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Juan Gabriel Vásquez

Autor(a) de The Sound of Things Falling

18+ Works 2,550 Membros 110 Críticas 3 Favorited

About the Author

Juan Gabriel Vásquez was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1973. He studied law at the University of Rosario and received a doctorate in Latin American literature at the Sorbonne. He is the author of The Informants (Los Informantes), The Secret History of Costaguana (Historia Secreta de Costaguana), mostrar mais and The Sound of Things Falling (El Ruido de las Cosas al Caer), which won International Dublin Literary Award in 2014. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Image credit: From Wikipedia

Obras por Juan Gabriel Vásquez

The Sound of Things Falling (2011) 966 exemplares
The Informers (2008) 457 exemplares
The Shape of the Ruins (2015) 299 exemplares
Reputations (2013) 272 exemplares
The Secret History of Costaguana (2007) 211 exemplares
Lovers on All Saints' Day: Stories (2008) 130 exemplares
Volver la vista atrás (2021) 100 exemplares
Songs for the Flames: Stories (2018) 53 exemplares
El arte de la distorsión (2009) 23 exemplares
VIAJES CON UN MAPA EN BLANCO (2014) 20 exemplares
JOSEPH CONRAD (2004) 8 exemplares
Persona (1997) 1 exemplar
Cuaderno de septiembre (2022) 1 exemplar

Associated Works

The Future Is Not Ours: New Latin American Fiction (2012) — Contribuidor — 26 exemplares
Pakeneva joki (1998) — Introdução — 15 exemplares
Hiroshima: A New Edition with a Final Chapter Written Forty Years after the Explosion (1946) — Tradutor, algumas edições14 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Críticas

Javier Mallarino is a political cartoonist, He looks back on his life and how he became so respected. How his wife helped him. The cost he paid to maintain his position. A young woman forces him to look back on an incident he never discussed and reflect on where he is as well as what does he want for the future.
 
Assinalado
nx74defiant | 12 outras críticas | Dec 6, 2023 |
"Disillusion comes sooner or later, but it always comes, it doesn’t miss an appointment, it never has."




I debated whether I'd give this 3 or 4 stars, but I eventually decided on 4 -- I'll get to that later.

The first chapter was brilliant. I was engaged from the start and was fascinated by the meandering venture through the complicated but ultimately regular life of Antonio Yammara.

As it went on, though, it diverged from this and by the 3rd chapter we were starting to explore the lives of Elaine and Ricardo.
Unfortunately, this is where my regard of the novel began to go downhill.

The decision to tell these stories by having Antonio transcribe information that he is learning was, in my opinion, not a good one. It quickly became boring and uninteresting, like I was reading a Wikipedia article, and i became exhausted by Antonio's "then this then that happened" narration.

I also found myself indifferent of his relationship with Maya. It felt unnecessary and random and every time they interacted I wanted to close the book and stop reading.


Furthermore, the final chapter, in particular the final few pages, was jarring and unfortunate to read.
I understand the point of the ending, however it wasn't satisfying in any way, and didn't leave me wanting to analyze the message it was depicting, as I'm sure was intended. I just felt regretful that I hadn't stopped reading at the end of the previous chapter to spare myself from the ending.



Ultimately, though, I was obliged to give it 4 stars.
My enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the novel is not an indictment of the quality. Just because I would have preferred it took a different direction (perhaps one that didn't feel so draining to take) doesn't mean that it was objectively bad and I shouldn't impair Vásquez's rating on a subjective opinion.

If you feel that this book is for you, then go ahead.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
lozisimmortal | 51 outras críticas | Nov 26, 2023 |
 
Assinalado
marievictoire | 5 outras críticas | Nov 10, 2023 |
Nachdem Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts der fortschrittsgläubige Journalist Miguel Altamirano zwischen die Fronten der kolumbischen Parteien gerät, muss er die Hauptstadt Bogota verlassen und lässt sich in Panama nieder, wo er sich in den Dienst von Lesseps Kanalgesellschaft stellt und die Idee des interozeanischen Kanals preist. Sein nicht-ehelicher Sohn José Altamirano folgt ihm nach, versucht jedoch- im Gegensatz zu seinem Vater - sich von den politischen Strömungen der Zeit fernzuhalten. Doch die Geschichte des Landes bestimmt auch sein Schicksal und so trägt er letztlich entscheidend zur Abspaltung Panamas bei.

Vásquez Werk besteht aus der in der Ich-Perspektive verfassten Lebensgeschichte (und -beichte) des José Altamirano, welche eng verbunden ist mit der Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Kolumbien und deren panamaischen Provinz. Vásquez schildert die Wirren der kolumbianischen Politik, das Werden des panamaischen Staats, die nordamerikanische Intervention und vor allem die Wendungen bei Planung und Bau des Panamakanals von den ersten Ideen und den im Panamaskandal gegipfelten untauglichen Versuchen Ferdinand de Lesseps bishin zum heute existenten Meisterwerk der Ingenieurskunst zwischen Atlantik und Pazifik. Diese Wendungen verknüpft er meisterhaft mit dem Leben des Hauptprotagonisten und macht diesen sohin zu einem beredten Zeugen einer spannenden Epoche voller politischer, sozialer und wissenschaftlichen Umwälzungen.

Für Leser mit Interesse an lateinamerikanischer Geschichte, historischer Ingenieurskunst und Technik ist Vásquez Roman sohin ein Muss. Doch der Autor bietet zudem noch einen Kniff, der aus seiner Geschichte mehr als nur einen historischen Roman macht: Er lässt seiner Fabulierkunst insofern freien Lauf, als er José Altamiranos Lebensbeichte mit Joseph Conrads Abenteuerroman "Nostromo", welcher im fiktiven Costaguana spielt, verknüpft. Altamirano bezichtigt den berühmten polnisch-britischen Autor, seine Geschichte auf unlauterem Weg abgekupfert zu haben, was dazu führt, dass Vásquez Bericht von der geheimen Geschichte Costaguanas auch zu einer- stellenweise sehr humorvollen - Abrechnung mit Conrad wird, was dem Roman zusätzlichen Verve verleiht.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
schmechi | 7 outras críticas | Sep 13, 2023 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
18
Also by
4
Membros
2,550
Popularidade
#10,070
Avaliação
½ 3.7
Críticas
110
ISBN
206
Línguas
12
Marcado como favorito
3

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