Reviews

San jednog Kelta by Mario Vargas Llosa

niha42's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sarahbringhurstfamilia's review against another edition

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4.0

I read the first 50 pages of this book in the original Spanish, but then switched over to the English translation because #1 I'm too lazy to spend that much time with the dictionary and #2 it was just too weird to picture this Irish guy speaking Spanish.

I really liked the intermittent flashback format, because it gave the book (and the main character's life) coherence. Whatever the later controversies of his life, Roger Casement has my respect and admiration for his tireless and self-sacrificing quest to rid the world of injustice. Over a couple of decades, he courageously persevered in exposing the Rubber Barons' horrific abuses of native peoples in the Congo and Peru, despite death threats, severe illness, and extreme emotional strain.

The last third of the book, which deals with the struggle for Irish independence, is not as readable. Casement's claim that colonialism in Ireland was essentially the same as in the Congo is not really credible. Still, I have a soft spot for Irish revolutionaries, and I am so glad that he can rest in peace now knowing that his country is free.

The work is subtitled "A Novel," but it reads much more like a biography. I wish that Llosa had included something at the end to assist the reader in separating fact from fiction. I'd like to know how much the Roger Casement I grew to care about is like the real one.

Although the "Black Diaries" are admittedly an important part of the plot (and I think it's sick and tragic how the British government made use of them), I didn't really appreciate reading so much out of them. Llosa's claim that they were authored by Casement but largely fantasies rather than descriptions of real exploits seemed a little weird, but I'm not really qualified to judge its merits.

Advisory: For those who, like me, are prudish to some degree, be aware that there is some sexual content (i.e. the contents of said "black diaries") in this book.

humito's review against another edition

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challenging informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

cami1107's review against another edition

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4.0

Buenos datos historicos y frases de reflexión

lilirub's review against another edition

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informative

3.0

tesschair's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

mnieto's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

stef369's review against another edition

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4.0

Gelezen in de Nederlandse vertaling: "De droom van een Ier"
Roger Casement.
Wie had er ooit over deze man horen vertellen? Staat hij in de geschiedenisboeken? Hebben we over hem geleerd op school?
Vargas Llosa kiest deze ene persoon uit en schildert hem met veel liefde en sympathie af als de eerste grote voorvechter voor mensenrechten in de Europese samenleving. Een man die dingen zag - afschuwelijke dingen: mishandelde slaven in Congo en in het Amazonewoud. Hij zag die dingen en hij walgde ervan. Het maakte hem letterlijk ziek. Hij voelde dat hij iets moest doen voor die mensen - in die tijd, toen Afrikaanse inwoners quasi als beesten werden beschouwd, niet zo een evidente keuze... Hij opent de ogen van Westerse kolonisten voor het onrecht dat zij rechtstreeks en onrechtstreeks aanrichten... met succes. Er wordt naar hem geluisterd. Met veel vallen en opstaan bereikt Casement zijn doel. Hij heeft een groot deel bijgedragen tot de algemene aanvaarding van de mensenrechten...
Tot... hij een "verkeerde" keuze maakt. Na het zien van al dat onrecht in Congo en Peru, "transponeert" hij dat onrecht naar de Ierse bevolking. Ook de Ieren werden onderdrukt door de Engelse bevolking, weliswaar op minder barbaarse wijze, maar wel op een heel subtiele manier. Roger wordt - een beetje tegen zijn natuur in - een fervente aanhanger van het nationalisme. Middenin in W.O. I besluit hij de Duitsers om hulp te vragen voor een gezamenlijke actie tegen de Engelsen. Fout dus... Hij wordt opgepakt, veroordeeld wegens hoogverraad, en opgehangen in een lugubere gevangenis.
Het meeleven van Vargas Llosa met deze man is immens. Zo mooi dat hij deze figuur terug in ere herstelt met deze roman. Het hele boek lang zit Casement in de cel, wachtend op zijn executie. Intussen lezen we zijn hele verhaal. Echt hartverscheurend, dramatisch. Het citaat in het begin van het boek is heel treffend...
Het einde - de executie zelf - wordt met weinig woorden en sober beschreven, en toch... wat een impact! Ik heb er een hele nacht niet van geslapen...
Een meesterlijke roman!

amslersf's review against another edition

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3.0

I was so thrilled to find that Llosa had written a book about one of my heros, Roger Casement. Casement was an Irish revolutionary who also became one of the leaders in the first wave of international human rights work out of Europe. He documented colonial atrocities in the Congo and in the Amazon. Although he had a privileged upbringing in the North of Ireland, it was from the people of the Congo and the Amazon that Casement learned the both the physical costs of the colonial economy but also of the process of dehumanization. He would then return to England and Ireland and fight colonialism closer to home.

Llosa does a brilliant job imagining a particular aspet of the the life of Casement; how Casement's personal journal including no small amount of gay sex, becomes his undoing. I had first heard of Casement while in Ireland, although historians had embarrassingly kept him in the closet till late in the twentieth century. However it wasn't until reading Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost that I discovered his internationalism. Gay or not, his radical international solidarity should have put him in the mainstream of political thinking when I was visiting Belfast in the 1990s. There, republicans clearly saw their desire for independence from England as connected to international struggles for liberation in Palestine, Africa and the Americas.

Llosa's tale is a bit long winded. The Irish in Ireland have had to find peace with martyrs, but in America, I can't help looking for a more optimistic end. I'm a bit happier when I can see the arc, though long, bending towards justice. I'll be keeping my eyes open for a biography.

jasonfurman's review against another edition

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4.0

My third historical novel in a row. And it was not nearly as good as Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies or Laurent Binet's HHhH (not to mention Vargas Llosa's absolutely brilliant The Feast of the Goat or epic The War at the End of the World). Although it was still worth reading.

Bring Up the Bodies is deeply immersed in its history, but tells its story as a novel, largely dialogue between the characters, that makes their psychologies and motivations come alive--all while wearing its history lightly with little exposition or digressions into history. HHhH is an experimental novel that tries to faithfully recount its history, reluctantly follows novelistic conventions for short spurts (and quite well), but then retreats into the narrator's voice to apologize for fabricating anything.

In contrast, the majority of The Dream of the Celt reads more like a history book or biography than a novel. Those parts have little dialogue, few invented characters, and very extended descriptions of Roger Casement's trips to investigate and report on the epic atrocities in King Leopold's Congo and the Putumayo region of Peruvian Amazonia. These parts are almost always interesting (and horrifying), rarely tedious, but are not infused with anything of the special possibilities that is afforded by the novel of going deeper into a character's head, shifting perspectives, showing through stories, a plot, developing multiple characters, or just about anything else.

These historical chapters alternate with somewhat shorter chapters that depict Casement's final days before his execution for treason in Pentonville prison. These are more novelistic, with dialogue, somewhat more interesting characters (e.g., the prison's sheriff), and lots of flashbacks to Casement's role in what eventually became the Easter Uprising. These are perfectly fine, fast reading, but do not come anywhere close to The Feast of the Goat.

Altogether much of the interest of the book comes from learning about Roger Casement (who was largely new to me), more about the Congo and Putumayo, and the Easter Uprising and how that period in Ireland's struggle for independence intersected with the First World War. All interestingly told. And this is reason enough to read the novel.