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Title: The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela, E. Munguia, Ana Castillo ISBN: 0-451-52625-2 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: May, 1996 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.81 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: REVOLUTION FOR THE FUN OF IT!
Comment: I teach sophomore and junior English at a public high school in California. During the first fifteen minutes of each class, my students engage in SSR (silent sustained reading), and I model reading for them by not grading papers during this time, but by reading a book of my own choice. Every day in every class I looked forward to reading The Underdogs during SSR. It's a fast read and provides a spring board into the historical context of which it speaks. This book has made me a student of the Mexican Revolution.
The main character, Demetrio Macias, and his band of revolutionaries at once attract and repulse you until, at the novel's end, the reader understands how bitterly disillusioned Azuela had become with the likes of the generals and foot soldiers who turned their noble cause into a pretext for their own personal gain. Thus, the revolution implodes upon the idealists who gave her birth and, in the end, the generals and foot soldiers of the revolution become comsumed by the same base impulses that once fueled their enemies.
The dialogue, of which there is plenty, burns through the storyline like a prairie fire, so real, so vibrant, and so poetic is it. The narrative draws the reader along seamlessly, and the numerous descriptions of nature dazzle his mind's eye like an apocalyptic vision.
In my opinion, a good novel engages me in the lives of its characters. Demetrio, Manteca, Luis Cervantes, Camilla, War Paint, et al. remain vivdly in my mind as victims of injustice, heroes of liberty, and perpetrators of pointless mayhem.
I fell so much in love with Azuela's style and his masterful use of imagery that I ordered the Spanish language version Los de Abajo! I can't wait to read this novel in the original Spanish. I can't wait to unleash its volcanic energy upon my students.
My favorite line? That of the mad poet Valderrama, who proclaims after the defeat of General Villa at Celaya, "Villa? Obregon? Carranza? What's the difference? I love the revolution like a volcano in eruption; I love the volcano because it's a volcano, the revolution because it's the revolution! What do I care about the stones left above or below after the cataclysm? What are they to me?"
Every gabacho should read this book!
Rating: 3
Summary: A world classic? hmm....
Comment: This novel's style is very minimalist; it is often critisized as having no plot and flat characters. After reading it and thoroughly analyzing it however (this book is one that takes effort; it doesn't "jump" at you) one can see that the Revolution is the plot, and that the characters are only relevant in how they are affected by, or how they reflect upon, the Revolution. Some say that true literature isn't great unless it's political. Maybe so, but a really good novel makes you care about the characters and the reader not want the story to end, and with The Underdogs it just isn't so. Not bad, but not THAT great either. Should definately be read by anyone interested in Mexican history.
Rating: 3
Summary: Understanding Underdogs
Comment: Underdogs is a story about a farmer named Demetrio Macias in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The story follows Macias from the beginning of his involvement in the revolution until a very confusing end in which Macias is still fighting. This is not a book to read if you don't know much about the Mexican Revolution. Dialogue between the characters sort of gives you what is going on in the revolution but not enough to understand. What you really get is the manner of life Macias and his men live while fighting in the revolution. Early on, Macias and his men set off to fight against the government (who are the Spaniards) that are destroying their villages and towns. Eventually Macias and his men lose vision of who exactly they are fighting and they become the men who are destroying the villages and towns. The book ends with Macias still fighting for an unknown cause.
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Title: The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes, Alfred MacAdam ISBN: 0374522839 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchu, E. Burgos-Debray, Ann Wright ISBN: 0860917886 Publisher: Verso Books Pub. Date: August, 1987 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The Labyrinth of Solitude: The Other Mexico, Return to the Labyrinth of Solitude, Mexico and the United States, the Philanthropic Ogre by Octavio Paz, Lysander Kemp ISBN: 080215042X Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: June, 1985 List Price(USD): $14.50 |
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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: The General in His Labyrinth by Garcia Marques, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Edith Grossman ISBN: 0140148590 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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