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This is a magical realism book. I never know what to say about those.
"It was strange but I enjoyed." is the most accurate. . . but doesn't really tell you anything useful at all. De Bernieres is an amazing writer, if only because of the number of plots and sub-plots he can weave into a whole. Then there is his combining of the magical and the actual -- done in such a was as to make you feel that there is not any tangible difference between the two and our perceptions of said difference are a mere product of a mutually agreed upon reality. He doesn't seem to always agree with that reality.
I liked re-meeting the characters from Don Emmanuel. Especially Remedios. She's my favorite. Sometimes the descriptions of violence and gore hurt me. But De Bernieres always makes up for that with equal (or better) descriptions of beauty and wonderful comedic bits. It's a good balance, but I don't think I could read more than one or two of his books each year.
"It was strange but I enjoyed." is the most accurate. . . but doesn't really tell you anything useful at all. De Bernieres is an amazing writer, if only because of the number of plots and sub-plots he can weave into a whole. Then there is his combining of the magical and the actual -- done in such a was as to make you feel that there is not any tangible difference between the two and our perceptions of said difference are a mere product of a mutually agreed upon reality. He doesn't seem to always agree with that reality.
I liked re-meeting the characters from Don Emmanuel. Especially Remedios. She's my favorite. Sometimes the descriptions of violence and gore hurt me. But De Bernieres always makes up for that with equal (or better) descriptions of beauty and wonderful comedic bits. It's a good balance, but I don't think I could read more than one or two of his books each year.
