Monday, December 28, 2009

Blades Game Seriel Number

HÉLÈNE BERR: KAWAKAMI HIROMI

"When I write" Jewish "does not translate my thoughts, because to me there is no such distinction: I do not feel different from others, nunca llegaré a considerarme parte de un grupo humano segregado, quizá por esto sufro tanto, porque ya no comprendo. Sufro al ver la maldad humana. Sufro al ver cómo el mal se abate sobre la humanidad: pero como siento que no formo parte de ningún grupo racial religioso, humano (porque siempre implica orgullo), sólo me sostienen mis luchas y mis reacciones, mi conciencia personal."

En este hermoso párrafo se contiene la esencia principal del Diario de Hélène Berr, un libro tan real como la vida misma, y por ello emotivo y cargado de un significado que pocas obras pueden alcanzar. Junto al famoso Diario de Ana Frank, constituye uno de los most revealing documents on the persecution of Jews during the dark years of Nazism, in this case in the German-occupied Paris.

Hélène wrote this diary in April 1942 and March 1944. Belonging to a Jewish family, she and her siblings were all born in Paris, and his father had even fought in the service of France during the First World War. This is important to understand why Helen, as she herself admits, does not perceive as their own Jewish identity. She feels a girl again, a European or French like so many, but the suffering of other Jews will feel closer to this group I would have liked at first.

Hélène is a brilliant student at the Sorbonne when Paris is occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War. Music lover and avid reader, she Hélène will darken the city that much light and happiness he has brought so far with the presence of the Germans and the publication of the first measures against the Jews. His world of classes, lectures and meetings with friends, concerts and tours of environments such as the Luxembourg Gardens, begins to crumble in an expedited manner, although she tries to maintain normalcy in his life as far as possible. To this helps Jean Morawiecki the presence of a young student which falls in love with Hélène and will be the final recipient of the Journal .

One of the first laws passed against the Jews is the obligation to wear the famous yellow star sewn into clothing. Hélène takes from the beginning, because he thinks it is a sign of courage, solidarity with those who carry it, but not because you feel too identified with it. In this regard we are told, in the entry for June 8, 1942: "It's the first day I feel really on vacation. Makes a sunny day, very fresh after yesterday's storm also (...) is the first day that I will wear the yellow star. Are the two aspects of modern life: the freshness, beauty, youth of life, embodied by this morning clear, barbarism and evil, represented by the yellow star. "

But the first blow which will shaken the foundations of his optimism is his father's arrest and deportation to the Drancy camp in June 1942. Although it will be released later, this is the beginning of the nightmare for Berr. Hélène be involved then more than ever in helping others, working with other young people in a solidarity organization dedicated to locating and protecting Jewish children whose parents have been deported. Gradually the pages of the newspaper was overshadowed. Hélène still trying to live within the nomal, but the departure of her beloved Jean, who left Paris to fight in Africa with the Free French forces and the growing fear of deportation, they fill their testimony of reflections on mankind of the young reaches a height worthy of praise. On the other hand, it is surprising that the literary quality off these pages. Some paragraphs are really touching and, above all, contain an astounding capacity for analysis in a girl her age:

"I have a duty to write, because we need to let others know. Each hour of the day is repeated the painful experience is to realize that others do not, do not even imagine the suffering of other men and the evil that some inflict on others. And I'm trying to tell this painful effort. Because it is a duty, is perhaps the only one who can meet (...) For how to heal mankind, but first to reveal all their corruption, how to purify the world, but making him understand the magnitude of the evil he commits? "

"I have a fear of not being here when Jean returns (...) But it is not fear, because I have no fear of that could possibly happen, I would accept it, because I have accepted many hard things and I have a character who rebels against a penalty. But I fear that my beautiful dream can not be completed, done. No fear for me, but for how great it would have been ".
Finally
Hélène fears are confirmed. In March 1944 he was arrested and deported with their parents, first to Drancy and then Auschwitz. Three die shortly before the end of the war. Hélène was then 23 years. Through these pages, their testimony and their feelings still survive, leaving only a guess of the suffering that accompanied so many people during those fateful years. His Journal is certainly a lesson in humanity from which all can and should learn.


Thursday, December 17, 2009

How Often Can I Take My Benzonatate

Journal: The sky is blue, white ground

Whenever I think in Japan, a country I love to meet someday, I imagine people are very busy, working long hours and with unusual efficiency. In contrast, the novels written by Japanese authors are just the opposite. Transmit peace and serenity that I have not yet found in any other literature. Represent a relaxation exercise, a kind of inner journey towards self-discovery, and create an environment where the rush and stress have no place.

me is what has happened again with this book, which has been praised by critics and the public (which is unusual), and is the first novel translated into Castilian of Kawakami. This writer is very popular in his country, and indeed has received several awards throughout his more or less brief literary career. His name is added because so many others, Banana Yoshimoto, Yukio Mishima, and famous and Haruki Murakami, among a long list of them, we are becoming better known thanks to the warm welcome popular literature in Japan is getting our country for a while.

As usual in these novels, the narrative flows in a quick and easy. The language is clear, no frills. The passages remind us of normal events everyday life of people. And again the stars are incomplete beings, people who do not find their site or their happiness in the society around them. Loneliness is your home, and that is why we are attracted to those who are like them, souls that survive each day without really knowing how. So are our two protagonists, Professor Matsumoto and his former student Tsukiko. that after years without ever being found by chance in a pub and start talking. From there is a succession of meetings, some by chance and others planned, in which both they get to know while enjoying pleasant moments of conversation between sake and tasty meals.

The book reads like una gran historia de amor, y no en vano es así como aparece en el título. Una historia que nace y se va haciendo fuerte a medida que avanzamos en la lectura, pero condenada en principio al fracaso por la enorme diferencia de edad entre los protagonistas y la tendencia a la soledad y la introspección de ambos, que dificultan aún más ese mutuo entendimiento. Sin embargo, a pesar de estos obstáculos, ese amor no deja de crecer, y el lector tiene el privilegio de vivirlo casi como un "voyeur", viéndolo afirmarse en cada encuentro, en cada suceso cotidiano que acontece a la inusual pareja. Hasta que la propia Tsukiko se da cuenta de ello. Y ya no habrá vuelta atrás. Precisamente es la voz de Tsukiko, convertida en narradora, la que nos lleva de la mano en esta plácida aventura, desde el mismísimo principio:

"Aquella noche bebimos cinco botellas de sake entre los dos. Pagó él. Otro día, volvimos a encontrarnos en la misma taberna y pagué yo. A partir del tercer día, pedíamos cuentas separadas y cada uno pagaba lo suyo. Desde entonces lo hicimos así. Supongo que no perdimos el contacto porque teníamos demasiadas cosas en común. No sólo nos gustaban los mismos aperitivos, sino que también estábamos de acuerdo en la distancia que dos personas deben mantener. Nos separaban unos treinta años, pero con él me sentía más a gusto que con algunos amigos de mi edad."

To make it even more appetizing, editing Cliff is a true gift, he is very careful and adds even more charm to the work. Are you overwhelmed by consumerism and bustle of this time, dive into this story and see how shadow away any stress. And how simplicity can narrate a story of love so complicated. Although after all, is there any love story that is not?


already less than two weeks to due date, but it seems that we will come out Nuria staggering and has now decided to keep warm in the belly of his mom. For if I had time to do it later, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with happiness. I hope that this Christmas so special as it will be for me. Best wishes from this little corner of the blogosphere.


