deepakchecks's review against another edition
4.0
The poet Pablo Neruda is sick and enlists the Cuban Cayetano Brule to track a woman who might have mothered his kid. The investigation has to be discreet and the poet feels that given Cayetano's background, he is the appropriate person for this task. The backdrop is the political tensions in Chile, with the extreme left complaining that Salvador Allende is not revolutionary enough, while the extreme right building a fascist army to overthrow the democratically elected government, all this happening as Chile is reeling under economic sanctions.
Cayetano travels to Mexico, Cuba, East Germany, Bolivia and back to Chile in his quest for the mysterious woman who has lived in all these places under different names. The pecularities of each place is explored.
"I advise you to keep drinking coca tea while you're here", Lazcano suggested, nursing his beer. "Altitude sickness is no laughing matter. It takes many tourists over to the other side. They arrive in La Paz hppy, then eat, drink, and fornicate too much. The altitude gets the best of them, and they leave La Paz lying horizontal in the belly of a plane."
It was strange. Cubans loved their island, but from a distance, while Chileans suffered in their own country and refused to leave it or change for anything in the world.
If in Mexico all men sported mustaches, in Chile all the revolutionaries grew beards, while the enemies of the Allende's government had well-shaven beards and hair slicked back with gel.
The Germans lived by their watches, Cubans didn't need them and Chileans, though they wore them, didn't seem to believe in them very much.
In just a few moments he would share Margaretchen's bed. The thought dampened his desire, as he belonged to the Latin American school of love, which preferred amorous encounters with tentative beginnings and gradual consummation, wrapped in romanticism, and always initiated by the man. The female emancipation, born of true socialism, made him uncomfortable and inhibited.
Cayetano, who has done no detective work himself, is told to read George Simenon novels by the poet and get inspired by the methods of Inspector Maigret. He encounters difficulties specific to Latin America and finds his own in resolving them.
The crux of the problem was that the North's logic simply didn't apply in Latin America. Nor would Miss Marple, Marlowe or Sam Spade find any success. Detectives are like wines, Cayetano thought, like wine, rum, tequila or beer, children of their own land and climate, and anyone who forgot this would inevitably fail. Could anyone imagine Philip Marlowe in front of the cathedral in Havana? The two O' clock sun would burn his skin, and he'd be stripped of his hat and raincoat without realizing it. Or Miss Marple, walking with slow, distinguished pace of an elderly lady, through downtown Lima? She'd get drunk off the first ceviche she tried, and sinister cabdrivers would stray from their route to the airport to a hovel where delinquents crouched in wait. They wouldn't find her well-crafted dentures. And how about the affected Hercule Poirot crossing Cardonal Market in Valparaiso with his tight rump and white-gloved hand? They'd steal his walking stick, his pocket watch with its gold chain, and even his bowler hat. People would mock them to their face, stray dogs would chase them with their fangs bared, and street kids would throw rocks at them without mercy. He now began to suspect that Simenon's novels, while pleasant and entertaining, could not make him a detective in the world south of the Rio Grande. The poet was wrong. A Maigret was incapable of taming the bursting, capacious reality of Latin America.
Whether he ultimately solves this mission is what the rest of the story is about. A good blend of fact, fiction and biography and a pleasant read.
Quotes:
* 'Women, you know, are like Christopher Columbus; they want your history to begin with their arrival'
* The young are nourished by hopes, the old by certainties
Learnings:
Guanacos - South American mammal, a camelid
Pablo Neruda - real name - Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto
Amaranath - a reddish-rose color
Punto cera - a military base in Cuba, where guerilla training is given.
Cayetano travels to Mexico, Cuba, East Germany, Bolivia and back to Chile in his quest for the mysterious woman who has lived in all these places under different names. The pecularities of each place is explored.
"I advise you to keep drinking coca tea while you're here", Lazcano suggested, nursing his beer. "Altitude sickness is no laughing matter. It takes many tourists over to the other side. They arrive in La Paz hppy, then eat, drink, and fornicate too much. The altitude gets the best of them, and they leave La Paz lying horizontal in the belly of a plane."
It was strange. Cubans loved their island, but from a distance, while Chileans suffered in their own country and refused to leave it or change for anything in the world.
If in Mexico all men sported mustaches, in Chile all the revolutionaries grew beards, while the enemies of the Allende's government had well-shaven beards and hair slicked back with gel.
The Germans lived by their watches, Cubans didn't need them and Chileans, though they wore them, didn't seem to believe in them very much.
In just a few moments he would share Margaretchen's bed. The thought dampened his desire, as he belonged to the Latin American school of love, which preferred amorous encounters with tentative beginnings and gradual consummation, wrapped in romanticism, and always initiated by the man. The female emancipation, born of true socialism, made him uncomfortable and inhibited.
Cayetano, who has done no detective work himself, is told to read George Simenon novels by the poet and get inspired by the methods of Inspector Maigret. He encounters difficulties specific to Latin America and finds his own in resolving them.
