Scan barcode
applescc's review against another edition
2.0
Sadly, this book is both poorly written and poorly translated, though the historical subject--the intersection of cultures between Black Cuban slaves and ethnic gypsies in 18th century Spain--is fascinating. I wish it had been better.
astoriedsoul's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.
This review originally appeared on my blog: The Literarium
It is 1748, and after the death of her master and confined on a boat bound for Spain from Cuba, newly-freed slave Caridad finds herself in a new land with nowhere to go and no options open to her. However, shortly after landing in Seville, she encounters and becomes part of the local gypsy community, befriending Milagros. Eventually the gypsy community is outlawed by the government, and the two women find themselves in the middle of the gypsies’ fight for freedom. They end up traveling to Madrid, a journey will take Caridad and Milagros through the perilous avenues of love, freedom, and community.
I haven’t read a lot of Spanish fiction, or very much at all as far as I can remember, so this is probably a first for me. I must say I’m intrigued by the depth of scope in this novel regarding its content. Focusing on 1740s Spain and its little-talked-about gypsy community, Falcones crafts an insightful and unique story that places itself within the ranks of contemporary world classics to watch out for. The fact that this novel is about a freed slave and the Spanish gypsy community intrigued me; I like reading about little-known communities, and this is one community I feel has been silenced throughout history. So if you like new and unique subject-matter in your novels, particularly your historical fiction, this book is one you should check out.
Falcones’s writing is top-notch; however, this is quite a dense read linguistically. I’m not sure if this is due to the fact that this is a translation from the Spanish (I have not seen the original to be certain), or if this is due to simply poor editing. The narrative also tends to fall historical digressions in many places, where Falcones would attempt to clue the reader into what a place used to be, what it might have been used for, and so on. Unfortunately, this ends up interrupting the overall flow of the story to the point of being quite boring. I would prefer to work my way through the original in the hopes that the writing was more engaging, but I’m not sure this issue is the fault of the book being a translation. Yet in all of this, Falcones still presents a vivid portrayal of his characters, a freed slave and a Spanish gypsy, and 18th-century Spain, and I found the perspective and voice authentic and poignant.
Between the two female characters, I found Caridad more interesting and sympathetic in terms of getting to experience Spanish culture of this time through an “outsider’s” perspective and as one who eventually is drawn into it. She finds a place to exist where before she had none. She finds her humanity in a place that allows her some way to be human, to no longer be a slave, but to simply be Caridad. I found drawn to her most of all.
This brings me to another issue I had with this book: Falcones’s pervasive sexualization of his female characters. For example, two chapters into the book I encountered a rather vile rape scene that left me alienated and angry. This scenes (and I’m leaving out names and details to avoid spoilers) is void of all emotion and insight on the part of the narrator/author. While I understand that rape can often lack emotion, there should be something felt by someone. Where’s the anger? Where’s the feelings of defilement, violation, shame, despair? There was none of this during or after. What’s more, the scene did not even need to be there; it served no purpose. The scene could have been omitted and would not have taken anything away from the story. Subsequent scenes of her being taken against her will by another man who keeps her in his basement to charge other men to take advantage of her was also unnecessary. Not to mention that through a lot of the story, Caridad and Milagros inspire so much lust and desire that men are described as masturbating or otherwise finding pleasure in fantasizing about them. I understand they’re beautiful women–fine–but the rest of it is unnecessary. I felt like the lustful sexualization was meant to express how beautiful the women in the book are, but this could have been done in other ways.
With this issue aside, Falcones’s novel is overall a solid piece of historical fiction. I found it well-written, though quite dense; the subject and characters are unique and fresh, and the insight with which Falcones writes is to be respected. I like that over the course of the novel, we experience and take part in the transformation of Spain at this time in history. I learned about people in a country and time-period I previously knew so little about. In spite of the quality writing and unique perspective, it all fell flat for me because it just lacks that something that left me unable to engage like I want to, and found it a struggle to continue reading. Finally, in the midst of all this I grew alienated from the text because of the sexualization of the female characters. However, I have to reiterate that this is still a book worth reading; hardcore historical fiction lovers will love this, and maybe even history buffs for Falcones’s attention to the gypsies of 18th-century Spain, a culture that doesn’t get a lot written about it in fiction. Just keep in mind the sexual nature of some of the novel’s content and the fact that the narrative takes time and attention to get through for its density.