Monday, December 7, 2009

Quotes For Master Of Ceremony

PAOLO GIORDANO: The loneliness of primes

"The prime numbers are evenly divisible only by 1 and themselves. They take their place in the infinite series of natural numbers and are, like all the other, sandwiched between two other numbers, although they more separated. They are lonely numbers, suspects, and so charmed Mattia, who sometimes think contained in this series by mistake, like pearls strung on a necklace, and sometimes they too would want to be like everyone else, ordinary numbers, and for some reason could not (...) Mattia and Alice thought he was that, two lonely and lost twin primes, near to but not together. "

This paragraph explains perfectly the title of a novel that has captivated and thousands of readers, and among whom I include me. Loneliness prime number is one of those love stories impossible that in this case rests on two young people who are broken inside, each for different reasons, and that throughout their lives together again and again to finally again separated. It is as if destiny insist on denying them a future together, and both Mattia and Alice will have to fight this invisible force that seems to condemn them inexorably.

The two main characters are extremely complicated, and that makes them very attractive in the eyes of the reader. Each carries a terrible secret that away from the "normal"-a concept whose existence is questionable, "and makes them strangers before the eyes of others. This is even more true in adolescence, that period where being different is often associated with social isolation that can do much damage at this age. The burden crawl Mattia and Alice were weighed respectively throughout his life, and influence social relationships and their way of facing the future. However, although both will live their lives separately, the force that draws them together plays in key situations in which both feel that fulfillment and happiness that only sit next to the right person at the right time.

The truth is that in this book I liked everything from the characters exude a sadness and loneliness that we can not help but feel over the pages until Giordano style, simple but fluid and beautiful , a prose that reads easily and can be enjoyed from the very beginning. But surely it is this inability to reach fullness, such obstacles to happiness, what attracted me most of the book, because I firmly believe that real life is full of similar examples, not only in love but in all the aspects that make our existence, friendship, work, family. .. And the vast majority of the time is not destiny, but our own psyche, our prejudices and mental burdens, which prevent us from achieving what you truly want. This is what happens in the book. Mattia and Alice could actually be normal numbers if they wanted, but it is their personal injury who would become two prime numbers used to not really ever found.

Loneliness of prime numbers is the first novel of this young author, Paolo Giordano, and definitely provides a great debut for the Italian writer. We hope to continue delighting in the future with such touching stories like this. Me and has earned me as a reader.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Can You Make Pepper Spray With Chili Powder

OLD TERESA : The Memory of Water

The memory of water is the first work of fiction of the journalist Teresa Viejo, who surprises us with a tale of intrigue, love and passion set in the twenties and thirties of the century past, but located in a place that actually existed: the seaside resort of La Isabela, in the province of Guadalajara, who disappeared in the mid-twentieth century under the waters of the swamp Buendía. In this framework idílico, aunque no lo fue durante toda su historia, se desarrolla la vida de la familia Montemayor, cuya hija, Amada, se erige en protagonista de esta novela, al menos en gran parte de ella.

El Real Sitio de La Isabela fue creado en 1826 por Fernando VII, y recibió este nombre en honor a su esposa Isabel de Braganza. Muy pronto, gracias a la existencia de fuentes termales, se convirtió en un balneario de moda entre la alta burguesía de la zona, que acudía allí a curarse de multitud de dolencias. Mucho más tarde, durante la Guerra Civil, se convirtió en algo muy distinto, un hospital psiquiátrico, para pasar a dormir bajo las aguas del pantano desde marzo de 1955. Hoy en día, puesto que el nivel water has gone down, you can see the ruins of what had once been one of the fashion centers of the English bourgeoisie, whose fame allowed to develop around a network of homes and buildings associated with the activity Bathing.

was a visit that the author made this place that made this novel was born in his head. It is clear that Teresa has been well documented Viejo when writing about this unusual shelter, although the novel's characters are mostly invented. This is the Montemayor family history, a bourgeois family who bought the resort in the 20's and took him to the zenith of his fame and prestige. But the so-called Curse of the Isabela, as the neighbors knew, would bring ruin and disgrace to those used so much effort in this task (the Montemayor also an invention of the author).

The book is divided into two distinct parts. In fact can be read almost like two different books. The first presents a web of intrigue where two deaths, which break the traditional quiet resort, become the focus of the story. In this first part the presence of Beloved is rather testimonial, it is still a small child. The real protagonists are others: the sheriff investigating the case, Ginés Fuentes, medical spa, Samuel Millares, and the owner of the site, Ernesto Montemayor. A parade around a whole bunch of characters, each more picturesque, some a bit unnecessary in my view, that give life to the spa and they seem to turn its back on the tragic events in it are developed. Once the mystery is a series of misfortunes that Montemayor do decide to get rid of the spa, thus ending its period of prosperity.

The second part takes place mostly during the turbulent thirties, with the historical context the Second Republic and the Civil War. In these pages Amada going to become the undisputed star, as does a trip that was his childhood home to find completely transformed, now used as a psychiatric hospital. However, the trip will be worth it because something happens it will change your life forever.

The novel is read with interest, more in the second part in the first. The result is therefore somewhat uneven, because it seems as if both parties did not have much connection between them. Appear well-drawn characters, and Teresa Viejo pen gives many nuances. I really liked his style, care and worked with great sensitivity. Except for some details without too much believe that the author comes out with a very good start for this first foray into the world of narrative, and from here I can only wish a long and prolific career. It is a masterpiece, but entertaining and leaves a good taste. And above all well written, something that, at least this servant, greatly appreciated when you open the pages of a book. When all is said and done, it is to enjoy (or feel good) with a history and at the same time, how about telling. That is what good literature.

Friday, November 20, 2009

What Do You Like About Emu Stinger Lo

ANGELA BECERRA: She, who had everything fall

So here I am back again. There are still a few weeks before the birth of sin, and as now I have a little longer wanted to share with you some further review before it becomes impossible. You know that if I disappear the overnight without warning, is that Nuria has finally decided to get out and explore what lies beyond her mommy's tummy.

I've been reading the trilogy of Javier Marias of Your Face Tomorrow , but I still have the last volume, so it and comment later. For now I am left with the last novel I read and I've eaten in days, She had everything , a writer who I wanted to peek, Angela Becerra. I found a way to write very beautiful, poetic and sensual, which in this case is placed over the plot of the novel, more conventional maybe. The author demonstrates a sensitivity extraordinary when telling a story that, while mostly predictable, is still enchant the reader with her waste of words conveniently chosen.

The protagonist of the story is she, a woman who has lost everything in a fatal traffic accident in which he was traveling with her husband and daughter. She is the only survivor of the tragedy, and after what happened becomes a shadow of itself, a living dead, unable to pick up the threads of a normal existence. After leaving the hospital where he slowly recovers from his physical injuries, decided to move to a hotel in Florence, a city where she met her husband. They occupy time to learn to restore old books, as if this task will help partially restore life to those who still hover like ghosts. In the evenings, she goes to a bookshop where the owner, a mysterious and cold, the watches in silence while wandering among the shelves.

Before the tragedy into his life, she was a writer. Since the inspiration seems to be gone from your life together with the figures of her husband and her daughter, she decides to invent a character in which to immerse a few hours a day to escape the darkness that surrounds, La Donna di Lacrima, a enigmatic, sensual woman that men get into a luxury penthouse Via Ghibellina, showing their nakedness but always hiding his identity behind a mask. La Donna di Lacrima allow her to become a fictional character who will soon become famous in Florence.

