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I came across Arrancame la Vida or Tear This Heart Out on a reading list for a class in the History of Mexico, 1810 to the present. Often, a novel set in a period of historic importance can give flesh and blood to the bare facts of history and that is true of this book. However, the reader does not have to be interested in The Mexican Revolution to enjoy this roman a clef. Mastretta creates an unforgettable, fully realized character, Catalina Guzman who finds herself at age 15 in an advantageous, but ridiculous marriage to a much older military figure who has political ambitions in post-Revolutionary Mexico of the 1920s. As she finds her way to personal independence fueled by a recognizable brew of resentment, disappointment and wit, her husband is on a trajectory to gain political position as his power over his young wife diminishes. Written originally in Spanish, several of Angeles Mastretta's novels and stories can be found in bilingual or original Spanish editions. This particular novel has been made into a Mexican film.
In 1934 an 18 year old upper class Englishman, without much future in school or the military, decides, for lack of money, to walk from England to Greece. He convinces his father to send him four pounds a month to designated stops along his projected route and he sets off with a volume of Horace and a blank journal in his rucksack. He stays close to the Rhine and eventually the Danube, tries to remain true to his intention not to accept rides of any sort, but since he leaves England in December, bad weather sometimes weakens this resolve and he finds himself traveling in every type of conveyance except an airplane. Needless to say he meets a wide array of people enroute that he would never have met in his ordinary life. Leigh Fermor writes beautifully and his "reading" of the landscape as he moves through it will drive most of us into other books, paintings, music and perhaps, personal memories of the same geography. I didn't want A Time of Gifts to end, but when it did, I read the 2nd volume of this travel diary, Between the Water and the Woods, and although Fermor is now in his 90s, he is writing the last volume which I eagerly await!
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(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
This edition of the Isabella Bird Classic is a collection of extracts....it is NOT complete and it seems that only about 1/2 of the original text remains. I would strongly advise against buying it. The complete version is not long and every word is absolutely fascinating.
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(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)
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Joan Murray has commented on (3) products.
Tear This Heart Out
Joan Murray, September 1, 2011
I came across Arrancame la Vida or Tear This Heart Out on a reading list for a class in the History of Mexico, 1810 to the present. Often, a novel set in a period of historic importance can give flesh and blood to the bare facts of history and that is true of this book. However, the reader does not have to be interested in The Mexican Revolution to enjoy this roman a clef. Mastretta creates an unforgettable, fully realized character, Catalina Guzman who finds herself at age 15 in an advantageous, but ridiculous marriage to a much older military figure who has political ambitions in post-Revolutionary Mexico of the 1920s. As she finds her way to personal independence fueled by a recognizable brew of resentment, disappointment and wit, her husband is on a trajectory to gain political position as his power over his young wife diminishes. Written originally in Spanish, several of Angeles Mastretta's novels and stories can be found in bilingual or original Spanish editions. This particular novel has been made into a Mexican film.A Time of Gifts (New York Review Books Classics) by Patrick Leigh Fermor
Joan Murray, April 14, 2011
In 1934 an 18 year old upper class Englishman, without much future in school or the military, decides, for lack of money, to walk from England to Greece. He convinces his father to send him four pounds a month to designated stops along his projected route and he sets off with a volume of Horace and a blank journal in his rucksack. He stays close to the Rhine and eventually the Danube, tries to remain true to his intention not to accept rides of any sort, but since he leaves England in December, bad weather sometimes weakens this resolve and he finds himself traveling in every type of conveyance except an airplane. Needless to say he meets a wide array of people enroute that he would never have met in his ordinary life. Leigh Fermor writes beautifully and his "reading" of the landscape as he moves through it will drive most of us into other books, paintings, music and perhaps, personal memories of the same geography. I didn't want A Time of Gifts to end, but when it did, I read the 2nd volume of this travel diary, Between the Water and the Woods, and although Fermor is now in his 90s, he is writing the last volume which I eagerly await!(3 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
Adventures in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Lucy Bird
Joan Murray, December 7, 2009
This edition of the Isabella Bird Classic is a collection of extracts....it is NOT complete and it seems that only about 1/2 of the original text remains. I would strongly advise against buying it. The complete version is not long and every word is absolutely fascinating.(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)