hobfox's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
graciosareis's review against another edition
5.0
Cinco estrelas. Complexo mas genial.
Primeiro estranha-se, depois entranha-se. Este foi o meu sentimento ao ler este romance. Escrita truncada, diálogos entrelaçados, histórias cruzadas, múltiplas personagens, uso indiscriminado dos discursos direto, indireto e indireto livre que confundem completamente o leitor. Porém, à medida que se avança na narrativa, vamos compreendendo as personagens e o enredo e vamos ficando, cada vez mais, conquistados pela mestria do autor.
A conversa que acontece no café Catedral marca o reencontro de Santiago (Zavalita) e Ambrósio e serve de fio condutor ao longo de toda a narrativa. Ficamos assim a conhecer a vida destas personagens e dos seus familiares, amigos, colegas de trabalho, entre muitas outras, bem como um pouco da história do Peru dos anos cinquenta, época de divisão política, de corrupção e de repressão.
Primeiro estranha-se, depois entranha-se. Este foi o meu sentimento ao ler este romance. Escrita truncada, diálogos entrelaçados, histórias cruzadas, múltiplas personagens, uso indiscriminado dos discursos direto, indireto e indireto livre que confundem completamente o leitor. Porém, à medida que se avança na narrativa, vamos compreendendo as personagens e o enredo e vamos ficando, cada vez mais, conquistados pela mestria do autor.
A conversa que acontece no café Catedral marca o reencontro de Santiago (Zavalita) e Ambrósio e serve de fio condutor ao longo de toda a narrativa. Ficamos assim a conhecer a vida destas personagens e dos seus familiares, amigos, colegas de trabalho, entre muitas outras, bem como um pouco da história do Peru dos anos cinquenta, época de divisão política, de corrupção e de repressão.
gianlucafiore's review against another edition
5.0
I am tempted to create a bookshelf only for books like Conversacion en la Catedral named 'masterpieces'. So much better than most of the books I read.
Perhaps I will write a proper review later. Or not. Books like this I feel that I have 'ittle to nothing to say that hasn't already been expressed about them.
Perhaps I will write a proper review later. Or not. Books like this I feel that I have 'ittle to nothing to say that hasn't already been expressed about them.
mango246's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
carmelawahlen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
blueyorkie's review against another edition
5.0
This masterpiece by Vargas Llosa, with its rhythmic and polyphonic writing, weaves a silk fabric with tangled literary threads: the scripts like the characters multiply, the linearity of the story dislocated, everything duplicates, is rejected and intersects in a cathedral which is not one, but a lounge where Zavalita, the hero, talks with the former driver of his father, met by chance, sweeping ten years of their life as of the social and political history of Peru in the era of dictatorship.
Vargas Llosa piled up temporal breaks and perspectives by disrupting dialogues, thoughts and identities: these discursive changes paint a puzzle of characters whose approaches multiply, like the Cubists. This brilliantly carried out process makes it possible to unmask souls, situations, and relationships. Innocence, complicity, repression, mediocrity, corruption, manipulation, and good conscience collide, and deceptive appearances withdraw in a constant quest for oneself and the world, with a masterful description of Peru by the inexcusable General Manuel Odría.
Vargas Llosa piled up temporal breaks and perspectives by disrupting dialogues, thoughts and identities: these discursive changes paint a puzzle of characters whose approaches multiply, like the Cubists. This brilliantly carried out process makes it possible to unmask souls, situations, and relationships. Innocence, complicity, repression, mediocrity, corruption, manipulation, and good conscience collide, and deceptive appearances withdraw in a constant quest for oneself and the world, with a masterful description of Peru by the inexcusable General Manuel Odría.
jfl's review against another edition
5.0
I first heard about Conversacion en la catedral in 1969 when it was published by Sex Barril. I was living in Spain at the time and it was one of the books most talked about at the annual Spanish book fair. By 1969 Franco’s dictatorship was in its final stages (Franco died in 1975) and, although restricted freedoms and censorship still overlaid the country, there were signs of greater openness to a more progressive democracy. One sign of that openness was a wave of books whose themes gnawed away at the roots of the Falangist State.