This is the plot on which constructs his novel Angela Becerra. However, as already proposed above, is how the author writing the story itself that captivates us as readers. It's really a delight to be stroked by the words that populate these pages, absorbing the essence of them to imagine the cold winter in Florence, immersed in the rain and the mists that surround her in her Italian adventure The city becomes real in our minds in a very vivid:

"Ten years later, he returned to the city that most idolized and had given him. Firenze, a tear rolling slowly over a landscape of sadness. The eternal cypresses from the mountains with their looks stoic seeing for centuries. The scent of past perennial streets asleep, exhausted art of drunken tourists, the duel to the death of bells on Sundays. Firenze, green shutters and past screaming silence, a song of reflection wet winding waters Arno. And she, more alone than ever, never. "

surrounding characters are as enigmatic as Ella's own Lacrima di Donna. The bookseller and a mysterious hobo philosopher who every time he speaks enlightens our minds with his words are two good examples: "You want to believe that life is one thing, an entire block that begins at birth and ends at death, and is either good or bad, and there are some things to play them good and others that their part wrong, but wrong. Life is made of loose bits of all colors. Things live, things you dream a little what he says the neighbor, a little of what you imagine, a piece of pizza, two cappuccinos, a fall and a song, two raticos sun, one of pain, a plunge into a calm sea, a wave that takes you clueless another plunges you ... "

The backdrop of history are at last after all the great themes of literature of all time: the suffering and love. She will have to dive down deep inside, fight and defeat all the ghosts, before coming to the surface of the abyss in which they live and to breathe freely again. A life lesson we all should learn.

"The only way to live fully is to take what we are, regardless of what others want us to be."

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Difference Between Clear Step And Invisalign



Just a few words to tell you that I take a break for a short week. My pregnancy is going well, and we have less than three months to find a Nuria, pero he empezado a trabajar otra vez y estoy agotada. El poquito tiempo libre que me queda lo necesito para dormir, leer, y terminar de preparar algunas cosillas. Prometo volver con más reseñas cuando pasen unas semanas, si la peque no se adelanta demasiado -cruzaremos los dedos porque no sea así-. Os deseo a todos un feliz otoño-verano (porque las temperaturas no invitan a hablar de otoño a secas aún). Sed felices y no os estreséis demasiado.No tenéis más que seguir el ejemplo del gatito.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Are Jpee Drugs Almee-1 Alprazolam Tablets Real?

Rest ELENA HOME: Tribulations of a hitman

Este es, ante todo, un libro divertido. Una lectura para olvidarnos de los problemas que nos rodean y dejarnos llevar, entre sonrisa y sonrisa, por las Anselmo tribulations de la Rua, a kind of apprentice assassin of necessity, he embarks on an adventure that will change the course of your life and make you a better person. Elena Casero demonstrated with this novel is a skillful writer, capable of creating memorable characters and hilarious situations that dazzle the reader, to devour him one by one the pages of a book that is read with real enjoyment.

"It was August 23. Midday Sunday. I was sitting on the sill of a window of the cloister of the collegiate church of Santa Cecilia. From there he could rule the world, all of the old city, where houses are flattened, which spread out before me like a bunch of raisins. It was a beautiful sight, and yet, very different was what I sensed. I dreaded having to take control of my life after so many years to get carried away by the waves of fate. That view was so wonderful for me the end of the world. "

This is the beginning of the story. In the words Anselmo reveals how his personality will change following his decision to join a band of thugs. Indeed, one of the achievements of the novel, in my view, is the change experienced by the protagonist along with it. How is opening his eyes to a reality of his life, which is not really had looked before. Anselmo passes be a kind of shadow, incapable of decision, to become a person with very clear ideas and autonomy to make their own decisions.

Anselmo comes from a wealthy family come down, and a series of misfortunes he has lost everything he owned and having to go to live in a modest pension. Fearing to be completely ruined, decides to accept the proposition of a partner's pension to join a band of foreign thugs have in common the characteristic of being terminally ill, so you have nothing to lose the case of discovery. The victim of this band, which Anselmo should continue day and night to make sure to confirm their habits of life, is a rich man, owner of the museum of the city that, coincidentally, is located in the mansion where he spent his childhood Anselmo. From here, events are strung Anselmo will make you a better person and lead you to discover the true story of his family. With him, we find other strange characters, such as Doña Celia, the landlady, or Antonio, another tenant to help in their search Anselmo, who happens to be the funniest character-and unlikely-to everyone.

I certainly liked the novel. I was surprised by his naturalness and freshness, direct, unpretentious literary that is appreciated now and then as a breath of fresh air between hot flashes caused by other readings more dense. I think it is well written and, in addition to being easy to read, meet one of the primary purposes of literature: to entertain and amuse the reader. A worthwhile read now that the days are getting gray and the weather starts to cool. Let yourself be surprised by this story, I assure you will not regret.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Delsey Combination Lock

GRAFIK Schami: The dark side of love

"In 1962, a young Muslim was killed before my eyes and all the neighbors because he had violated religious boundaries and was in love with a Christian man. The sad was that the man did not deserve it. He was a gigolo. Then when I was a boy of sixteen who saw the world as an infinite chain of stories, I figured I'd write a novel about all forms of forbidden love in Saudi, and what I wanted with all the naivete of a lover. But my tool as a storyteller was not yet mature enough to make such an idea into a story. Between 1965 and 1967 undertook the first attempts were a dismal failure. "

This is the beginning of the last tile that makes up the huge mosaic created by Rafik Schami in his most ambitious project, a novel whose genesis began in 1965 and completed more than treinta años después, y que tuvo como catalizador el acontecimiento narrado más arriba. El lado oscuro del amor es una novela magna, con mayúsculas, donde el protagonista indiscutible es el amor, pero un amor difícil, que debe esconderse, y que debe luchar con toda su fuerza por sobrevivir, sin llegar a conseguirlo en muchas ocasiones. Es el amor prohibido, como él mismo lo llama, en una cultura donde las diferencias religiosas y de linaje constituyen obstáculos insalvables para que dos personas puedan unir sus destinos por muy enamoradas que estén. En este caso la huida o la renuncia a dicho amor son, con frecuencia, las dos únicas alternativas posibles para estas parejas de enamorados.

En the center of the mosaic we have the love story of Rana and Farid, two youths whose families, and Shahin Mushtak have traditionally been rivals, and therefore strongly oppose to this union. The backdrop of this plot is the Syria of the first half of the twentieth century, where military coups happen and where ideologies like anarchism and communism is spread with great rapidity. In this context, the woman-as is happening in most Muslim countries, is fully subject to man. Marriages are arranged between the parents and girls are forced into a destiny that is alien to them at the wish of their parents, besides being constantly monitored by siblings and relatives who serve as custodians of their virginity. While Rana must face this reality, Farid is discussed in an internal struggle when he realizes that communism, an ideology that embraces with passion in the beginning, not responding to their wishes as he expected. Rana's love will be your lifeline through a series of misfortunes that will leave a deep mark on his being.

The 833 pages that make up this authentic family saga, in which the author outlines the origins of both families and dates back to the beginning of their rivalry, are divided into nine books are subdivided into twenty-eight chapters. In them we find stories that remind us of the magical world of The Thousand and One Nights alongside others, for their crudeness, bring us closer to the reality of the Syria of the time. There are countless characters that parade through this all, whose stories, Schami inserted as secondary tiles surrounding the main scene of the mosaic, make reading a bit stressful at times, but fortunately this feeling soon fades to the strength of the basic plot which is the love of Rana and Farid, fabric that absorbs the reader's attention and prompt him to continue reading one page after another.

