Jan
25
El Reino de Este Mundo [1/2]
Posted by: | January 25, 2010 | Comments Off on El Reino de Este Mundo [1/2]
Good morning, vancouver! it’s a nice and shiny 3am, so I’m gonna make this post quick n’ simple and oh how I hope it makes sense!
I found this book to be substantially more interesting for a few reasons: 1. although I was armed and ready with spanishdict.com by my side, I didn’t have to look up every other word 2. the concept of ‘lo maravilloso’ I like to believe somewhat exists in our society and 3. I really like the continuation of one solid story instead of a collection of stories – make it less confusing in the long run.
I really enjoyed the prologue of the novel because of how it related the contents/themes/topics of the story to well-known people in time such as Van Gogh and Marco Polo. I had no idea that so many people in history had somewhat of the same beliefs [or.. have been visited by the same idea of spirits/supernatural occurrences]. For me, it definitely set up the story in such a way that I was completely open-minded and ready to be whirled about into this seemingly magical-realistic world. Plus, I like to believe that ‘lo maravilloso’ does exist in everyday life [or maybe that’s just the inner scifi junkie in me]. Another thing I really enjoyed was the poetic nature of Carpentier’s words. It seemed as though he writing-ly danced around places and people, describing them fully without being explicitly bold. Lastly, I’m quite intrigued by the descriptions and culture of Haiti, and being able to read and understand it a bit more, especially in the current circumstances involving the earthquake.
I know this one’s a bit rambly – but I don’t want to go into vast details about characters and whatnot. I have a feeling this story’s gonna get mighty interesting and I don’t want to ruin it with some crazy judgements halfway in.
