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chalkletters's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Dad asked me yesterday about the benefits of doing the International Baccalaureate rather than A-levels. I wasn't convinced there was one when it came to having to do subjects you weren't interested in or good at. Did I benefit from an extra two years of Maths, or did I just struggle for no reason and bring down my overall score? What I could have said, however, was that the IB curriculum for specific subjects is pretty great. I don't think I would have covered Manuel Puig or Miroslav Holub in A-level English, and they're authors well worth reading.
Kiss of the Spider Woman is unusual both in form and content. Much of the story consists of Molina reciting films he remembers, though Manuel Puig deliberately introduces ambiguity over how much is from memory and how much Molina might be making up. The rest of the novel is about Molina's relationship with his cellmate, Valentin, what the relationship means to both men and how they treat one another when under pressure from the world outside their cell.
Manuel Puig offers no description of what the cell is like. Kiss of the Spider Woman is written entirely in dialogue, with the only visual input coming from Molina explaining aloud how things look in the films he remembers. A reader has to do a lot of filling in the gaps and joining the dots; it's impressive how often this comes intuitively, but it's not perfect. There are times when not having dialogue tags makes it difficult to keep track of who is speaking a given line. (Top tip: write V and M next to the dialogue markers in particularly tricky passages.)
While it's not the easiest novel to read, Kiss of the Spider Woman has a lot going on. It's reminiscent of the poetry of someone like W H Auden; each word and action is chosen with care to fit into one or more of the themes running through the novel. Even the films reflect the same concerns: people being other than what they seem, trust, betrayal. There are also supposedly academic footnotes written by Manuel Puig that interrupt and complicate the flow of the narrative. The reader has to choose for themselves whether they'll read the entire multi-page footnote then go back to the story, or reach each page in full as a mix of story and footnote, or read the story first and ignore the footnotes altogether. If you had time, you could do all three, and each option would throw different light on the themes Manuel Puig is trying to highlight: there's a reason people can and do spend hours discussing this novel.
Honestly, Kiss of the Spider Woman probably wasn't a great novel to reread for this blog; it would have benefitted more from a slower pace where I could also have reread all my marginalia, rather than pushing through as quickly as possible to get to the next thing on the list. Despite that, it was good to refresh myself, and I do appreciate having a written review to refer back to the next time I reread it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Excrement, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Torture
s_l's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Transphobia, and Homophobia
Moderate: Excrement, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Classism, Emotional abuse, War, Murder, Alcohol, Death, Sexism, and Slavery
ravenmaty's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Antes incluso de terminarlo, sabía que se iba a ganar un hueco entre mis libros favoritos. Escrito con una habilidad increíble, cuenta la historia de dos presos a través, casi únicamente, de diálogo, además de enriqueciéndose con las películas que uno le relata a otro. Los sentimientos expresados, la identidad y las ideas de ambos personajes, y cómo todos se reflejan en los filmes, algunos basados en reales, otros ficticios, son elementos que crean un libro original y distinto de cualquier otro. Una obra sumamente interesante y digna de admirar y de leer, que debería ser introducida en el canon de la literatura hispanoamericana.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Sexual content
_rocio_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, and Homophobia
Moderate: Death
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Sexual content, and Hate crime
saintsaens's review
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The writing style is peculiar (script-like dialogue for most of it) but once you get used to it, it reveals a very subtle story-telling relying on embedded narratives to express the characters' emotions and their own thoughts and views on the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia
Moderate: Death
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