Vargas’ novel emerged the reader in the so-called Ocenio---the 11 years in Peru of the dictatorship of Manual Odria, from 1950 to 1960. Vargas exposed the pernicious impact of that dictatorship on socio-political life in Peru. But the Spanish public—particularly the youth in the academic community—devoured the novel as a commentary on Spain, as a commentary on the perniciousness of Franco’s brand of oppression.
In spite of the buzz around the book during the Feria, I only picked up the flyer that the publisher was distributing. I was working on another project and, while I was planning to travel to Peru the following year, reading Vargas’ novel was low priority. It remained unread by me for 30 years, although it was one of the Latin American novels that haunted me whenever I ran across Vargas’ name. When I finally did read it—40 years after Franco’s death and well into Spain’s democratic years—I was as impressed as much with its structural creativity as with its condemnation of political authoritarianism.
The novel unfolds as a long session of remembrances between two men in a Lima dive bar named La Catedral: Santiago Zavala (30 years old) and Ambrosio Pardo (well-past 40). It is a chronological and geographical intertwining or, as one critic wrote, “braiding” of stories recounted by the two men of their lives and relationships during that 11-year period, revealing in the telling the corruption and tensions between and among the country’s varied social and political classes. The structure contributes significantly to the tension and immediacy which Vargas fosters in the work.
Vargas’ novel emerged the reader in the so-called Ocenio---the 11 years in Peru of the dictatorship of Manual Odria, from 1950 to 1960. Vargas exposed the pernicious impact of that dictatorship on socio-political life in Peru. But the Spanish public—particularly the youth in the academic community—devoured the novel as a commentary on Spain, as a commentary on the perniciousness of Franco’s brand of oppression.
In spite of the buzz around the book during the Feria, I only picked up the flyer that the publisher was distributing. I was working on another project and, while I was planning to travel to Peru the following year, reading Vargas’ novel was low priority. It remained unread by me for 30 years, although it was one of the Latin American novels that haunted me whenever I ran across Vargas’ name. When I finally did read it—40 years after Franco’s death and well into Spain’s democratic years—I was as impressed as much with its structural creativity as with its condemnation of political authoritarianism.
The novel unfolds as a long session of remembrances between two men in a Lima dive bar named La Catedral: Santiago Zavala (30 years old) and Ambrosio Pardo (well-past 40). It is a chronological and geographical intertwining or, as one critic wrote, “braiding” of stories recounted by the two men of their lives and relationships during that 11-year period, revealing in the telling the corruption and tensions between and among the country’s varied social and political classes. The structure contributes significantly to the tension and immediacy which Vargas fosters in the work.
leonardo_munoz's review against another edition
5.0
Almas desgastadas por la dictadura, una enfermedad que corroe y ennegrece las espinas de los sujetos que ven en ella una manera de subsistir. Un libro con multitud de finales porque cada personaje cuenta, finales que son más bien los procesos a los que llegaron a su muerte o a su deterioro mental, a los que también sólo les queda morir: personajes con una sicología muy bien acabada. No participar es la cura, y Zavalita bien lo sabía.
schwarzer_elch's review against another edition
4.0
A pesar de mis diferencias con el autor, me animé a leer “Conversación en La Catedral” porque es un título que todos los peruanos y peruanas debemos leer, por lo menos, alguna vez. El protagonista de la historia se pregunta a sí mismo en qué momento se jodió el Perú y esa interrogante se ha colocado como una inmensa e impenetrable sombra sobre nuestro país y las sociedades que lo conforman.
He de admitir que la historia me pareció innecesariamente larga, pero también es cierto que sus páginas conforman una deliciosa cartografía de la sociedad peruana y muchas de sus taras, sus prejuicios y sus sesgos.
MVLL es un excelente escritor, lo he dicho una y otra vez, y leerlo siempre resulta satisfactorio. Es una lástima que como persona sea tan contradictorio, por decir lo menos.
He de admitir que la historia me pareció innecesariamente larga, pero también es cierto que sus páginas conforman una deliciosa cartografía de la sociedad peruana y muchas de sus taras, sus prejuicios y sus sesgos.
MVLL es un excelente escritor, lo he dicho una y otra vez, y leerlo siempre resulta satisfactorio. Es una lástima que como persona sea tan contradictorio, por decir lo menos.