I like Louis de Bernieres' writing quite a bit. He manages to do some very difficult things and make them look easy, too- always the mark of someone expert at what they do. Somehow he can combine humor with very sad or violent situations.

And- there is certainly no lack of these types of situations in his work. The amount of cruelty from man to man in Louis' books is appalling. There is so much graphic torture, violent death, rape, etc....that it's terrible.

And still, somehow I like his work. I just usually give myself a lot of time before picking up another novel of his. (I've read three so far.)

I will add only two more bits here, just because I want to and not because they give you great insight into L d B's work.

The first occurred when I was reading his description of a torrid sexual encounter between two characters. It had been building up and when it exploded...I suddenly realized how Louis was playing with his literary toys. He colored their characters in like painting the faces of puppets, then pulled their strings and made them dance to his tunes. I'm certain he enjoys making his creations live.

Secondly, the title is great but really has almost no relevance to the story. Then again, what title could cover this one? I'm not sure, any more than I have any idea why overgrown cats overrun the plot. Some mysteries will just have to stay the way they are.

This book was intense. The language was rich and beautiful and so was the jungle. But it also contained cruelty that was difficult to swallow and a window into the pitfalls of power and destruction of humans. The humor got me through the bad parts swimmingly though.

It took a while for me to really get into this book even though the writing is simply astounding and the set-up and character intros are incredible. I think that's why it took me so long though - I kept having to go back over certain passages again and again and ultimately the story was not solidifying or coming together because of this. I finally had to stop re-reading passages and looking up every word I didn't know (literally every other word in some parts) in order to get into the story and understand what was going on. As a result, the first 20% took me months to get through while the final 80% took me a day. I'm moving directly on to the next installment of this trilogy since I have the momentum and am used to the delicious writing style enough to resist the urge to completely absorb and savor every perfectly composed and beautifully written sentence. I think my strategy from here on out will be to read the books through once and then re-read them slower another time when I will know the story well enough to be able to succumb to the beauty of the writing.

"In a historic feat of compromise," we learn of the country's recent past, "democracy was restored by the abolition of elections."

Firstly I should point out that this is the first of the author's South American trilogy, although to be honest I didn't realise it at the time, but it doesn't really matter as they are stand alone novels and as such can be read in any particular order. The title is also a little misleading as it has nothing really to do with war but instead is a piece of political satire mixed with a touch of magic.

The action takes place in a remote community in an unnamed South American Andean country which is ruled over by a corrupt oligarchy and fascist military officers. Problems begin when Dona Constanza Evans, an aristocratic wife of a wealthy landowner and descendant of a Welsh speculator, decides to divert the local river in order to supply water for her private swimming pool. Astounded by this turn of events the local villagers ask Don Emmanuel, another rich local landowner whose own land is down river of Dona Constanza's property and as such would also be adversely affected if the scheme goes ahead especially as he likes to bathe his 'nether parts in the river, to try and dissuade her.

However, when diplomacy fails Don Emmanuel and the villagers decide to sabotage her scheme. Which in turn has the unintended and undesired affect of bringing both Government soldiers and Communist guerrillas to the scene to investigate until the villagers force the Army to return to their base. Meanwhile back in the capitol of the country the President and a corrupt cabal of military officers are vying for control.

The author cleverly intertwines a series of almost cartoon like incidents inflicted on the Army with some fairly graphic portrayals of torture perpetrated by the Army, an inept and divided guerilla movement, some rather racy sex scenes with tales of romance, witty political satire with the supernatural.

There is an abundance of characters which at least initially can be a little off putting and confusing but if you stick with it they tend to sort themselves out in the end. These characters tend to be fall into certain groups: clever peasants, wise whores, arrogant dames transformed by love, and inept officials .

Although in the novel the country is unnamed many readers and no doubt academics with come to the conclusion that it is based on Colombia, a country that has suffered a number of civil wars over the years in which hundreds of thousand of it's inhabitants have died. Perhaps given this fact and the grimness of the author's political satire the ending, where the villagers establish a new Utopian civilization in a ruined Inca city, is a little too optimistic to bear too much scrutiny. However, this should not take away from the fact that this IMHO is a beautifully written piece of work that left me, if not laughing out loud, with a constant grin on my face. No bad thing surely?

Imaginative, fantastical, sadly rooted in recent South American history, magical. I did not enjoy it quite as much as his more recent book, The Dust That Falls from Dreams, most likely because the cruelty of the South American dictatorships (and the undoubted collusion with them by what I am ashamed to say is my own government) looms too large.

3.5. I enjoyed this, but I didn't love it compared to The Dust that Falls from Dreams or Birds Without Wings. I found it too heavy to get into at the start and this set the tone for the rest of the novel for me. I might revisit this in the future as don't think I was properly in the mood for it. As always the writing is beautiful, but I think I prefer his historical fiction rather than mystical realism.

Beautiful story made up of many little stories. Loved reading it, especially when the many short stories came together and added to the already dense narrative.
While at heart it was a war story, this particular book shines as an example of magical realism, carrying with it the people of an imagined country, making you either love them or hate them, leaving you weeping or cheering at their various exploits.
Parts of the book were also highly relatable, with Kenya going through the same absurdities as the country in the book: massive corruption, economic tinkering that hinders rather than helps progress, and a war over a small island in the middle of nowhere...
All in all, this was my favourite book this year.
But seriously, what was up with the giant cats?