The crux of the problem was that the North's logic simply didn't apply in Latin America. Nor would Miss Marple, Marlowe or Sam Spade find any success. Detectives are like wines, Cayetano thought, like wine, rum, tequila or beer, children of their own land and climate, and anyone who forgot this would inevitably fail. Could anyone imagine Philip Marlowe in front of the cathedral in Havana? The two O' clock sun would burn his skin, and he'd be stripped of his hat and raincoat without realizing it. Or Miss Marple, walking with slow, distinguished pace of an elderly lady, through downtown Lima? She'd get drunk off the first ceviche she tried, and sinister cabdrivers would stray from their route to the airport to a hovel where delinquents crouched in wait. They wouldn't find her well-crafted dentures. And how about the affected Hercule Poirot crossing Cardonal Market in Valparaiso with his tight rump and white-gloved hand? They'd steal his walking stick, his pocket watch with its gold chain, and even his bowler hat. People would mock them to their face, stray dogs would chase them with their fangs bared, and street kids would throw rocks at them without mercy. He now began to suspect that Simenon's novels, while pleasant and entertaining, could not make him a detective in the world south of the Rio Grande. The poet was wrong. A Maigret was incapable of taming the bursting, capacious reality of Latin America.
Whether he ultimately solves this mission is what the rest of the story is about. A good blend of fact, fiction and biography and a pleasant read.
Quotes:
* 'Women, you know, are like Christopher Columbus; they want your history to begin with their arrival'
* The young are nourished by hopes, the old by certainties
Learnings:
Guanacos - South American mammal, a camelid
Pablo Neruda - real name - Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto
Amaranath - a reddish-rose color
Punto cera - a military base in Cuba, where guerilla training is given.
thebooktrail88's review
4.0
Literary tourism? See the locations of the book here - link: Booktrail of Neruda case
A mystery set against the backdrop of the Chilean 1973 coup which paints an interesting portrait of the poet Pablo Neruda
Story in a nutshell
Cayetano Brulé, is Cuban but lives in Valparaiso, Chile. At a dinner party one evening he comes across the poet Pablo Neruda who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, just two years previously. As they talk, Neruda provides him with a challenge – to find a man he has not seen for many many years.
He hands him a pile of Simenon’s Maigret detective novels and tells him that these will help give him all the detective skills he needs. The only important thing is that he finds this man – Neruda is dying of cancer and this is his final wish.
Cayetano finds that this mission takes him away from Chile, to Mexico, Cuba, East Germany, and Bolivia, where he meets a wide range of people and situations. On the trail for one man – Dr. Angel Bracamonte, a researcher on the medicinal properties of native plants, but Neruda does not want to find Bracamonte for his medical skills. There are more personal reasons at stake.
Valparaiso Chile – the home of Pablo Neruda and a key location for watching events of Chilean history unfold. From the days following the opening of the Panama Canal to the coup of Salvador Allende, this novel is a tale of one poet, Chile’s most well known and his search for secrets, during his final days in his beloved homeland.
The backdrop of the history and landscape of Chile run parallel to the story and form a large and informed picture of a country in turmoil.
In the 1970s, Cayetano, his wife, and Neruda watch the consequences of the political landscape play out right in front of their eyes –
The attempted coup came live and direct over the radio, like in the American movies, turning the country into a passive spectator
The media buzz and the fear and excitement of the people show a country on the edge where tension is the order of the day. This is a country going through some troubling times.
With each section of the book named after one of Neruda’s women, each takes the story further and explains a side to the man not seen in the western world. Pablo Neruda has three houses, the most famous of which is La Sebastiana and his poetry dots the literary landscape here giving a unique view of the man sitting in the armchair he names La Nube. A man who loves women as much as words and whose life was filled with both grandeur and meanness.
The trail from Chile to Mexico, Cuba, East Germany, and Bolivia, is one of danger , Chilean history and expat frustration. Revolution is coming and Chile is a country which will feel the full force of this drastic change. With such a thrilling backdrop, the story of Neruda and his mystery search shows a side to Chile never seen before and a poet and his life which takes centre stage.
Bookish musings
If you are interested in the poet Neruda and want to learn a little about Chilean history, this is a fine way to do it. A slow plot in parts and one which develops over the whole book but what this leaves you with is a full and immersive impression of Chile, its history, and its people.
I knew a little of Neruda having studied him for A level Spanish and then again at university but never had I seen him like this before. Some of it fictional yes, but this still gives an interesting view of him in his own surroundings.
To me this took centre stage and the story took a back seat but this didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the book. A potted cultural, poetic and political study of Chile for despite the many locations, Chile takes centre stage, but when the history is this fascinating, this is no bad thing.
A very interesting and immersive read
A mystery set against the backdrop of the Chilean 1973 coup which paints an interesting portrait of the poet Pablo Neruda
Story in a nutshell
Cayetano Brulé, is Cuban but lives in Valparaiso, Chile. At a dinner party one evening he comes across the poet Pablo Neruda who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, just two years previously. As they talk, Neruda provides him with a challenge – to find a man he has not seen for many many years.
He hands him a pile of Simenon’s Maigret detective novels and tells him that these will help give him all the detective skills he needs. The only important thing is that he finds this man – Neruda is dying of cancer and this is his final wish.
