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A review by nicholeb84
Rosario Tijeras: Una Novela by Jorge Franco
4.0
I first noticed Rosario Tijeras on Netflix. It was March, 2018. Netflix had uploaded the 2016 Mexican telenovela, Rosario Tijeras. This telenovela is a remake of the 2010 Columbian telenovela, which is itself based on the novel, Rosario Tijeras. (Side note: there is also a 2005 Columbian film based on the novel.) Anyway, I watched the first few episodes of the Mexican telenovela and thought: "I've been meaning to get into Latin American literature. This may be a good place to start."
The story takes place in Medellin during the 1980s/1990s. We follow the narrator Antonio, as he recounts his friendship with (and unrequited? love for the mysterious and deadly Rosario Tijeras. Rosario has been shot, and as Antonio waits for news, he tells the reader about Rosario - all from what he witness or from what she told him. Because, while she dated his best friend Emilio, and her brother's friend, and countless others - she always had real conversations with Antonio.
The story is short and intense. It clocks in at about 172 pages and took all of one hour and something-minutes to read. But, it felt like I went through a whole seven years. I think it would have been even better untranslated.
And that is really my one major complaint about this novel - the translation. The novel had several spelling and grammar errors. And, some sentences were translated in a very stiff way. A lot of: "She walked over to the table." and "I always come back, my friend." Favor and characterization is almost always lost in translations, but I feel like they were really lost here.
Overall, it is a great novel. I'd also recommend the telenovelas that are based on it. Anyone have any more modern Latin America or South American novels they'd like to recommend?
The story takes place in Medellin during the 1980s/1990s. We follow the narrator Antonio, as he recounts his friendship with (and unrequited? love for the mysterious and deadly Rosario Tijeras. Rosario has been shot, and as Antonio waits for news, he tells the reader about Rosario - all from what he witness or from what she told him. Because, while she dated his best friend Emilio, and her brother's friend, and countless others - she always had real conversations with Antonio.
The story is short and intense. It clocks in at about 172 pages and took all of one hour and something-minutes to read. But, it felt like I went through a whole seven years. I think it would have been even better untranslated.
And that is really my one major complaint about this novel - the translation. The novel had several spelling and grammar errors. And, some sentences were translated in a very stiff way. A lot of: "She walked over to the table." and "I always come back, my friend." Favor and characterization is almost always lost in translations, but I feel like they were really lost here.
Overall, it is a great novel. I'd also recommend the telenovelas that are based on it. Anyone have any more modern Latin America or South American novels they'd like to recommend?