Las Sabias Mujeres de la Habana - Softcover

Bernardo, Jose Raul

3.37

115 ratings by Goodreads

9780060936167: Las Sabias Mujeres de la Habana

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060936169 ISBN 13: 9780060936167

Publisher: HarperCollins Espa�ol, 2002

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Las Sabias Mujeres de la Habana es una apasionada y enternecedora historia que se desarrolla en el ex�tico mundo de Cuba en el a�o 1937. Esta novela narra las vidas de dos cu�adas que comienzan como rivales pero que terminan desarrollando un profundo lazo de afecto que las une por el resto de sus vidas. Debido a la Gran Depresi�n de los a�os treinta y a los baj�simos precios del az�car en Cuba, la familia de Lorenzo se encuentra en gran necesidad de ayuda financiera. Es por esto que los reci�n casados, Marguita y Lorenzo, aceptan dejar su c�modo apartamentito para instalarse en la desmoronada mansi�n de los padres del novio en la secci�n espa�ola de la Habana, que en su �poca fue muy pr�spera. Pero la bella Marguita est� muy lejos de sentirse bienvenida en la vieja casona de sus suegros porque Lol�, su cu�ada solterona, despliega hacia la pareja un comportamiento que sorprende a todos, provocando, a causa de sus celos y de su soledad, una peligrosa brecha entre las dos mujeres. Marguita huye al lado de su madre, una mujer verdaderamente sabia cuya generosidad, sentido del humor, y bueno, inteligentes manipulaciones proveen la medicina necesaria para menguar la brecha. En este relato picante y l�rico, Jos� Ra�l Bernardo retrata v�vidamente la vida familiar cubana de la �poca y crea a tres mujeres extraordinarias unidas a trav�s de sacrificios, fortaleza, ingenio, y amor.

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About the Author:

Jos� Ra�l Bernardo is the author of two previous novels: Silent Wing, elected as one of the Best Works of Fiction in 1998 by the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and The Secret of the Bulls, now available in seven languages. A renaissance man, Jos� Ra�l Bernardo is also a celebrated architect, poet, and a noted composer whose award-winning symphonic works have been heard all over the world. He now makes his home in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

From Library Journal:

Set in 1938, this novel by Cuban exile Bernardo continues the story of the enlightened butcher Maximiliano and his wife, Dolores, which was first introduced in El secreto de los toros (The Secret of the Bulls, Aguilar, 1996). This time, however, Bernardo focuses on their daughter, Marguita, who is married to Lorenzo, the son of impoverished Spanish immigrants. Unfortunately, when the potential for an engaging plot arises, it is quickly squelched by sappy descriptions of domesticity, such as the agony of choosing a baby's name. Bernardo handles the most significant conflicts an unmarried woman's pregnancy and a man's inability to support both his children and his parents through sudden and unlikely events: the woman is relocated to Miami to improve her telephone-operator skills, and, though the story is set during the Great Depression, the man receives a significant raise. Similarly, a young priest's obsessive homosexual longing vanishes after he yields to an unattractive woman's seduction. Dialogs stiff with passive-voice clauses and brisk as legal briefs add to the novel's narrative awkwardness, and Bernardo has the unfortunate habit of itemizing his characters' attributes in lists that read like stage directions. Redundancy also abounds: "Asuncion lost the ability to hear in both ears. She could not hear any sound." In an unconvincing attempt to make this a quintessential Cuban novel, Bernardo ascribes the characters' most mundane acts to the essence of the Cuban self. Despite the numerous drawbacks, this novel's vivid evocation of Havana's vibrant urban landscape makes it worth reading. Recommended, with reservation, for bookstores and public libraries in Cuban communities. Joseph Delgado-Figueroa, Columbia, SC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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