Country 11. Venezuela.
Blurb: Rómulo Gallegos is best known for being Venezuela’s first democratically elected president. But in his native land he is equally famous as a writer responsible for one of Venezuela’s literary treasures, the novel Doña Barbara. Published in 1929 and all but forgotten by Anglophone readers, Doña Barbara is one of the first examples of magical realism, laying the groundwork for later authors such as Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.
Following the epic struggle between two cousins for an estate in Venezuela, Doña Barbara is an examination of the conflict between town and country, violence and intellect, male and female. Doña Barbara is a beautiful and mysterious woman-rumored to be a witch-with a ferocious power over men. When her cousin Santos Luzardo returns to the plains in order to reclaim his land and cattle, he reluctantly faces off against Doña Barbara, and their battle becomes simultaneously one of violence and seduction. All of the action is set against the stunning backdrop of the Venezuelan prairie, described in loving detail. Gallegos’s plains are filled with dangerous ranchers, intrepid cowboys, and damsels in distress, all broadly and vividly drawn. A masterful novel with an important role in the inception of magical realism, Doña Barbara is a suspenseful tale that blends fantasy, adventure, and romance.
MY REVIEW
The novel by the venezuelan writer Romulo Gallegos describes life in the plains of venezuela, in the arauca region, huge expanses of land, very few towns or people, lots of cattle and anarchy.
Originally published in 1929 this book is divided into 3 parts, each of which has short chapters which I enjoy, but there were a lot of very long sentences.
The first part is an introduction of the characters, it is very confusing as I wasn’t always able to tell the secondary characters apart. as I moved onto the second part it was much more interesting.
The second part had some wonderful descriptions of the rodeos and the vaquerias, also of the plains. But unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy this book. The parts I didn’t like were that it was just like a mexican soap opera, very dramatic indeed. The main character in the book is Dona Barbara, but Santos Luzardo also has a huge part. I didn’t like any of the main characters. The author describes the anarchy of the land, the law of the land and life on the land.
The third part was slightly better, with murder, but still most of the same, soap opera drama.
The ending was rather abrupt, and I found that it was probably the only ending as it was very soap opera style and soap opera style can be never ending. I am not sure I would recommend this book to anyone.
The idea of the story is great, but it could be so much better if you take away all the soap opera drama but then there probably wouldn’t be much left.
I give this book 2 stars. Good news is that I finished the book!!!!
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Originally published at http://readinginecuador.wordpress.com on January 2, 2021.