In Germany the book has been a tremendous critical and commercial success, having sold over 300,000 copies (keep in mind that author is well known in this country, his home since he went into exile in Syria in 1971). It is, without doubt, a deserved success. At least that is my mind after finishing this work, despite its length, is read with relative ease. It is extraordinary to think that Schami has spent half his life to this project, and so is he who says its genesis and evolution in the last chapter of the novel. This puts the final piece of one of the most amazing mosaics Arabic literature and Europe, has created in recent years. Now it only remains for the audience, readers are guided through this adventure that, in most cases, insurance will not disappoint.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

How To Wear A Claddagh Ring

MARGARET MILLAR: A stranger in my grave

discovered this author through a review in Babelia that left me intrigued, so much so I had to buy the book to see what was behind an argument that began with a woman dreaming of his own grave, which I found disturbing. This is how I came across this novel, which falls within the genre of the thriller or mystery, and belongs to a writer who is not widely known in our country. For those who do not know it, I will say that was the wife of Ross McDonald, a great writer whose reputation has convicted a second to his talented wife, he wrote some thirty books of which only a dozen have been translated into our language, most for more than twenty years.

Hence the recent edition of this title in the pocket RBA editorial is a golden opportunity to approach the work of an author that oozes originality and personality, capable of creating absorbing plots that are difficult to depart, and a great ability to penetrate the psychology of the characters, both male and female. It is certainly the work of a great master of intrigue and suspense that will delight both fans of the genre and those who do not often delve very often around here. Our

protagonist, Daisy (sounds lovely wife-housewife who has never hurt a fly, right?), dreams of a night in a plaque where his name appears along with a date of death occurred four years ago. Obsessed with this picture, is determined to find out if there is something real strange fantasy. In this difficult task, the voice of sanity is imposed by her husband, Jim, and his mother, Daisy trying to make sure your search impossible. But Daisy is determined to reach the final. For this contract including the services of a private detective, Steve Pinata, a character with a strong presence in the novel that will help the youth to solve the mystery. When both discover that the tomb really exist, with the same point with Daisy saw in his dream, but it belongs to someone else, that's when the Pinata is involving itself in body and soul into the investigation to uncover a plot so surprising that none of them could ever imagine.

The story takes place in California in the 50's. Although the characters at first glance seem authentic archetypes, all hidden secrets that make them much more complicated in reality. Apart from those already mentioned are out Daisy's father, Stan, an alcoholic who only appears in the life of his daughter for help when in trouble, and that she loves despite his rudeness. In fact, this character will play a prime role in the resolution of the mystery. Curious is also the character of Juanita, a young attractive but something mindless to that Daisy met years and will return back to his life in an unexpected way.

I like the style of Miller. Simple but very effective. And it is peppered with phrases that hide a lot, such as this which refers to Stan, the father of Daisy:

"It seemed ironic to outline a handful of observations about truth and justice, when, Indeed, his life had been a marathon in which truth always preceded some steps and justicia le seguía a unos cuantos metros. Nunca había alcanzado la primera, y la segunda nunca lo había alcanzado a él."

Merece la pena acercarse a esta escritora. Esperemos que pronto vuelvan a reeditarse algunos de sus títulos, y que podamos disfrutar de nuevo del talento de una mujer que se ha ganado por méritos propios un puesto importante en el mundo de la novela negra.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Brent Everett Brent Corrigan School

Ian McEwan: Chesil Beach

Había leído críticas estupendas de este libro, pero la verdad es que no me hacía falta que me convencieran para leer otra obra del genial Ian McEwan, que tanto me gustó con su maravillosa Expiación . Y como era Predictably, Chesil Beach does not disappoint at all. McEwan's prose, combined with his prodigious ability to create characters and scenarios make this work again in a reading that is enjoyable and it leaves a taste more durable. I must confess that deluded me, I began to read in English (in my defense I will say that I more than half). It is in that language where their beauty is more evident, although to read need to have a level of English rather than high. Descriptions of scenarios, especially the English countryside, and the characters themselves, with a varied vocabulary and rich in nuances, make it very difficult to read in the original language. So consciente de mis limitaciones y de que me estaba perdiendo detalles que ni el diccionario lograba aclararme, decidí optar por la traducción al español, que me ha parecido bastante buena. Todo lo contrario que el libro de María Antonieta reseñado en este blog con anterioridad, cuya traducción deja mucho que desear, con errores gramaticales y de sintaxis bastante graves desde mi punto de vista.

Pero volvamos a Chesil Beach . Los protagonistas de esta historia son Florence y Edward, una pareja de recién casados a principios de los años 60, que se enfrentan a su noche de bodas desde puntos de partida muy distintos. Así mientras Edward se muestra sobre todo preocupado por estar a la altura de lo que se espera him and "comply" and longs to make love to his beautiful wife of a passionate, Florence shown literally terrified of what is to come, it has never been with a man and full of fear and apprehension about the imminent sex. Florence is only the result of sex education altogether avoided, and a vision of sex dirty and full of prejudices that have not prepared at all for his first relationship with a man. Edward loves, but feels real panic to sexual intercourse:

"In moments of optimism was convinced that only suffered a heightened form of apprehension that would end up happening. No doubt think of Edward's testicles, hanging below his penis swollen, another horrible word that it had the effect of the upper lip puckering, and the idea of \u200b\u200banyone touching her "down there", even if a loved one, was so repugnant as , say, an eye surgery in Florence (...) it was suspected that an abnormality deep that she had always been different and that the end was about to be discovered. I thought the problem was bigger, deeper than the mere physical disgust, his whole being revolted against the prospect of entanglement and flesh were about to rape her composure and essential happiness. Plainly did not want the "enter" or "penetrated." Sex with Edward would be the height of pleasure, but it was the price to be paid. "

The novel is structured through flash-backs that gives us to know the past of both actors, how they met, and how was the environment surrounding each. Florence comes from a wealthy family and is a violin virtuoso who, despite being a girl insecure in many ways, is surrounded by an aura of special security every time he touches his beloved instrument. Instead Edward belongs to a class family rather low, and reared with a mother psychologically ill and a number of shortcomings that Florence can not even imagine. Both young came a day by chance in Oxford, fall in love, start dating and eventually married. The climax of the story is the wedding night in a hotel on Chesil Beach, which will be full of difficulties and have unexpected end for both. In this novel

McEwan builds a true and accurate portrait of a youth who has not yet awakened to the sexual revolution of the sixties and suffering in their own flesh the consequences of sex education where subjects were taboo and relations between the sexes were full of prejudice and misunderstanding. It's amazing ability to penetrate the psychology of the two protagonists, which McEwan nude for the reader through their words so that reach as transparent as unhappy in their roles. The author manages to make a wedding night in a scenario where the worst fears take the form of both players, where every small step you take toward that sex becomes imminent momentous and terrible that seems doomed them both to a tragic end. The thoughts of both are revealed in a way so clear that we feel the anguish of Florence and Edward's fears with extraordinary vividness.

Atonement is, in my view, a great novel, by many factors. That is why, whether or not to know McEwan, I recommend you do not fail to read and maravillaros with how to tell this writer. Be enjoyed from beginning to end.

