Scan barcode
annaroosvw's review against another edition
4.0
An immersing story about gypsies, slavery, tabacco, flamenco, loss and love, family and roots. A great way to expand your moral judgements and learn some historical backgrounds. I was hooked from the start and didn't mind the 1000+ pages at all. For those who want to rediscover reading (and watch a little less netflix) this is a good start.
gveldhuizen's review against another edition
5.0
Just a great story. You keep reading. I experienced it as educational the way he makes the reader aware of the past (but also present) suffering of (ex-) slaves, gypsy's and women.
jokapy's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
urlphantomhive's review against another edition
3.0
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I'd been looking forward to read The Barefoot Queen as I'd been told what a great writer Ildefonso Falcones is many times before. Somehow, I still haven't his first book I remember translated, but I really had high hopes for this one.
Caridad, a Cuban slave freed on the death bed of her master, arrives now in Spain without a goal, without any means or money and without any knowledge of life outside tobacco plantations. She's eventually taken in by Melchor Vega, a gypsy, and befriends his granddaughter Milagros. But life will be anything but easy for the two of them.
Let me get this straight immediately: I really liked the writing, it was very beautiful. It made me want to read his earlier works just to be able to enjoy it a bit longer. But - there's always a catch - I didn't like the story. You know these stories where everything seems to go wrong and in the end you can't help but feel depressed yourself? This is one of those. They are discriminated - a lot-, imprisoned for being gypsies, sexually intimidated, sold, raped, raped again, and then some more.
It made for a very unpleasant read. They were just so passive, let everything happen to them. Even Milagros, who's described as the 'rebellious' gypsy isn't really rebellious. As soon as I realised there wasn't going to be anything happy or simply a bit less depressing in the book, I actually just wished for it to be over.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I'd been looking forward to read The Barefoot Queen as I'd been told what a great writer Ildefonso Falcones is many times before. Somehow, I still haven't his first book I remember translated, but I really had high hopes for this one.
Caridad, a Cuban slave freed on the death bed of her master, arrives now in Spain without a goal, without any means or money and without any knowledge of life outside tobacco plantations. She's eventually taken in by Melchor Vega, a gypsy, and befriends his granddaughter Milagros. But life will be anything but easy for the two of them.
Let me get this straight immediately: I really liked the writing, it was very beautiful. It made me want to read his earlier works just to be able to enjoy it a bit longer. But - there's always a catch - I didn't like the story. You know these stories where everything seems to go wrong and in the end you can't help but feel depressed yourself? This is one of those. They are discriminated - a lot-, imprisoned for being gypsies, sexually intimidated, sold, raped, raped again, and then some more.
It made for a very unpleasant read. They were just so passive, let everything happen to them. Even Milagros, who's described as the 'rebellious' gypsy isn't really rebellious. As soon as I realised there wasn't going to be anything happy or simply a bit less depressing in the book, I actually just wished for it to be over.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
ranchel17's review against another edition
1.0
WOMEN WRITTEN BY MEN, EXHIBIT A
I was so excited to read about Spanish culture and history and gyspsies! I really was. But when I read the first few pages, I was absolutely disgusted.
This book is centered on two women. And it is written by a man. And trust me when I say, you can tell….
The book opens on the point of view of the recently freed enslaved woman, Caridad. Here are the descriptions of caridad, in order. Keep in mind that these are all in the point of view of the men around her, even though this chapter is supposed to be in caridads mind.
Description 1: how tall caridad is (because seeing a tall woman is crazyyy)
Description 2: large, firm breasts. (yay we’re already sexualizing her like crazy. I know nothing about this woman except she was a slave and she’s tall and she has sexy hips)
Description 3: Caridad’s vOlUptUoUs hIpS :’)
Description 4: small brown eyes, flattened nose, and “thick, fleshy lips”. (By this time I wanna barf. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I feel like this is such a racist depiction of a Black woman. thick fleshy lips???? What the hell man)
Don’t worry, it gets worse :)
It’s still the first chapter, and we know virtually nothing about Caridad: not her personality, her emotions, not even her thoughts about getting recently freed and sent to Seville, Spain. None of it!
But look, here comes the priest’s point of view. Something we all need in our lives. Here, the author has much more experience with being a man and writing men, so the priest has a lot more personality (which turns out to be not much of a good thing).
The priest reminisces that he was so turned on by Caridad that he masturbated in front of her while she was asleep…
And then Caridad wakes up and sees him staring at her and touching himself. And she is completely expressionless.
This is the the fourth or fifth page and already a man is masturbating to a woman.
But something that gets me… is WHY DID YOU GIVE THIS WOMAN NO PERSONALITY? No spirit??? I’m sure as a recently freed woman, she is done with going along with men’s sexualizing and dehumanization and is ready to test out her freedom.
But no.
Lesson learned: be careful about picking a book written by a man, and the main characters are women.
Prepare to be offended and disgusted as Ildefonso falcones tries to enter a woman’s point of view but instead describes her from the men around her in the most dehumanizing way possible.
I was so excited to read about Spanish culture and history and gyspsies! I really was. But when I read the first few pages, I was absolutely disgusted.
This book is centered on two women. And it is written by a man. And trust me when I say, you can tell….
