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Title: The Old Gringo : A Novel by Carlos Fuentes, Margaret Sayers Peden ISBN: 0-374-52522-6 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 31 October, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.12 (8 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Quite possibly the worst book I have ever read
Comment: No plot...hard to understand...a total snore fest...If u care about whoever Carlos Fuentes is writing about...go ahead, read it...but don't blame me if you fall asleep...horrible...horrible
Rating: 3
Summary: An intriguing story
Comment: I've always wondered what happened to Ambrose Bierce. He's one of my favorite short story writers -- his war stories are pretty hard to beat and his satires are the epitome of sarcasm. Given my love of Bierce's work, I had to read Carlos Fuentes's novel which weaves a story around Bierce's trip to Mexico to fight alongside Pancho Villa.
The story centers around the Old Man or Old Gringo (who is not openly identified as Ambrose Bierce until the end) and his relationship with a young single American woman, Harriet, and General Tomas Arroyo. Harriet is a frustrated, emotionally lost woman who has accepted a job tutoring children at a hacienda. When she arrives at the estate, it has been abandoned. Almost immediately, the estate is commandeered by Tomas Arroyo and his band of rebels. Old Gringo (who has absolutely no fear of death and, as a result, performs impressive acts of bravery) has asked to join Arroyo's band. The Old Man has conflicted, confused feelings for both Harriet and Arroyo. To him, they are his daughter and son. At the same time, he desires Harriet and desires death even more. (...).
All is told in stream of consciousness narration. Fuentes has a way with words and is terrific with character development. The story is very, very slow-paced and the end is abrupt and disappointing, but reading it is still fun because the words are so poetic. Harriet's stream of consciousness is unsettling to say the least. I wish Fuentes had put a little more Bierce into the character of the Old Gringo...but, hey, Old Gringo went to Mexico to lose himself, so the vague characterization serves a purpose. Over all, the story is a nice fantasy.
Rating: 2
Summary: Fuentes sleepwalks to disaster
Comment: It's like Fuentes wrote "The Old Gringo" in his sleep. Or maybe something was lost in the translation. But I couldn't think of a worse way to commemorate the memory of Ambrose Bierce than this book.
Bierce was the proud and cantankerous alcoholic Civil War writer, famous to his contemporaries as the author of the "Devil's Dictionary." More famous to us as the author of "Incident at Owl Creek Bridge." By any standards, Bierce is a cynic and hard-nosed realist. Here, for example, is the "Devil's Dictionary" entry for "Laughter":
"An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarticulate noises. It is infectious and, though intermittent, incurable."
In "The Old Gringo," Fuentes imagines what happened to Bierce when he disappeared in Mexico during the revolution around the turn of the 20th century. In the book, Bierce is an old tough guy who can shoot pesos in midair, and who seeks his death at the hands of Pancho Villa, the infamous Mexican bandit. In addition, there's a young American schoolteacher to woo, an angry young rebel general, and lots of booze and spicy food. And lots of Freudian sex (as the schoolteacher pretends her lover is her father). And the whole thing is written in poor stream-of-consciousness style.
Bierce must be writhing in his grave.
Read "The Death of Artemio Cruz" for Fuentes' work of genius. "The Old Gringo" misses its mark.
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Title: Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, Margaret Sayers Peden, Margaret S. Paden ISBN: 0802133908 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: May, 1994 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Like Water for Chocolate : A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel ISBN: 038542017X Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Gringo Viejo by Carlos Fuentes ISBN: 9507313036 Publisher: Editorial Seix Barral Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.55 |
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Title: The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende ISBN: 0553273914 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Crystal Frontier by Carlos Fuentes, Alfred J. Mac Adam ISBN: 0156006200 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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