More reviews of works by Ian McEwan: - Atonement

Friday, August 28, 2009

An Old Person Smoking

Antonia Fraser: Marie Antoinette

This is one of those books that I waited for months in my library, but due to extension, are more suitable for summer reading, when you can find more free time to enjoy this service that is so engrossing reading. Occasionally I like to leave the novelistic genre to delve into the life of a historical character, whose adventures in many cases are even more impressive that we can tell a work of fiction. And this is the case of this young queen, who has been vilified, adored and criticized in equal measure, but which history in general, has been a bit unfair. However, Antonia Fraser makes a complex research to conclude that the defects of Marie Antoinette were those of any human being, and instead the strength he showed in many cases actually portray it as a brave woman that he lived one of the most convulsive periods in history. So as reflected in the final paragraph that summarizes the main conclusions reached by this story:

"Compared with the rugged image of a wife evil, manipulative and foreign, the true essence of Marie Antoinette became a mere shadow. After looking without rancor the extraordinary journey that was his life, it follows that their weaknesses, rather than gross, were insignificant compared to their misfortune. Bad luck pursued since France is unable to set foot ambassador of a great power, this woman whom nobody wanted, this girl made a wife, to the end, when became the scapegoat for the failure of the monarchy. Let the Queen have the last word. 'Oh my God, "he wrote in October 1790 - if we blame, and certainly we have atoned."

Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) was the daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria and his stunning wife, Maria Teresa, an empress with a political weight in Europe in the eighteenth century. Maria Teresa was always very clear that their daughters were key parts of the political fabric of the time (in his own words: " are born to obey and learn to do so in due time "), and Marie Antoinette would not be exception. With only fourteen, and an education quite sloppy in some respects, not being one of the older daughters are not devoted much attention as the other princesses, was sent to Paris to get married the future king of France, Louis XVI. The first years of their marriage were quite difficult, the absence or scarcity of relationships between spouses due to reasons still unknown, which made it impossible for the moment to meet one of the major considerations in a sovereign obligations at that time: give an heir to the kingdom. The lack of communication between her and her husband, who fortunately was communication improved over time significantly, made the young focus their attention on having fun and meet people who could ease his enormous loneliness (hence the image of a queen frivolous and spoiled that history has bequeathed us, image, provided by Fraser, must be qualified). Eventually

Marie Antoinette would have a total of four children, of whom two died still small, a fact that changed forever the character of the young queen. Later developments led to the revolution and the outbreak of it, become your life and your family in a series of dark events and uncertainty among which the attempted escape of the royal family, which became the first step to your ultimate downfall. The author masterfully narrates all these events, and it's hard not to feel moved by the suffering that Marie Antoinette experienced in recent years, fearing for the life of her husband, their children, their friends and, of course, by his own. The accusations led to her execution in 1793 were as absurd as the radical path he had taken a revolution that ended filling the streets of France brutally murdered innocent dead.

Antonia Fraser is removing some of the myths traditionally associated with the sovereign. An example is the excessive love of luxury and touched impossible customs which were apparently well established in the court of Versailles before his early arrival from Austria. The author emphasizes the positive aspects of his personality, as their children unconditional love, affection and respect that came to feel for her husband, his zeal por tratar de agradar a su familia austríaca en su papel de defensora de los intereses de Austria en Francia, o la entereza con que afrontó su juicio y su ejecución a muerte a pesar de la injusticia de las acusaciones vertidas contra ella. Por supuesto que la reina tendría sus defectos y sus flaquezas -todos las tenemos al fin y al cabo-, pero esta obra nos arroja un velo de humanidad nuevo que hace a María Antonieta más cercana, y le devuelve algunas de las virtudes que el tiempo y la memoria le han arrebatado.

Por cierto, Sofia Coppola se inspiró en parte en esta obra para realizar su película sobre la vida de María Antonieta, protagonizada por Kirsten Dunst.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

How Much To Fix The Porch

Juan Jose Millas: Clutter in your name

My third foray into Juan Jose Millas this work has been recommended by some of those who visit my blog, and as is happening with this author, has returned to convince me. Although the substantive issues are similar to those that frame his later novels (this was first published in 1988), it would still be an enjoyable read and above all capable of causing unease in the reader. The mix between fiction and reality and the fascination with the theme of identity reappear in this book, whose protagonists are July Orgaz, an executive at a publishing house that falls madly in love with Laura, a married woman with whom remain a passionate affair , and the psychoanalyst the first, Carlos Rodo. These characters are a love triangle with unforeseeable consequences that will eventually greatly altering the lives of the three involved.

Laura is a beautiful young woman, who quit his job to devote himself to caring for her husband and her only daughter, Agnes. Everyday low to the park with its small, and will be there where he meets Julia, who is immediately smitten. Your marriage is no longer satisfied, he feels alone and lost, and the arrival of Julius is a breath of fresh air that gives strength to renew, and also mark the beginning of a sharp turn in his life.

El verdadero protagonista de la novela es, no obstante, Julio. Es un personaje algo antipático conforme se le va conociendo -al menos eso me pareció a mí-. Es un editor que además trata de convertirse en escritor, pero aún no ha publicado nada, y envidia a aquellos más jóvenes que él que ya han sido capaces de demostrar su talento. Es significativo su encuentro con un joven escritor, Orlando Azcárate, que al no mostrarle el respeto que él espera debido a su cargo, hace que Julio llegue a oponerse a la publicación de su obra, aún reconociendo que ésta presenta una gran calidad. La novela que Julio proyecta en su mente tiene el mismo título que la nos ocupa, El desorden your name, thereby further confuse reality and fiction.

desvelaros
I do not want much more of a story in itself, never ceases to amaze on every page. I will say that the plot goes a long way, and really worth misled by the pen and subterfuge Miles. Increasingly find more parallels between the author and Paul Auster, because both are concerned about similar issues. The identity, as mentioned, is one of them, and another could be the small coincidences that just changing the course of our lives. Since then, with respect to the latter, I can not agree more. At the end of the day are those acontecimientos nimios, sin importancia, los que muchas veces pueden hacernos tomar caminos completamente diferentes a los que habíamos planeado en un principio.

Por cierto, es curioso que los protagonistas de esta novela se llamen igual que los de otra de Millás que ya reseñé en este espacio, Laura y Julio . Si alguien conoce el porqué de esta coincidencia (si es que lo hay, y no se trata de otro de los juegos a los que tan dado es este autor), espero que sea tan amable de desvelarlo. Curiosa que es una.

Más reseñas de obras de Juan José Millás:
- El mundo
- Laura y Julio

Monday, August 10, 2009

Career Fair Invitations, School Board

ZARRALUKI PEDRO: All that we love

"Las guerras tienen una cosa buena, sólo una: nos enseñan con crueldad lo que estamos a punto de perder. La vida misma se muestra como lo que es, un tesoro frágil. En la guerra la vida es sagrada. Y sin embargo ahora, en estos tiempos miserables, la protegemos con cicatería, como el dinero cuando lo metemos en el banco. Ya no sabemos lo complicado, lo difícil, lo maravilloso que es sobrevivir. Eso sólo se sabe cuando se ha vivido una guerra o cuando uno se ha hecho tan viejo que vuelve a necesitar arriesgarse. No quiero una guerra, Dios me libre, pero sí emociones."

Con estas palabras summarizes Thomas, one of the protagonists of the story, her son Ricardo, what you feel in a time of life when, tired of the routine and habits, decides to break with everything and disappearing in a small coastal town Catalan. This is the argument leading to Zarraluki, a writer unknown to me but I was convinced by this novel, to spin a story fully human, very beautiful, with characters that are more than real. A book that is read with pleasure.