This review originally appeared on my blog: The Literarium
It is 1748, and after the death of her master and confined on a boat bound for Spain from Cuba, newly-freed slave Caridad finds herself in a new land with nowhere to go and no options open to her. However, shortly after landing in Seville, she encounters and becomes part of the local gypsy community, befriending Milagros. Eventually the gypsy community is outlawed by the government, and the two women find themselves in the middle of the gypsies’ fight for freedom. They end up traveling to Madrid, a journey will take Caridad and Milagros through the perilous avenues of love, freedom, and community.
I haven’t read a lot of Spanish fiction, or very much at all as far as I can remember, so this is probably a first for me. I must say I’m intrigued by the depth of scope in this novel regarding its content. Focusing on 1740s Spain and its little-talked-about gypsy community, Falcones crafts an insightful and unique story that places itself within the ranks of contemporary world classics to watch out for. The fact that this novel is about a freed slave and the Spanish gypsy community intrigued me; I like reading about little-known communities, and this is one community I feel has been silenced throughout history. So if you like new and unique subject-matter in your novels, particularly your historical fiction, this book is one you should check out.
Falcones’s writing is top-notch; however, this is quite a dense read linguistically. I’m not sure if this is due to the fact that this is a translation from the Spanish (I have not seen the original to be certain), or if this is due to simply poor editing. The narrative also tends to fall historical digressions in many places, where Falcones would attempt to clue the reader into what a place used to be, what it might have been used for, and so on. Unfortunately, this ends up interrupting the overall flow of the story to the point of being quite boring. I would prefer to work my way through the original in the hopes that the writing was more engaging, but I’m not sure this issue is the fault of the book being a translation. Yet in all of this, Falcones still presents a vivid portrayal of his characters, a freed slave and a Spanish gypsy, and 18th-century Spain, and I found the perspective and voice authentic and poignant.
Between the two female characters, I found Caridad more interesting and sympathetic in terms of getting to experience Spanish culture of this time through an “outsider’s” perspective and as one who eventually is drawn into it. She finds a place to exist where before she had none. She finds her humanity in a place that allows her some way to be human, to no longer be a slave, but to simply be Caridad. I found drawn to her most of all.
This brings me to another issue I had with this book: Falcones’s pervasive sexualization of his female characters. For example, two chapters into the book I encountered a rather vile rape scene that left me alienated and angry. This scenes (and I’m leaving out names and details to avoid spoilers) is void of all emotion and insight on the part of the narrator/author. While I understand that rape can often lack emotion, there should be something felt by someone. Where’s the anger? Where’s the feelings of defilement, violation, shame, despair? There was none of this during or after. What’s more, the scene did not even need to be there; it served no purpose. The scene could have been omitted and would not have taken anything away from the story. Subsequent scenes of her being taken against her will by another man who keeps her in his basement to charge other men to take advantage of her was also unnecessary. Not to mention that through a lot of the story, Caridad and Milagros inspire so much lust and desire that men are described as masturbating or otherwise finding pleasure in fantasizing about them. I understand they’re beautiful women–fine–but the rest of it is unnecessary. I felt like the lustful sexualization was meant to express how beautiful the women in the book are, but this could have been done in other ways.