The book opens on the point of view of the recently freed enslaved woman, Caridad. Here are the descriptions of caridad, in order. Keep in mind that these are all in the point of view of the men around her, even though this chapter is supposed to be in caridads mind.
Description 1: how tall caridad is (because seeing a tall woman is crazyyy)
Description 2: large, firm breasts. (yay we’re already sexualizing her like crazy. I know nothing about this woman except she was a slave and she’s tall and she has sexy hips)
Description 3: Caridad’s vOlUptUoUs hIpS :’)
Description 4: small brown eyes, flattened nose, and “thick, fleshy lips”. (By this time I wanna barf. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I feel like this is such a racist depiction of a Black woman. thick fleshy lips???? What the hell man)
Don’t worry, it gets worse :)
It’s still the first chapter, and we know virtually nothing about Caridad: not her personality, her emotions, not even her thoughts about getting recently freed and sent to Seville, Spain. None of it!
But look, here comes the priest’s point of view. Something we all need in our lives. Here, the author has much more experience with being a man and writing men, so the priest has a lot more personality (which turns out to be not much of a good thing).
The priest reminisces that he was so turned on by Caridad that he masturbated in front of her while she was asleep…
And then Caridad wakes up and sees him staring at her and touching himself. And she is completely expressionless.
This is the the fourth or fifth page and already a man is masturbating to a woman.
But something that gets me… is WHY DID YOU GIVE THIS WOMAN NO PERSONALITY? No spirit??? I’m sure as a recently freed woman, she is done with going along with men’s sexualizing and dehumanization and is ready to test out her freedom.
But no.
Lesson learned: be careful about picking a book written by a man, and the main characters are women.
Prepare to be offended and disgusted as Ildefonso falcones tries to enter a woman’s point of view but instead describes her from the men around her in the most dehumanizing way possible.
riapariome's review against another edition
4.0
The Barefoot Queen by Ildefonso Falcones is a historical novel, illustrating the lives of Gypsies in 18th century Spain. When I got home from a long day’s work and a seminar in the city, I was surprised to find this monster of a novel in a huge box full of bubble wrap that was sadly un-poppable (is that even a word?). I mean, the whole reason for the existence of bubble wrap is to pop the bubble, am I right? This novel is around 650 pages, so it is a very long read. Most of it will be read (or has been read by the time I finish this post) while I have free time during my midterms week. The expected publication date is January 29th, 2015 (today) so this is really exciting to receive it just in time before it’s out.
Read the full review at:https://lovemissria.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/the-barefoot-queen/
Read the full review at:https://lovemissria.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/the-barefoot-queen/
liferhi_inspired's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: This book contains physical and sexual violence towards women and might not be for everyone. This book is also incredibly long and you'll need to keep that in mind when you contemplate reading it.
This story takes place in Spain in the late 1740s to early 1750s. Caridad is a former slave who gained her freedom when her master died on the voyage fro Cuba to Spain. With nowhere to go, she finds her was into a Vega and Carmona gypsy families. We are soon transported into the way of life as we follow the gypsy's through their trials and tribulations. Again, there is violence to women in this book that was usual for that time period.
This is a fabulously written book that was originally translated from Spanish, though you won't be able to tell by the way it's written. The story was captivating and had me hooked fro the beginning. I do have to admit that at times I contemplated putting the book down, not because the story wasn't good but because it was so time consuming. However, now that I'm done with the story, I'm glad that I stuck to it.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion*
This story takes place in Spain in the late 1740s to early 1750s. Caridad is a former slave who gained her freedom when her master died on the voyage fro Cuba to Spain. With nowhere to go, she finds her was into a Vega and Carmona gypsy families. We are soon transported into the way of life as we follow the gypsy's through their trials and tribulations. Again, there is violence to women in this book that was usual for that time period.
This is a fabulously written book that was originally translated from Spanish, though you won't be able to tell by the way it's written. The story was captivating and had me hooked fro the beginning. I do have to admit that at times I contemplated putting the book down, not because the story wasn't good but because it was so time consuming. However, now that I'm done with the story, I'm glad that I stuck to it.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion*
lorenachas's review against another edition
3.0
Este hombre no sabe qué es tener cadera.
Me tomó UN MES. Y aunque tuve arranques de lectura, la verdad, me costó muchísimo.
Futuro lector: está novela trata más bien de educar sobre la vida española en 1700. Entonces la historia se adapta de manera que supongo "realista", a ese tipo de vida.
Le puse tres estrellas por la investigación que tiene detrás, por historia le pondría un dos. Los personajes son muy difíciles de sentir verdaderos. Como dije, se adaptan a la investigación y no a una trama.
Me tomó UN MES. Y aunque tuve arranques de lectura, la verdad, me costó muchísimo.
Futuro lector: está novela trata más bien de educar sobre la vida española en 1700. Entonces la historia se adapta de manera que supongo "realista", a ese tipo de vida.
Le puse tres estrellas por la investigación que tiene detrás, por historia le pondría un dos. Los personajes son muy difíciles de sentir verdaderos. Como dije, se adaptan a la investigación y no a una trama.
reginaexmachina's review against another edition
This sounded really interesting but I just couldn't get into it. It begins well but it started describing how a person from the clergy is sexually fantasizing about the the protagonist, who is a newly freed slave, and I just decided there that I didn't want to read any more.