Cayetano finds that this mission takes him away from Chile, to Mexico, Cuba, East Germany, and Bolivia, where he meets a wide range of people and situations. On the trail for one man – Dr. Angel Bracamonte, a researcher on the medicinal properties of native plants, but Neruda does not want to find Bracamonte for his medical skills. There are more personal reasons at stake.
Valparaiso Chile – the home of Pablo Neruda and a key location for watching events of Chilean history unfold. From the days following the opening of the Panama Canal to the coup of Salvador Allende, this novel is a tale of one poet, Chile’s most well known and his search for secrets, during his final days in his beloved homeland.
The backdrop of the history and landscape of Chile run parallel to the story and form a large and informed picture of a country in turmoil.
In the 1970s, Cayetano, his wife, and Neruda watch the consequences of the political landscape play out right in front of their eyes –
The attempted coup came live and direct over the radio, like in the American movies, turning the country into a passive spectator
The media buzz and the fear and excitement of the people show a country on the edge where tension is the order of the day. This is a country going through some troubling times.
With each section of the book named after one of Neruda’s women, each takes the story further and explains a side to the man not seen in the western world. Pablo Neruda has three houses, the most famous of which is La Sebastiana and his poetry dots the literary landscape here giving a unique view of the man sitting in the armchair he names La Nube. A man who loves women as much as words and whose life was filled with both grandeur and meanness.
The trail from Chile to Mexico, Cuba, East Germany, and Bolivia, is one of danger , Chilean history and expat frustration. Revolution is coming and Chile is a country which will feel the full force of this drastic change. With such a thrilling backdrop, the story of Neruda and his mystery search shows a side to Chile never seen before and a poet and his life which takes centre stage.
Bookish musings
If you are interested in the poet Neruda and want to learn a little about Chilean history, this is a fine way to do it. A slow plot in parts and one which develops over the whole book but what this leaves you with is a full and immersive impression of Chile, its history, and its people.
I knew a little of Neruda having studied him for A level Spanish and then again at university but never had I seen him like this before. Some of it fictional yes, but this still gives an interesting view of him in his own surroundings.
To me this took centre stage and the story took a back seat but this didn’t spoil the enjoyment of the book. A potted cultural, poetic and political study of Chile for despite the many locations, Chile takes centre stage, but when the history is this fascinating, this is no bad thing.
A very interesting and immersive read
bgg616's review against another edition
4.0
A good mystery all the way to the end. Ampuero reflects a truer portrait of Neruda than we often get, as a man of contradictions, who was a womanizer. Ampuero has a good afterward that provides more background. I am definitely going to read more by this writer.
collegecate's review against another edition
2.0
Selected from a list to meet a Read Harder challenge (Central or South American author writing about Central or South America). The Author is from Chili, but now lives in the US in the wake of coup he describes in this book. It's a detective story suffused with historic details. Since I'm less familiar with the history, the description of event didn't hit me very hard.
kfrench1008's review against another edition
4.0
The backdrop (Chile at the time of the 1973 coup) and the setup (young detective hired by Pablo Neruda to find a lost love) are great, but the plot meanders at times. The last 50 pages or so were terrific, though.
lisagfrederick's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this literary thriller for its quick pace, beautiful imagery, vivid characters (not least Neruda) and zigzagging plot. The subplot about the turmoil of 1970s Chile becomes a bit obtuse at times; I needed a history book to connect some of the dots that ultimately led to Pinochet's coup. And I sensed a few plot devices tossed in to wrap things up just a little too conveniently. But overall it's a fun, meaty read.
jodi_b's review against another edition
5.0
I started reading this book aloud to my partner. The way the author set the scene with social and political detail reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. As a listener, my partner found it difficult to get into wanting something to happen. As the reader and a lover of Latin American fiction and Pablo Neruda's poetry, I was hooked and the novel did not disappoint with romance and political intrigue hopping from Chile to Mexico, Cuba, and East Germany.
serenaac's review against another edition
5.0
The Neruda Case by Roberto Ampuero, translated by Carolina de Robertis (author of Perla), is set just before the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile when Castro is in power in Cuba and Germany has been cut in half by the wall. Cuban exile Cayetano Brulé has left Miami with his wife, Maria Paz Angela Undurraga Cox, for her home in Chile, but he continues to feel out of place as no one trusts a Cuban and he cannot find work. Meanwhile, his wife is increasingly engaged in the reform movement in the country, while at the same time she is pulling away from her husband. Wandering in a strange country with bad coffee, Cayetano unwittingly bumps into Pablo Neruda at a party in a library and shortly receives an offer he cannot refuse.
Read full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2013/06/the-neruda-case-by-roberto-ampuero-translated-by-carolina-de-robertis.html
Read full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2013/06/the-neruda-case-by-roberto-ampuero-translated-by-carolina-de-robertis.html
tim_worldofsleuths's review against another edition
3.0
You can read my review at http://world-of-sleuths.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-neruda-case.html.
danperlman's review
5.0
Completely engrossing. Couldn't put it down. Mystery, intrigue, sex, poetry, food and drink... all woven together skillfully.