Talking characters, I believe that all the characters make sense. I do like La Inca as many of you, but maybe my favorite is Lola, for her strength and consistency, as well as Yunior, for his sincere way of talking.
Many of you have said that you don't like the long footnotes, but I believe they are essential to the story, it's a practical way to incorporate the history with the very personal touch of Mr.Diaz or Yunior, who is the leading character, the one that tells the story. I have learnt a lot of things about the Dominican Republic that I had never even thought about, because, yeah, apart from the fact that Trujillo was one of the tiranos of the XXth century, not much else was in my personal wikipedia.
And I did enjoy also the spanglish, even though at times, not being dominican, I didn't know the exact meaning of certain words, but you get it from the context.
The nerdy stuff, well, I didn't get all the references, but it's fun and coherent with the character.
I think the book is really fresh, direct, originally written, hard to put down and at the same time, you get to learn things. No easy task. Bien hecho Sr.Díaz!!!
So that Yunior is the narrator?
ReplyDeleteOh, no, Rocío! There you go one thing that you did spoil us! ;-)
I totally agree that at this point it is hard to put the book down. Still, I have managed - tough more because of time issues than lack of interes on keep reading. I look forward to finding out where the story and the characters go...
So far, I am also liking the footnotes.
But Macarena you know that Yunior is the narrator from the very beginning!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, gee! I guess I should start over the book to make sure I have not missed any other key thing!!
ReplyDeleteIt is just one more story in the long and complicated family history of Los Cabral, but I have been left very uneasy with the part about Abelard… What is the matter with him? Is he selfish? naive? a coward? too passive and apathetic? I really don't get it…
ReplyDeleteAny opinions?
Hahaha I have to agree with Macarena that I didn't realize that Yunior was the narrator until quite late in the book. And I was surprised when I noticed. I had the same impression, that I had missed something on the way!
ReplyDeleteI was one who complained about the long footnotes, but I have to agree that they help understanding the historical context. They just sometimes disturb the natural course of the story.
I was puzzled too by Abelard... he seems such an intelligent and sensible man and I think he handles the situation the worst way possible! I have to say that I don't have an answer to your question, Macarena. I don't know what his problem is! I kept thinking: Pero está tonto?
I enjoyed the Spanglish... it is original, fresh and fun! To me, it gives the story realism.
In the name of Carmen A.
ReplyDeleteHello all,
I am in Chapter 6, I know realise that all the historical events written in the story and footnotes give me a scary picture of DR during Trujillo dictatorship. How Abelard try to protect his family and he gets almost crazy guessing what will happen to his daughters. I don’t understand his passivity, he could have sent her daughters to Cuba, why he preferred to wait till the last moment? What happened with all the family was not only “bad luck”. It is really hard for me to read how was treated in jail and the different tortures…
Besides this, I was really upset to read the story of his third daughter (Beli Cabral), how she survived with the help of Zola and how she was sold to other families working as a criada and finally found by la Inca. This part was the best for me to read, lots of feelings and I see again that the Inca is still my favorite character in the book. Nevertheless the story of Oscar is completely the opposite; he is most of the time tormented and depressed and for the moment he does not have the chance to find the right company (women). I am already impatience to finish the book…