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fairyfi's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
missnicolerose's review
5.0
I absolutely fell in love with "Singing from the Well".
The story is haunting, surreal and magical. Told from the perspective of an abused and starved child in the Cuban countryside, the story swings from reality to fantasy and back again before you can tell which side is up. I appreciated the wildly imaginative mind of the narrator, clearly using his fantasies as an escape from everyday life.
Is the narrator Celestino? Is he a literary foil for the narrator? Is he an imaginary friend? Or is he really a cousin dropped off to live with the narrator and his terrible family?
I finished this a few days ago and am still mulling it over, considering the layers of allegory involved. While it can be taken at a surface level of a child fighting poverty, it can also be seen as an allegory for the political climate of Cuba during Arenas' formative years. The author's biographical details can put much more into perspective with the story, but it is still highly enjoyable without those details being known to the reader.
Looking forward to reading more by Arenas.
The story is haunting, surreal and magical. Told from the perspective of an abused and starved child in the Cuban countryside, the story swings from reality to fantasy and back again before you can tell which side is up. I appreciated the wildly imaginative mind of the narrator, clearly using his fantasies as an escape from everyday life.
Is the narrator Celestino? Is he a literary foil for the narrator? Is he an imaginary friend? Or is he really a cousin dropped off to live with the narrator and his terrible family?
I finished this a few days ago and am still mulling it over, considering the layers of allegory involved. While it can be taken at a surface level of a child fighting poverty, it can also be seen as an allegory for the political climate of Cuba during Arenas' formative years. The author's biographical details can put much more into perspective with the story, but it is still highly enjoyable without those details being known to the reader.
Looking forward to reading more by Arenas.
dalcecilruno's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Love this book. Love how it never tells me what’s real and what isn’t. Beautiful writing.
jayshay's review
4.0
Up until well over half way reading this book I was bitching and complaining, reading offending parts of the book to my wife. I felt like an adult following a child around as he played his own very private game. SftW was all fantastical, nothing grounded the story, there wasn't a plot, I didn't know what the hell was going on, characters were constantly dying and then coming back in the next paragraph, everyone seemed insane, is Celistino even real?
But..... right after or on page 130 (of 206) something clicked for me. Maybe I just released my realist fiction expectations. It's a novel from a young child's perspective, there is little or no setting, and for the life of me I'm not even totally clear what the point of the damn book is! (Though it is interesting that the novel was originally titled Celestino antes del alba and how the book ends. And that the name derives from "of the sky, heavenly", sort of an angel.) Maybe it is just the particular brutality of this childhood, there is a reason why everyone is dying all the time. I still think the trope of Celestino writing on all the trees and the grandfather cutting them down was just that, a writers trope -- too transparently 'meaningful' to have any power for me. But the cumulative effect of the barrage of a child's fantastical imagining finally did have its effect on me. By the end I was touched -- so the book worked for me. For anyone looking for a education about Cuba, look elsewhere, but if you want up close, very upclose, childhood hell (A Season in Hell) this is your book.
But..... right after or on page 130 (of 206) something clicked for me. Maybe I just released my realist fiction expectations. It's a novel from a young child's perspective, there is little or no setting, and for the life of me I'm not even totally clear what the point of the damn book is! (Though it is interesting that the novel was originally titled Celestino antes del alba and how the book ends. And that the name derives from "of the sky, heavenly", sort of an angel.) Maybe it is just the particular brutality of this childhood, there is a reason why everyone is dying all the time. I still think the trope of Celestino writing on all the trees and the grandfather cutting them down was just that, a writers trope -- too transparently 'meaningful' to have any power for me. But the cumulative effect of the barrage of a child's fantastical imagining finally did have its effect on me. By the end I was touched -- so the book worked for me. For anyone looking for a education about Cuba, look elsewhere, but if you want up close, very upclose, childhood hell (A Season in Hell) this is your book.
sas408's review against another edition
2.0
Yikes, this book was confusing. Where do the dreams end and reality begin? I could't tell.
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