After reading De Berniere's sweeping historical novels Corelli's Mandolin and Birds Without Feathers, I believe I have found his home territory in the magical realism of South America. He builds a fascinating cast of characters, each story a gem in its own right, and blends them with the culture, politics and banana-republic intrigues among the mountains and jungles of his fictional country. And the magic grows until the history becomes a wonderful fantasy. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy.

Τι άνισο βιβλίο.... Αρχισα να το διαβάζω με μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον και όσο προχωρούσα το ενδιαφέρον γινόταν ενθουσιασμός. Είχα διαβάσει πέρυσι την εξαιρετική "Ρουφήχτρα" και παρόλο που ο συγγραφέας του "δον Εμμανουέλ" είναι Άγγλος έγραφε σαν λατινοαμερικάνος και πίστευα ότι θα διαβάσω ένα παρόμοιο μυθιστόρημα. Πολλοί και καλοσχεδιασμένοι χαρακτήρες, πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα υπόθεση, εξαιρετική εξέλιξη, πολυεπίπεδη ανάπτυξη, χιούμορ. Κοινωνικοπολιτική ανάλυση (εκ των ων ουκ άνευ όταν μιλάμε για λατινοαμερικανική χώρα) υψηλού επιπέδου. Όλα αυτά δοσμένα με έναν ρεαλιστικό τρόπο που κρατούσε συνεχώς αμείωτο το ενδιαφέρον. Απ'τη μέση και μετά άρχισαν να με ζώνουν τα φίδια. Ασυνέπειες, ανακολουθίες, ευκολίες. Ο δον Εμμανουέλ, που δίνει και τον τίτλο στο βιβλίο, πολύ μικρό ρόλο παίζει τελικά, η εξέλιξη γίνεται όλο και πιο σουρεαλιστική χωρίς να μας έχει προϊδεάσει ο συγγραφέας για παραλογισμό. Όταν άρχισαν οι γαϊδούρες να γεννούν γατάκια, τα γατάκια να γίνονται ιαγουάροι, οι, εδώ και 400 χρόνια, νεκροί να ανασταίνονται, ε, εκεί τόχασα. Δεν είμαι για τέτοια. Μαγικός ρεαλισμός; δεν ξέρω. Αν αυτή ήταν η επιδίωξη τότε νομίζω χρειάζεται και πραγματικό λατινοαμερικάνο συγγραφέα.

This is a magnificent novel of Latin America (an unnamed country) written (in 1990) by one of my favorite authors. In this novel the reader sees every aspect of a Latin American country. The characters range from peasants, to terrorists, to upper class people, to military officers. The characters come from every social class and ethnicity. The reader sees the pull and tug, fighting and competition between the military, the government and various levels of society – with the requisite Latin American unjustified incarceration and torture by the military. The reader lives with a group of terrorists and watches as new characters join their group based on an interesting variety of reasons. The reader sees poverty and luxury, love and brutality and peace and war. The powerful forces of nature are given a great deal of prominence, and the reader experiences the heat and dangers of the jungle as well as the cold and different dangers of the mountains. There are many tragic events and many satisfying events in the lives of the characters. There is a great deal of magical realism, which for me made the novel very Latin – but which some readers may not enjoy. There is also incredible humor. Almost every sentence has a subtle witticism or humorous commentary – although these sentences could be read “straight” as well. I loved this novel for the setting and the way it so well reflected the time and place with a combination of seriousness, magic and humor. I do feel that this is a very Latin American novel, so if that genre is not generally to your liking, you may not like this; however, I recommend de Bernieres’ trilogy (set in England) about the life of Daniel Pitt (which starts with The Dust That Falls from Dreams) to everyone!

Another colourful trip through all sections of a fictional Latin-American society - it is entertainingly written, often very witty, and jumps around like a grasshopper with ADHD. But can also be distressingly casual about some rather sordid events.

Louis de Bernières debut, and first part of a trilogy, is a rough blueprint of what he would do in future novels.

The War… begins in a Latin American country where a rich lady, Dona Costanza wants to drain a river for her swimming pool. This enrages the locals and they revolt. In turn the government dispatches an army to settle things down. There are many more side plots but the one mentioned is the more prominent plotline.

Eventually Dona Constanza is kidnapped and joins a guerrilla group and becomes empowered while the army is getting more corrupt. At the same time the villagers start a pilgrimage to a better land (which contains giant cats).

As a satire I think it works. De Bernières portrays the corrupt undertakings of this Latin American government: from bribes to tortures. Having read novels about The Dominican Republic and Cuba, I think the events which happen are not as cartoonish as they seem but there is dark humor injected.

My problem is that it is too messy. Having a huge cast of characters and many storylines bogs the book down. There’s too much exposition, some unnecessary characters and the book really comes into it’s own midway. I would say that some parts are overwritten. I am keeping in mind that this is a first novel so it’s not perfect and de Bernières did manage to control the messiness of this debut with Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Birds without Wings. As I have acquired the next two volumes of the trilogy, I am curious to see how his style will change.