Siento mal que esta entrada no está en inglés. Es el tiempo de los examenes…
I’d like to start by saying that I found this book one of the harder ones to read, especially the second part. With so many names I found it a bit confusing to keep them all straight. The difference between the two parts makes the second part seem like an entirely different book.
When I was reading the first part I kept thinking that Garcilaso was somehow detached from what he was discussing. He always talked of the ideas and ceremonies of his people as something foreign. I found this very peculiar because this is the first book that we’ve read that was actually written by someone with indigenous blood. I found him especially detached in the last chapter of the first half when he was referring to people of mixed blood (which includes himself) as mongrels and as something even dirty. I’m glad that in the second part he seems much less detached from his subject. He seems to use the first person (either yo or nosotros) more frequently and speaks of more people by name. He also follows the stories of certain people which shows continuity. He follows el marqués until his death and writes many stories about his brothers Los Pizarros.
Another major difference between the first and second half is how action-oriented the second half is. The first half seemed very passive with most of the chapters focusing on things that the Incans did in general instead of specific events. The second half was focused on the war between the Europeans and the Incans and therefore was more based on certain events and more specific occurrences.
I liked the second half, not only because it was shorter 😛 but because it really seemed like Garcilaso actually cared about it. Instead of just writing a summary of what Incans did and what they believed, but he used specific examples of which he was part or those that he understood more details.