With this issue aside, Falcones’s novel is overall a solid piece of historical fiction. I found it well-written, though quite dense; the subject and characters are unique and fresh, and the insight with which Falcones writes is to be respected. I like that over the course of the novel, we experience and take part in the transformation of Spain at this time in history. I learned about people in a country and time-period I previously knew so little about. In spite of the quality writing and unique perspective, it all fell flat for me because it just lacks that something that left me unable to engage like I want to, and found it a struggle to continue reading. Finally, in the midst of all this I grew alienated from the text because of the sexualization of the female characters. However, I have to reiterate that this is still a book worth reading; hardcore historical fiction lovers will love this, and maybe even history buffs for Falcones’s attention to the gypsies of 18th-century Spain, a culture that doesn’t get a lot written about it in fiction. Just keep in mind the sexual nature of some of the novel’s content and the fact that the narrative takes time and attention to get through for its density.
moiouje's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
dtaylorbooks's review against another edition
2.0
What I know of the Romani is that they originate from India and were exiled. They traveled through Egypt and were kicked out of there too. Then they got to Europe and they moved around a lot and were heinously persecuted. That’s about the extent of it. I also know that the term ‘gypsy’ is considered derogatory so while the book uses it with abandon I’ll stick to using the Roma/Romani term (although I’m unsure of when and where to use which version so I apologize if I misuse it). Anything in brackets [ ] in the above quoted blurb is my replacement.
I couldn’t find out too much about the author that was in English but I’m under the impression that he isn’t Roma. That being said I’m not sure of what kind of impression he was trying to make about the Romani in THE BAREFOOT QUEEN. Because the people in this book are just a-holes. They’re an exceedingly prideful people who feel they are the best people in the world and as such are exempt from being a contributing member of society or following any governing body’s laws. Some of them are blacksmiths but most are swindlers and hockers of stolen goods. They fight at the drop of a hat, usually as some perceived slight involving a lack of respect and they’re all so incredibly self-centered and selfish that it was nearly impossible for me to like any of them. For a book that 650 pages long that’s a lot of crappy characters to read about.
That’s not to condone their persecution. Genocide is bad. To split up an entire race of people and jail them for the sole purpose of not having them reproduce and then just work the living ones to death is rather awful. I can understand why the government wouldn’t want these guys hanging around because they do harass people and they were thieves and they didn’t contribute to the economy in many meaningful ways (within the story) but that could be applied to a lot of people and to target the Roma specifically in order to eradicate their race was horrible.
Caridad, for most of the book, is a submissive former slave who ends up in crappy situation after crappy situation and it takes her a solid two-thirds of the book to start standing up for herself and asserting herself as a human being in this world. I can half understand considering her upbringing: she was stolen from her parents and sold into slavery at 10. There’s a lot of indoctrination there and it’ll take more than a few pages to break that. It didn’t help that such a quiet, submissive person was contrasted against outspoken, assertive Romani and it really made her seem even more curled into her own self than what she might otherwise have been. She does eventually come into her own but even that’s hard to see around the more outspoken Romani. Plus Caridad as a character really isn’t that well-developed and she gets shoved around the story for most of it. It’s easy to lose her among other characters and since she doesn’t make too much of an impression she’s easy to forget about.
Milagros is such a selfish little girl who, while treating Caridad as somewhat of an equal, like an exceedingly selfish teenager it’s very much a one-sided friendship where Milagros’s interest in Caridad is not a means to help the former slave but to sate her own curiosity. It’s always about Milagros’s problems and her wants and needs and never about Caridad. She came off as being far younger than what she actually was as a result. Because the girl doesn’t listen to anyone she ended up making some heinous mistakes and paid dearly for them. I found it difficult to really feel bad for her because she chose not to see what was going on. Time after time she convinced herself her husband wasn’t cheating on her when she knew he was and the POV so much as said that. For someone who was so assertive she never stood up for herself and she was beaten down pretty badly. She came out the other side pretty humbled but by the end of the book she’d kind of faded into the background as well. Her story was over with so it was time to move on.
Ana, Milagros’s mother, was a consistent character in the story. She never wavered in her beliefs even though there were times she did want to give up. Especially when she was in jail she was downtrodden but she pushed on, pushed back and was punished time after time for it but she still pushed on. I could admire that in her. In terms of character growth there really wasn’t much but I was okay with that. Ana was probably my favorite character just for her strength. I could tolerate her attitude, her pride, and abide her person because she really was a great character.