Tom is a retired architect who one day decides to leave home and go, causing great concern in his ex-wife and his son Richard. This goes to look and fortunately it is in a village not far de Barcelona, donde parece ser que Tomás está a punto de iniciar una nueva vida. Las circunstancias personales de Ricardo, cuya novia le ha abandonado hace poco y con un trabajo del que se siente más que hastiado, influyen en la decisión de quedarse en el pueblo con su padre, al principio para "vigilarlo" y asegurarse de que está bien, aunque más tarde descubrirá otras razones para no volver a lo que quedaba de su antigua vida. Padre e hijo redescubren poco a poco su relación, en un ambiente completamente diferente al ajetreo de la gran ciudad, y rodeados por una serie de personajes que les enseñarán mucho sobre la vida y sobre ellos mismos. A medida que Tomás y Ricardo se reencuentran, el lector va conociendo la vida pasada de ambos, y las circunstancias que les han llevado a ambos a ser como son. Es, en definitiva, una historia sobre la vida misma, sobre la necesidad de reencontrarnos cuando todo parece haberse perdido, sobre la recuperación de la ilusión de vivir, y sobre las lecciones que los demás pueden enseñarnos si aprendemos a escuchar y dejamos de centrarnos en nosotros mismos.

Los personajes que Tomás y Ricardo conocerán en su aventura son igualmente interesantes. Lola es la dueña de la pensión donde ambos se alojan. Una mujer arisca y algo extraña que con el tiempo irá enseñando su verdadera cara y haciéndose mucho más sociable. Marcelo, un hombre fascinado por la literatura, y su esposa Paquita, siempre dispuesta a bromear a pesar de su ceguera. María, a punto de casarse, la taxista "oficial" del pueblo, posee la capacidad de ver cosas donde los demás no son capaces de encontrar nada, el don de " mirar a su alrededor y estar a gusto en ninguna parte ", según el propio Ricardo. Y no podemos olvidar a la bella multimillonaria Bárbara Baldova, empeñada en restaurar una aldea minúscula para crear allí un lugar ideal donde artistas de todo el mundo puedan liberar su vena creativa sin tener que preocuparse por cuestiones económicas. También es un personaje curioso el de la madre de Ricardo, Cristina, empeñada en seguir manejando los hilos de un matrimonio que, aunque roto en el pasado, sigue en actually very much alive, and perhaps the only one that really know Thomas is able to love without reservation, without asking anything in return.

Although the argument may be a little original sin, the truth is that the novel convincing enough, because I think all we ever felt the need to escape, to break with what we have, getting lost in some unknown place to find the answer these questions, for more laps than we give, we are unable to respond. And what better place to get lost and found again that a picturesque village situated between the beach and the mountains, where the stresses and strains remain in the background? Maybe that's what I liked of the novel, which contains a positive message: change is possible at any time in our lives. We just have to start it, dare to take the plunge. And it is not physically escape from our environment, but to leave behind what we do not like and find what we believe will make us happy, find all that we love.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Paramore Hoodie Online

Irene Nemirovsky: French Suite

Némirovski Irène met thanks to this little masterpiece entitled Dance, outlined earlier in this blog. In this book I was dazzled his way to draw the characters, their way of showing the rotten and sick of some relationships, all in a novel breve de poco más de 100 páginas. Pues bien, siendo esta Suite Francesa un proyecto mucho más ambicioso, creo que, a pesar de que se lee con cierto interés, queda por detrás de la obra antes mencionada. El proyecto de la novela comprendía cinco partes, pero la fatalidad hizo que Irène solamente pudiera terminar las dos primeras. En 1942 fue detenida y deportada al campo de concentración de Auschwitz, donde la escritora murió en agosto de ese mismo año. Poco después su marido corría la misma suerte. Fueron pues sus hijas quienes, sesenta años después, sacaron a la luz el manuscrito de esta inacabada obra y la publicaron en Francia en el año 2004.

Como le ocurría to Dance, where the protagonist's relationship with his mother was inspired by the real relationship between Némirovsky and her mother-a relationship difficult and bleak as we know, in this work we find, if not glimpses of life Irene, a portrait of French society of the forties in which she lived. The book begins with a first part, entitled Storm in June, where we follow the adventures of a group of characters who decide to leave Paris before the Nazi occupation imminent, and that will show on that tour its miseries and its virtues, taking the worst and the best of themselves, as often happens in such circumstances. The Péricand are a family of high French society must give up their luxuries and survive in a rural environment saturated with exiles who, like them, fleeing cities were falling into the hands of the Germans. The writer Gabriel Corte and Florence, his partner will be real trouble for some food to the mouth, but court will refuse to give up some privileges that are no longer made sense in the France of that time, appearing to our eyes as a anachronistic characters, anchored to a company temporarily destroyed. Oriental art collector Charles Langelet also portrayed the same way, and demonstrate a complete lack of scruples and principles for ensuring their own survival. Michaud lastly, the only ones who seem to retain their humanity and values \u200b\u200bin these very scrambled, represent the lower-middle class Parisian. For them the most important thing is your own love life as a couple and their son, who struggles against the Nazis in the French army. To them to one of the most beautiful paragraphs of the novel, a dialogue between the two that I leave here the significance of its contents:

"- Maurice ... How strange are things I have gone to be bitter and disillusioned and yet are not unhappy, I mean inside. Am I wrong?
- No.
- But So what comforts you?
- The certainty of my inner freedom, "said Maurice after a moment's reflection," that is precious and unchanging, and to keep it or lose it just depends on me. The passions that led to the end, as now, eventually fade. That what had a beginning have an end. In a word, that disasters happen and they should not go before them, that's all. So the first thing is to live: Primum Vivere. Day. Live, expect, trust. "

The second part is entitled Dolce , and is set in a French village, which also appears in part, located in the German occupation. Némirovsky tells here the difficult relations between rulers and ruled, among which also comes to arise in times of friendship and, of course, love. In this case, the main character is Cecile, a young woman who lives with his mother in a mansion closed and bolted to the outside world. Ce Cecile's husband has fallen, it seems, a prisoner of the Germans. The old woman is totally against the invaders, and also has very little regard to her daughter, while Cecile, either happy or relieved in part by the absence of a husband who does not want and that is cheating on him with another, not so reluctant to approach the new arrivals opportunity that is given by the forced presence of a German officer who will live a while in the house with the two women.

is curious that in this book the author does not give us a negative view of Germans. The one that goes wrong is rather stop the war, that is to blame for the separation of parents and children and entire families. She is responsible for much suffering. The Germans stationed in France appear as soldiers who have been forced to perform a task, but they are portrayed with human dyes and almost on par with the French themselves. In fact, it insists that most were friendly and wanted to please those whose lands they had occupied in the night morning. This portrait is so close and friendly by Némirovsky surprising in part to the reader, especially if we know the dramatic end to the writer. Of course, if it intended that the work was published and not knowing how long they remain on French soil invaders, it follows that no criticism in his work to the newcomers. But it appears that Némirovsky had suspicions of his own tragic end was imminent, according to measures against Jews were being taken in France itself, and that she suffered at seeing his works ceased to be published. I'm as interested in a Irène reflect what actually was, and able to separate in their valuation at the leaders who ordered all this slaughter and those who, in most cases, had no choice but to comply if they wanted to preserve his life. Some soldiers were so prisoners as the French themselves.

