A review by shelfimprovement
The Gods of Tango by Caro De Robertis
3.0
A gender-bending tale set in early 20th century Argentina, it's a little weird to think that this book isn't really breaking all that much ground. It's visiting themes have been around at least since Shakespeare. But this one promised something new: the flavor or tango as an up-and-coming sensation.
I enjoyed Perla, the only other book I've read by Carolina De Robertis. That one also took place in Argentina, focusing on the Disappeared of the late 20th century. I had every intention of one day reading her first novel, Invisible Mountain, but was surprised to find this one sitting in the New Releases section at the library. I picked it up without a second thought.
Our protagonist, Leda, emigrates from Italy to Argentina to be with her husband, a political exile who took off a year prior. She sets sail after their by-proxy wedding, armed with a few articles of clothing and a violin, only to discover upon arrival that Dante has been killed. Going back to Italy isn't much of an option -- Leda's broke and sees nothing but dead ends for her back home anyway. There aren't a lot of ways to make money as a woman in Argentina and she's going to need a place to live, so she decides to pass as a man. In the meantime, Leda also discovers a passion for tango music -- at the time heavily associated with the lower classes and considered perhaps unfeminine -- and uses her violin and new male identity to pursue that passion.
The Gods of Tango is frequently described around here as "lush," and that's certainly a fair assessment; it's full of evocative descriptions of exotic locales at a very specific point in time. Unfortunately, though, I had a hard time getting into it. The first 100+ pages of the novel are more or less outlined in the jacket copy, which killed all the suspense and caused it to move very sloooowly. By the time the plot started picking up, I was already sort of checked out. As I said, the language is lush and certainly has a strong sense of place. But that sense of place sometimes overshadows the character development and the movement of the plot in a way that I didn't find engaging. I think this book would be great for readers who are looking for that kind of descriptive writing, but I don't think it was really for me.
I enjoyed Perla, the only other book I've read by Carolina De Robertis. That one also took place in Argentina, focusing on the Disappeared of the late 20th century. I had every intention of one day reading her first novel, Invisible Mountain, but was surprised to find this one sitting in the New Releases section at the library. I picked it up without a second thought.
Our protagonist, Leda, emigrates from Italy to Argentina to be with her husband, a political exile who took off a year prior. She sets sail after their by-proxy wedding, armed with a few articles of clothing and a violin, only to discover upon arrival that Dante has been killed. Going back to Italy isn't much of an option -- Leda's broke and sees nothing but dead ends for her back home anyway. There aren't a lot of ways to make money as a woman in Argentina and she's going to need a place to live, so she decides to pass as a man. In the meantime, Leda also discovers a passion for tango music -- at the time heavily associated with the lower classes and considered perhaps unfeminine -- and uses her violin and new male identity to pursue that passion.
The Gods of Tango is frequently described around here as "lush," and that's certainly a fair assessment; it's full of evocative descriptions of exotic locales at a very specific point in time. Unfortunately, though, I had a hard time getting into it. The first 100+ pages of the novel are more or less outlined in the jacket copy, which killed all the suspense and caused it to move very sloooowly. By the time the plot started picking up, I was already sort of checked out. As I said, the language is lush and certainly has a strong sense of place. But that sense of place sometimes overshadows the character development and the movement of the plot in a way that I didn't find engaging. I think this book would be great for readers who are looking for that kind of descriptive writing, but I don't think it was really for me.