encompassing newspapers, land, construction and more. He has a beautiful wife and daughter, both of whom he cannot stand, nor they him. His aide, Padilla, a man he trusts with his empire, and one he has grown to love as the son he lost so many years ago. He is so important, so respected, so necessary to the Mexican country that the President tries to impress him, rather than the other way around. But Artemio Cruz is dying, painfully and slowly, and it is while dying that he has a chance to evaluate his life, to take a good look at himself and what he has achieved.

Cruz is a complicated man. As a youth, he fought in the various, chaotic revolutions and counter-revolutions that periodically caused Mexico to cease functioning as a nation, becoming little more than a series of loosely connected fiefdoms. Using his intelligence and daring, he was able to secure a command in the fight against Pancho Villa, but more importantly, he also knew when to leave the life of a soldier for a more solid existence. As a young man, he met Regina, the woman he was to love until his dying day.

As an older man, he is respected and influential, but also cold and distant. Gone are the passionate, poorly thought-out heroics of his early adulthood. He no longer loves like it doesn't matter, or cares much for the reality of another person. At his annual New Year's party, Cruz retires early to a comfortable leather chair positioned so he can watch everyone else have fun. The unspoken rules of the party forbids guests to talk to him at all, other than to pay their respects. His wife lives in another city, and a prostitute shares his bed this night, as she has every other night for the past eight years.

The three technique Fuentes uses in painting Cruz's life are quite interesting. In the present of the novel, when Cruz is dying, the narration is first person, disjointed, and very, very personal. No physical details are omitted, no matter how disgusting. Thoughts are fragmented, jumping from place to place, from time to time. The first few instances of this are difficult to follow, because we do not yet know Cruz's life, but as the novel progresses, the chaotic mental ramblings of the present become clearer, if not for Cruz but for us.

The second stylistic method used are the second person sections. These are generally short, but are the harshest and most self-critical. It is as though Cruz has stepped back from himself, created a 'you' for him to pour forth his bile, resentment, anger and also satisfaction about himself and his own life. These sections are just as personal as the first-person chapters, but in an emotional sense. He probes at the reasons he did this, or why he would think that. These sections are almost entirely devoid of other characters, it is simply Cruz with himself, condemning and praising, remembering and trying to forget.

The third - and most plentiful - type of chapters are in third person, dated, and taken from various times throughout his life. It is here we learn of Regina, here we learn why the phrase, 'We crossed the river on horseback' is so important, why his wife hates him, and more. In these sections, we are almost never shown his thoughts, nor those of anybody else. They are very detached, expositionary scenes, helping to explain the intimate thoughts and ramblings of the second- and first-person chapters.

Towards the end of the narrative, as Artemio Cruz approaches his death, the 'you' and the 'I' narratives start to merge, fuzzing and growing indistinct. He rails against himself, then defends his decisions over the years, then praises himself for the love he has, even now, for Regina. The sections - interspersing the 'you' and 'I' and even 'he' of Cruz within the space of four sentences - could be confusing if done earlier, but because we are familiar with his life and thoughts, they make sense. There are pages long sequences of broken thoughts, flitting between time and place without warning or explanation, and surprisingly, these are effective and do not come across at all as a gimmick. Rather, it is the character of Cruz - presented elsewhere as so strong and stable when old, so mercurial and romantic when young - breaking apart, unable to accept his death, unwilling to leave his life, even if it will mean re-uniting with Regina.

In the end, what we have is a character study. The setting - early 20th century Mexico - is rich and colourful, although at times, it does fade into the background as Artemio Cruz's character takes over. This is by no means a negative, as Cruz is a wonderful diverse man. He has weaknesses and strengths, and the novel spends as much time of his flaws as it does on his achievements. It is a credit to Fuentes that the vibrancy of Mexico shines through in what is, primarily, a journey through the mind of a proud man, a lonely man, a dying man: Artemio Cruz.

The book truly is a beautiful piece of literature. As with any book of its stature, one must force themself to look past the plot-- an attempt to do so will end in frustration and ambivalence. The book examines the complex life of a corrupt Mexican elite during the time of revolution. However, it does not attempt to create sympathy for Artemio but rather casts a great critique on the overall mechanisms of judgement. The book is very honest, and Fuentes does not hesitate to confuse the reader.

The reader below who says the book made him realize his taste is better than that of his professors is obviously trapped in adolescent frustration and ignoring the intent of the novel. Do not read this for plot. Although at times the action is exciting and suspenseful, any attempt to read for plot will result in confusion and frustration. The book is not easy to read. Ultimately, however, the experience proves to be more than worthwhile.

If you love literature then let me suggest that you purchase the "out-of-print" translation from one of the third party sellers. I read this book in a class and half the class read the older translation, the other half the new one. We voted hands down for the older translation. The new translation is good, but it simplifies a lot of the text and is mising the flair and use of complex figurative language of the older version.