cover image La Pasion Segun Carmela

La Pasion Segun Carmela

Marcos Aguinis. Sudamericana, $0 (312pp) ISBN 978-950-07-2919-2

Well-established Argentine author Aguinis has won several literary awards, including France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Spain's Premio Planeta-the first Latin American to do so. Loosely based on the story of Hilda Molina, the Cuban neurosurgeon barred from visiting Argentina, and set against the backdrop of the Cuban revolution of the 1950s, this novel charts the love affair between two revolutionary idealists: Carmela, a Cuban medical student, and Ignacio, an Argentine economist. Over time, as revolutionary fervor gives way to the everyday realities of life in the Communist republic, the two are increasingly ostracized by the Cuban authorities, and their disenchantment with the regime leads to several escape attempts. This gripping novel offers fascinating insight into life during and after the Cuban Revolution, using an omniscient narrator to suggest the characters' lack of control over their destiny. Ultimately, however, this narrative device makes it difficult to believe in Carmela's passion. Her relationship with Ignacio does not quite ring true and, although we are told she is a fervent supporter of Communism, it is her growing disillusionment that seems more authentic. Even so, Aguinis has crafted an absorbing novel set in an intriguing era and filled with sympathetic characters; recommended for academic and public libraries.-Alison Hicks, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder (The Mad Die Old)N\xFA\xF1ez Handal, Vanesa.Dividing her narrative into 32 vignette-like chapters, N\xFA\xF1ez Handal, a native of El Salvador who writes and teaches in Guatemala, here chronicles the psychological anguish of Paula, an adolescent struggling to develop under the weight of generational mental instability. Paula is isolated in the decayed family mansion with her mother, who is bankrupt but nonetheless manages to maintain social appearances through subsidies from ""Uncle"" Alberto, who is thereby allowed to abuse the daughter. To navigate this turmoil, Paula creates an alter ego, Mar\xEDa. The narrative tension thus lies between Paula, attentive to a mother upon whom she depends, and Mar\xEDa, who despises the mother's asphyxiating repression. The story emerges through first-person narrative and letters (unanswered) to the mother. N\xFA\xF1ez Handal's style is singularly economic, steadily clinical yet engaged; details unfold as in works of Henrik Ibsen or Ingmar Bergman. The spare, analytic exposition conveys both a touching innocence and a cold insight that furthers the sense of isolation. This debut novel rewards attentive reading. Recommended for large fiction/literature collections in public and academic libraries, especially with holdings for Hispanic and/or women's studies.-Edward A. Riedinger, Ohio State Univ. Lib., Columbus