Melchor, Ana’s father (Milagros’s grandfather), was meh. He was kind of a crotchety old man that liked to shake his fist at everyone. He was very proud of being a Vega and held an eternal grudge against the Garcias until the very end of the book (for mostly good reasons). Another character that really didn’t change but I didn’t feel him as being too strong of a presence on the page. He ended up helping Caridad along with her personal growth but whenever the story was in his POV it felt rather thin. He wasn’t very substantial and I couldn’t get behind him as a character because I didn’t feel there was much there to begin with.
This was a LONG book with a story that took a long time to be told. Those four people are the main characters but it often deviated to a handful more characters to get their perspective on things and then it gave some background information on, historically, what was going on. I’m trying to think of what made this book so long but really there were a lot of words that didn’t say all that much. It’s not that the story was cyclical or redundant. There was just a lot of fat, it takes place over about five years, and it doesn’t leave a whole hell of a lot out during that story time. So much of it was insubstantial that I can’t remember a whole lot of it. There’s a lot of talk of cigars and a lot of people were whipped. A lot of Garcias/Vega hate and a singing morena. I didn’t get too much out of such a dense book but I can’t say I’m disappointed in that. I was still hoping for some kind of AH HA ending but that didn’t happen. It’s like subconsciously I expected this to not hit with me after only a few pages of reading. It sounded interesting but ultimately it was a slog to get through and didn’t leave any kind of mark on me.
2
I received this book from the publisher through Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
I couldn’t find out too much about the author that was in English but I’m under the impression that he isn’t Roma. That being said I’m not sure of what kind of impression he was trying to make about the Romani in THE BAREFOOT QUEEN. Because the people in this book are just a-holes. They’re an exceedingly prideful people who feel they are the best people in the world and as such are exempt from being a contributing member of society or following any governing body’s laws. Some of them are blacksmiths but most are swindlers and hockers of stolen goods. They fight at the drop of a hat, usually as some perceived slight involving a lack of respect and they’re all so incredibly self-centered and selfish that it was nearly impossible for me to like any of them. For a book that 650 pages long that’s a lot of crappy characters to read about.
That’s not to condone their persecution. Genocide is bad. To split up an entire race of people and jail them for the sole purpose of not having them reproduce and then just work the living ones to death is rather awful. I can understand why the government wouldn’t want these guys hanging around because they do harass people and they were thieves and they didn’t contribute to the economy in many meaningful ways (within the story) but that could be applied to a lot of people and to target the Roma specifically in order to eradicate their race was horrible.
Caridad, for most of the book, is a submissive former slave who ends up in crappy situation after crappy situation and it takes her a solid two-thirds of the book to start standing up for herself and asserting herself as a human being in this world. I can half understand considering her upbringing: she was stolen from her parents and sold into slavery at 10. There’s a lot of indoctrination there and it’ll take more than a few pages to break that. It didn’t help that such a quiet, submissive person was contrasted against outspoken, assertive Romani and it really made her seem even more curled into her own self than what she might otherwise have been. She does eventually come into her own but even that’s hard to see around the more outspoken Romani. Plus Caridad as a character really isn’t that well-developed and she gets shoved around the story for most of it. It’s easy to lose her among other characters and since she doesn’t make too much of an impression she’s easy to forget about.
Milagros is such a selfish little girl who, while treating Caridad as somewhat of an equal, like an exceedingly selfish teenager it’s very much a one-sided friendship where Milagros’s interest in Caridad is not a means to help the former slave but to sate her own curiosity. It’s always about Milagros’s problems and her wants and needs and never about Caridad. She came off as being far younger than what she actually was as a result. Because the girl doesn’t listen to anyone she ended up making some heinous mistakes and paid dearly for them. I found it difficult to really feel bad for her because she chose not to see what was going on. Time after time she convinced herself her husband wasn’t cheating on her when she knew he was and the POV so much as said that. For someone who was so assertive she never stood up for herself and she was beaten down pretty badly. She came out the other side pretty humbled but by the end of the book she’d kind of faded into the background as well. Her story was over with so it was time to move on.