I have enjoyed more with the second part. Perhaps because the characters or the story it unfolds, more lively and appealing. The first one I did a little difficult. At the end of the book also includes appendices that appear in the author's own notes about the work you are writing, accompanied by personal correspondence of Irene and her family in the period before and immediately after his death. Is a poignant testimony of barbarism meant for millions of people the senselessness of World War II. Closing the book can still see Irene, writing as far from Paris, even knowing that, possibly, his work would be posthumously (it says so explicitly in one of his letters). Pity we did not make a mistake.

More reviews of works by Irène Némirovsky:
- Dance

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Emu Boot Difference Bronte Stinger

Eduardo Galeano: Siri Hustvedt

This is one of the most original works I've read in a long time. In it, the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano offers us a journey into the past from a unprecedented view, that of those who would normally have been forgotten by official history. Thus, this book talks about everything from women, blacks, and in general all those who have been exploited, abused, and reversed as people throughout the centuries. A reading that invites us to reflect, to learn a new image of recorded history, with the hardness that contain those tragic stories that make up the fabric of everything that came before us. The irony, open criticism, humor, poetry and storytelling are mixed dry and rough in style Galeano, who demonstrates with this book be without a doubt one of the greats of the current literature. Mirrors

is structured as a collection of short stories that are distributed in a more or less chronological order, but that can be read independently. These stories trace the origin of man, with constant references to the mythologies of different peoples, some better known than others. This part is perhaps the most enjoyable to read, because they are written texts with a great sense of humor, to be enjoyed from start to finish. Galeano enough originality in some of these fragments is delicious. It is very difficult to pick out just a few excerpts from a book which itself is full of small masterpieces. However, I leave you, as always, a few lines so you can judge for yourselves:

"Since the Pope of Rome to the most humble parish priest, no priest who does not dictate sexual conduct lessons. How can they know so much about an activity they are forbidden to practice? (.. .) In 1123, the Lateran Council imposed mandatory celibacy. Since then, the Catholic Church conjures the temptation of the flesh by the vow of chastity, and is the only single company in the religious world. The Church requires its priests dedicated a full time system that protects the peace of their souls, avoiding marital quarrels and screaming baby. "

"Hitler did not invent anything. From For two thousand years, Jews are the murderers of Jesus unforgivable and guilty of every sin (...) Defendants to serve the Devil, these bloody centuries walked the expulsion expulsion and massacre killing (...) The colossal carnage organized by Hitler culminated in a long history. The hunt for Jews has always been a European sport. Now the Palestinians, who never practiced it, pay the bills. "

" Before, Europe spilled over the southern hemisphere soldiers, prisoners and starving peasants. These protagonists of colonial adventures have gone down in history as travel agents of God. It was launched to rescue civilization from barbarism. Now the journey is reversed. Those who make it or trying to get from south to north, are the protagonists of the colonial misadventures that go down in history as messengers of the devil. It launched the assault barbarism of civilization. "

" The Berlin Wall was the news every day. From morning to night we read, saw, heard, the Wall of Shame, the Wall of Shame, the Iron Curtain ... Finally, this wall, which deserved to fall, fell. But other walls sprout, and continue to emerge in the world. Although much larger than that of Berlin, they say little or nothing. Little is said about the wall that the United States are rising in the Mexican border, and little is said about the fences of Ceuta and Melilla. Almost nothing was said about the West Bank Wall, which perpetuates the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and will be fifteen times longer than the Berlin Wall, and nothing, nothing at all, they speak of Moroccan Wall, which perpetuates the theft of the country Saharawi and Moroccan kingdom is sixty times more than the Berlin Wall. Why is there so lofty walls and walls so dumb? "

writer Eduardo Galeano says, not a historian. In addition the book contains no references to support the huge amount of data that appear in it. The same author tells us at first that he has been impossible to include these sources because they would have occupied a lot of pages. This is perhaps the only "defect" that can be attributed to the work we do not know to what extent we are told in the book is true or not. But if we read with a somewhat critical eye, without the need to believe everything that we are given as true, we are without doubt an attempt to make history more than welcome, because at last taken the humble voice and disinherited have been so important in historical and unfortunately are marginalized over and over again by official sources. The unsung heroes, the brave who gave their lives to save others, or who struggled to be free in a time en la que las cadenas atenazaban a la mayoría de la población, son los protagonistas al fin de un libro que, si bien no es cien por cien histórico, les intenta devolver parte de la dignidad que el tiempo y la memoria les arrebataron. Aunque a veces su lectura se hace difícil por la dureza de algunos de los episodios relatados, creo que Espejos es una de esas joyitas que aparecen de vez en cuando en el mundo literario y que merece la pena degustar a pequeños sorbos, saboreándola desde el principio hasta el final. Altamente recomendable.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Wedding Sayings For Koozies

Mirrors: Everything I loved

El prestigioso escritor Salman Rushdie ha dicho de esta novela que " fascina, apasiona e inquieta. Hustvedt is a singular artist, a gifted writer of considerable intelligence, profound sensuality and a quality difficult to define for which I can only think one word: wisdom. "Not as enthusiastic as Rushdie himself, Hustvedt's novel is, above all, surprising, and beyond this feature, we could say that the word that best defines it is" troubling. "This does not preclude its sometimes reading progress with some difficulty, because it Hustvedt's prose too dense at times, ups and downs and at a rate which, fortunately is in crescendo as we go along the pages.

The writer is a great creative characters. There are some echoes austerianos in these tormented characters with more specific concerns that we love the fans of Auster. In fact, reading this novel right after the previously outlined, Leviathan, I could not find certain similarities between them. In what concerns us, the narrative voice lies with a male character, Leo Hertzberg, an art teacher who will bring a strong friendship with a budding artist named Bill Wechsler. They live in a way similar stocks. Married with two beautiful girls, Erica and Lucille, the two will become pregnant and give birth almost simultaneously. The relationship between the four seems to increasingly take hold, although the author introduces the beginnings of a third female character, Violet, who have a definite presence from the second part of the novel.

The book is thus divided into three parts. The division between the first two is given by a tragic event unexpectedly hitting the peaceful life of this little circle of New York, and will cause profound changes in the trajectory of each one of them. But the most fascinating of the book, from my point of view, is hidden in a page between the second and third, when something dark and strange begins to stalk the actors, at first diffusely, to absorb the growing reader hasta conferir a la novela ese carácter de "inquietante" que mencioné más arriba.

Me gusta la forma de escribir de Hustvedt, aunque sus descripciones son quizás demasiado prolijas en algunos momentos. En general la primera parte del libro se hace algo lenta y pesada, pero como ya adelanté, el ritmo va acelerándose y los acontecimientos se van precipitando a medida que avanzamos en su lectura. Esto, unido a unos personajes bien construidos y muy interesantes, dotan al libro de algo especial que sin duda acaba acaparando -y de forma casi enfermiza- la atención del lector.

