Synopses & Reviews
A gripping novel about the assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940In his youth, Iván Cárdenas Maturell was the great promise of modern Cuban literature. But after Iván dared to write a story that was deemed counterrevolutionary, he suffered the consequences and became not just a loser but a defeated man. After two years of obligatory social service, Iván returns to Havana and takes a job editing a veterinary magazine. One afternoon, he meets a mysterious foreigner in the company of two Russian wolfhounds, whom he quickly names “the man who loved dogs.”
Their initially superficial exchanges eventually lead to more heartfelt conversations in which Iván discloses his own fears and frustrations and the man who loved dogs admits that he is dying. In the shadow of death, the foreign man feels compelled to relay the details of his life to another person, and confesses to Iván that he is actually Ramón Mercader, the man who killed Leon Trotsky in Mexico City.
Moving seamlessly between Iváns life in Cuba, Ramóns early years in Spain and France, and Trotskys long years of exile, The Man Who Loved Dogs is Leonardo Paduras most ambitious and brilliantly executed novel yet. It is the story of revolutions fought and betrayed, the ways in which mens political convictions are continually tested and manipulated, and a powerful critique of the role of fear in consolidating political power.
Review
“The Man Who Loved Dogs is an excellent novel, rich in suggestions about the human condition and about our world that go beyond straight narrative history.” —Ricardo Senabre, El Mundo
“A novel of great force, and Paduras best . . . [It] has great human density and an intense narrative dynamic.” —J. A. Masoliver Rodenas, La Vanguardia
Review
Praise for The Man Who Loved Dogs:
“Cuban writer Padura delivers a complex, every deepening tale of politics and intrigue worthy of Alan Furst or Roberto Bolaño . . . Long but without excess; philosophically charged but swiftly moving. A superb intellectual mystery.” —Kirkus (starred)
“The man who loved dogs, in Cuban author Paduras (Havana Gold) epic novel, is Jaime Lopez, an elderly Spaniard living in 70s Havana who claims to have been a friend of the man who assassinated Leon Trotsky in Mexico in 1940. An accomplished braiding of history and fiction, the novel follows three attenuated strands. The first is the story of Iván Cárdenas Maturell, a politically incorrect Cuban writer who befriends the dog-loving Lopez. The second is an account of Trotskys life in exile, from Turkey and France to Norway, and, finally, Mexico, where hes welcomed by his good friends, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. And the third traces the radicalization of Ramón Mercader, who joins the Communist Party in Spain in the 30s and is trained as a Soviet assassin. The novel dramatizes the long, slow collision course of Trotsky and Mercader. It also details Ivans relationship with Lopez and the ultimate revelation about his identity. Paduras novel encompasses nothing less than a history of international communism after the 1917 Revolution. The story goes from the scorched earth of Spain in the 1930s, to the political hotbed that was Mexico in the 1940s, to Moscow during the Prague Summer of 1968, to Havana from the 70s to the near present, where we learn of Ivans ultimate ironic fate, leaving the reader with the exhilarating feeling of having just experienced three entire lives.” —Publishers Weekly
“The Man Who Loved Dogs is an excellent novel, rich in suggestions about the human condition and about our world that go beyond straight narrative history.” —Ricardo Senabre, El Mundo
“A novel of great force, and Paduras best . . . [It] has great human density and an intense narrative dynamic.” —J. A. Masoliver Rodenas, La Vanguardia
About the Author
Leonardo Padura was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1955. A novelist, journalist, and critic, he is the author of several novels, two volumes of short stories, and several nonfiction collections. His novels featuring the detective Mario Conde have been translated into many languages and have won literary prizes around the world. The Man Who Loved Dogs was a finalist for the Book of the Year Award in Spain. Padura lives in Havana.
Anna Kushner was born in Philadelphia and first traveled to Cuba in 1999. She has translated the novels of Guillermo Rosales, Norberto Fuentes, and Gonçalo M. Tavares.