Ana, Milagros’s mother, was a consistent character in the story. She never wavered in her beliefs even though there were times she did want to give up. Especially when she was in jail she was downtrodden but she pushed on, pushed back and was punished time after time for it but she still pushed on. I could admire that in her. In terms of character growth there really wasn’t much but I was okay with that. Ana was probably my favorite character just for her strength. I could tolerate her attitude, her pride, and abide her person because she really was a great character.
Melchor, Ana’s father (Milagros’s grandfather), was meh. He was kind of a crotchety old man that liked to shake his fist at everyone. He was very proud of being a Vega and held an eternal grudge against the Garcias until the very end of the book (for mostly good reasons). Another character that really didn’t change but I didn’t feel him as being too strong of a presence on the page. He ended up helping Caridad along with her personal growth but whenever the story was in his POV it felt rather thin. He wasn’t very substantial and I couldn’t get behind him as a character because I didn’t feel there was much there to begin with.
This was a LONG book with a story that took a long time to be told. Those four people are the main characters but it often deviated to a handful more characters to get their perspective on things and then it gave some background information on, historically, what was going on. I’m trying to think of what made this book so long but really there were a lot of words that didn’t say all that much. It’s not that the story was cyclical or redundant. There was just a lot of fat, it takes place over about five years, and it doesn’t leave a whole hell of a lot out during that story time. So much of it was insubstantial that I can’t remember a whole lot of it. There’s a lot of talk of cigars and a lot of people were whipped. A lot of Garcias/Vega hate and a singing morena. I didn’t get too much out of such a dense book but I can’t say I’m disappointed in that. I was still hoping for some kind of AH HA ending but that didn’t happen. It’s like subconsciously I expected this to not hit with me after only a few pages of reading. It sounded interesting but ultimately it was a slog to get through and didn’t leave any kind of mark on me.
2
I received this book from the publisher through Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.
abookishtype's review against another edition
2.0
Caridad, Melchor Vega, Ana Vega, and Milagros Carmona all seem to have nothing but bad luck. That or author Falcones likes nothing better than to create characters and then torture them for almost 700 pages. As The Barefoot Queen rolls along, there is poverty, injustice, imprisonment, slavery, rape, and murder. It's a wonder that anyone survives what Falcones puts his characters through...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
vallecillo's review against another edition
4.0
La Reina Descalza narra las aventuras/desventuras de Caridad, una negra que acaba de recibir su libertad y una familia de gitanos en España.
Narra los obstaculos que siempre aparecen en su aparatente camino a la felicidad; esa que se le escapa por los dedos cada vez que cree tenerla. Esa que logra ver de vez en cuando pero díficilmente logra conocer.
Este no es un libro alegre, ni cálido al corazón. Es duro e injusto, causa enojo y repudio, cosas que lo hacen, a mi parecer, un buen libro. Al Despertar emociones en el lector, el autor puede darse por satisfecho de que su obra ha logrado su cometido.
"Canta, Morena"
Porque en su cantar, Melchor descubría y recordaba su propio sufrimiento. Revivía el dolor de la esclavitud, la angustía y la opresión de su corazón.
Narra los obstaculos que siempre aparecen en su aparatente camino a la felicidad; esa que se le escapa por los dedos cada vez que cree tenerla. Esa que logra ver de vez en cuando pero díficilmente logra conocer.
Este no es un libro alegre, ni cálido al corazón. Es duro e injusto, causa enojo y repudio, cosas que lo hacen, a mi parecer, un buen libro. Al Despertar emociones en el lector, el autor puede darse por satisfecho de que su obra ha logrado su cometido.
"Canta, Morena"
Porque en su cantar, Melchor descubría y recordaba su propio sufrimiento. Revivía el dolor de la esclavitud, la angustía y la opresión de su corazón.
mariagfuentesal's review
emotional
informative
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? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Slavery
leleedow's review against another edition
1.0
I did not like this book at all it was so hard for me to even get through. Sadly I did not finish this book.