El mundo del arte, con sus excentricidades y sus abusos, pero también con la fuerza expresiva que le caracteriza, como fuente de emotions in the viewer, is the backdrop of the novel. Serve this snippet as shown:

"Whenever an artist dies, his work begins to slowly replace the body, thus becoming his replacement in this corporeal world. This is a process, I suppose, inevitable. In passing from one generation to another, certain useful objects such as chairs or plates, may seem temporarily infused with the spirit of their former owners, but this condition fairly quickly succumbs to their pragmatic functions. Art, for their intrinsic usefulness, is reluctant to be incorporated into everyday life, and when it is minimally powerful, seems to encourage the life of the person that created it. "

A novel that also explores significant aspects of human psychology, such as grief and sense of loss at the death of a loved one, the difficulty of relationships, the impossibility of know all the way to the other, no matter how close they seem to us, or personality disorders that can lead to a path of no return. This book is quite ambitious in its plot, but which achieves a more than successful with expectations. And, although sometimes can be tiring a bit, does not disappoint at all. Siri Hustvedt has insisted time and again that they do not want to be known as the wife of Paul Auster, but on merit. If we stay in this way, no doubt you would succeed, if not already done so.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Interaction Between Cipralex And Melatonin

Paul Auster: Leviathan

I think at this point Paul Auster is the author who has more reviews in this blog. I must admit that after Trips scriptorium, I was somewhat disappointed (the first time something like this happening to me with Auster), and for a while I have not thought about returning to read. But several people, including some of the regular visitors of this blog, I had heard of Leviathan as one of the best novels of New York. And after reading it, I can only prove them right. Because again I found by Paul Auster maze and magician who captures the reader in a story where reality and fiction are mixed to a point indistinguishable. Leviathan is undoubtedly a great novel.

The start is at the same time, the end of the story. The important thing here is the central plot, characters and their relationships, and how these characters evolve over time. The book tells the life of the writer Benjamin Sachs, seen through the pen of another writer and close friend of Sachs, Peter Aaron, a sort of alter ego of the Auster. Peter is remarried to a woman named Iris, while the second Auster's wife Siri is called (it's also writer like him). These are just some examples of those games that Auster likes to entertain his readers, to constantly play with real and fictional elements in the novel.

The characters, like all Auster's novels, are perhaps the best ever. Are complex, change according to circumstances, live suffer and feel at every turn, questioning his life, and making decisions that sometimes make a 180 degrees in their life paths. Apart from Aaron and Sachs, is a fascinating character of Mary Turner, inspired by the conceptual artist Sophie Call, which is also reflected in other Auster novels. Mary is an attractive woman, dedicated photography y muy inteligente, que tendrá una influencia decisiva en las vidas de los dos protagonistas. El elenco de personajes es muy amplio, y todos están retratados con una extraordinaria viveza, hasta parecer personas reales; esta capacidad es una de las mejores bazas de Auster y uno de los atractivos principales de la novela.

Junto a la riqueza de caracteres, el autor nos habla de la importancia de la amistad, de los giros imprevistos del destino, de las casualidades o pequeños acontecimientos que generan una sucesión de hechos imprevisibles, es decir, del hecho de que nuestras vidas están tejidas de sucesos más o menos nimios que van marcando de forma inevitable nuestra trayectoria vital. Vamos tomando decisiones y descartando caminos, but almost always the luck or misfortune, which leads us to a crossroads or different. Faced with this reality, our values, our beliefs, what they believe, are our best hope of salvation. Auster's characters have a strong personality, and this is reflected in their decisions. They are survivors, and try to seek, within its capabilities, the road to self-realization, ie the path to happiness. However, many times the fatal intervention of fate can truncate this path and throw in unpredictable paths. Like life itself. I enjoyed reading

Leviathan. Is one of those books that catch and hard to drop. Is Paul Auster pure, and without doubt one of the most important books of his career. Essential for austerianos convinced, and a good way to get started for those still not known. Another great reading this summer.

More reviews of works by Paul Auster:
- Travels in the scriptorium
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Timbuktu - The New York Trilogy
-

Brooklyn Follies

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Wearing Tight And Small Underwear Good Or Bad

BETTY SMITH: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I am fascinated by books set in New York. Perhaps because of this one my fetish is author Paul Auster, whose works have as a backdrop this attractive city. That is one reason that led me to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , apart from the good reviews I had found on him. In this book, the author outlines the life of immigrants in the streets of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century, when that area was very far from the chic and trendy neighborhood that has become today, and was instead place of residence of the masses of newcomers to a world waiting hiciesen your dreams reality.

The protagonist of the book is Frances Nolan, a girl growing up in a difficult environment but expressed strength to survive outside of the ordinary. Since childhood, when many were predicting an early death because his frail and sickly, Francie proves to be a person full of life and concerns. Passionate about books, endowed with a startling imagination, what appears to turn into a vocation as a writer, and ardent lover of the school, Francie will educate struggling with a mother, Katie, who works tirelessly to get his family out, a brother he loves, Neeley, and father, Johnny, very charming but too fond of drink and without a steady job. In this family are the real forces women to endure the hardships of daily life, are the pillars of its survival, and this is demonstrated again and again throughout the history of Nolan.

Francie is as strong as a tree. For the author, the child (which might be an alter ego of her own childhood, as has been said of the book that contains a marked autobiographical) can be compared to those trees that grow in the most inhospitable proud to stand up to the heaven

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Some call it the Tree of Heaven. Caiga where its seed falls, it emerges a tree struggling to reach the sky. It grows in sun-delimited tables abandoned mounds of garbage. It is the only tree that grows in the concrete. ... survive grows lush no sun, no water, even without land, apparently. We could say that is beautiful, if it were not so many of the same species. "

alongside France and Katie, are the real women characters of the novel. Endearing is the character of Aunt Sissy, a little woman conventional and battered by life, having given birth to several children who died shortly after birth. The relationship between Francie and her aunt is very special, and Sissy appears as a person full of tenderness, love and life men, and for that very much criticized in its environment, including his own family.

Betty Smith's novel, published in 1943, quickly became a best-seller. Miles de personas se vieron identificadas en los personajes de la historia. Los inmigrantes, los pobres, eran los verdaderos protagonistas. Y, junto a ellos, se ensalzaba el valor del esfuerzo y la educación como instrumentos de cambio que podían marcar el futuro de las personas. Por otro lado, la autora critica los convencionalismos sociales y la cerrazón de una sociedad que, afortunadamente, estaba empezando a cambiar gracias, entre otras cosas, a la extensión de la educación gratuita, que alcanzará a casi todas las clases sociales. Es pues un fiel retrato de la vida en la Nueva York más desfavorecida de principios del siglo pasado. De ahí su rotundo éxito nada más ser publicada.

Creo que after these words, it is clear that I recommend everyone read this book. Although his prose is not brilliant, its intent and its argument, and especially the strength of their characters, make a work more interesting. A great read for those sweltering summer afternoons that have already begun. And if they are recommended by none other than Paul Auster, who can resist?

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Amish Attire For Sale

When dreams come true

did not know that lead and five weeks without writing! June is always particularly difficult to take time, but at last I can return to this place so dearly. I have many books in the room for comment (always manages to find time to read, thank goodness): Leviathan by Paul Auster, Mirrors of Eduardo Galeano, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , Betty Smith. I hope to share with you in the coming days. Another

personal circumstances influenced my momentary disappearance. And is that the stress and burdens of end of course has added something that had long been waiting, and I have won (and I still stealing) much of my energy, because a dream crawl out of the ordinary. If all goes well, fingers crossed, I will be mum at the end of December. I look forward to sharing my reading with you as I can, but if you ever disappear over the account, at least you know the reason. Still I continued to the idea, because it was a dream come true, and yet we fear that it becomes a nightmare. But this time everything will go well, I have this gut feeling and I'll hold on to it with all my strength.

Well, that, back and tummy. A big hug to everyone.