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donnaadouglas's review
3.0
This book is highly detailed and interesting, and clearly the author has done mammoth amounts of research (count the footnotes!!)
Having read this, I feel that my respect for [b:Che Guevara|172732|The Motorcycle Diaries Notes on a Latin American Journey|Ernesto Guevara|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172407292s/172732.jpg|818488] has grown because the portrait Castaneda has painted of him is a very human one - a man with both great strengths and great flaws. I feel that only now that I have read the story of his life can I truly appreciate his legacy, and I can see beyond the famous Korda photograph that has been capitalized so much.
Castaneda's style of writing is good, but at times very dry. I struggled a lot with the middle part of the book because he uses so many quotations, references and footnots that th reader can't help but become lost. I would have rated it higher but for the writing, not the subject.
QUOTATIONS I LIKED:
"If fate and love come into conflict, the former must always win; for love will fade if it rests upon indignity or abdication."
"'I knew you were going to shoot me; I should never have been taken alive. Tell Fidel that this failure does not mean the end of the revolution, that it will triumph elsewhere. Tell Aleida to forget this, remarry and be happy, and keep the children studying. Ask the soldiers to aim well.'"
Having read this, I feel that my respect for [b:Che Guevara|172732|The Motorcycle Diaries Notes on a Latin American Journey|Ernesto Guevara|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172407292s/172732.jpg|818488] has grown because the portrait Castaneda has painted of him is a very human one - a man with both great strengths and great flaws. I feel that only now that I have read the story of his life can I truly appreciate his legacy, and I can see beyond the famous Korda photograph that has been capitalized so much.
Castaneda's style of writing is good, but at times very dry. I struggled a lot with the middle part of the book because he uses so many quotations, references and footnots that th reader can't help but become lost. I would have rated it higher but for the writing, not the subject.
QUOTATIONS I LIKED:
"If fate and love come into conflict, the former must always win; for love will fade if it rests upon indignity or abdication."
"'I knew you were going to shoot me; I should never have been taken alive. Tell Fidel that this failure does not mean the end of the revolution, that it will triumph elsewhere. Tell Aleida to forget this, remarry and be happy, and keep the children studying. Ask the soldiers to aim well.'"
mandyist's review
4.0
I've mentioned before my difficulty regarding biographies. By definition, a biography is going to introduce the bias and opinions of the author, and reflect any limitations in that author's research.
This book is phenomenal and chronicles Che's entire life from a priviledged birth to his world famous execution. It is well researched and it is evident that the author spent years researching and writing this book. He has personally spoken to some of the most central figures in Che's life and as such, this text is valuable simply because that chance may never be seized again by any other biographer.
It was only after I finished the book and began to look up sources on the Internet that I discovered a potential flaw in this biography.
The flaw centres on the author's portrayal of Che as slightly hapless and naive, supported by his constant representation of Che as a "Christlike figure" who was betrayed by his closest aides. Many sources, even those supposedly in support of [b:Che Guevara|172732|The Motorcycle Diaries Notes on a Latin American Journey|Ernesto Guevara|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172407292s/172732.jpg|818488], will acknowledge that Che was extremely intelligent, calculating and often ruthless in his execution of his ideals. An example can be seen here: "Guevara exhibited great courage, skill in combat, and ruthlessness and soon became one of Castro’s ablest and most trusted aides. Guevara took responsibility for the execution of informers, insubordinates, deserters and spies in the revolutionary army. He personally executed Eutimio Guerra, a suspected Batista informant, with a single shot from his .32 (7.65 mm) pistol". The remainder of this article appears to be extremely fair and even reverent with regard to Che's life story.
The author portrays Che as an absolute victim in the Bolivian expedition and in the circumstances leading up to his death. Even in his own Bolivian diary, Che acknowledged the mounting setbacks and failures but he did not present as an innocent victim.
I guess the facts speak for themselves, but knowing of Che's intelligence and ruthlessness doesn't detract from his beliefs or accomplishments and so it wasn't altogether necessary for the author to try coat his image in cotton wool. The one thing the text does do though, is neglect the fragile chess game that Che engaged in during his fight for survival in both the Congo and in Bolivia. He strategised and executed plan upon plan to survive, even though it is evident he made mistakes, relied upon mistaken assumptions, was "betrayed" by desperate and defeated cadres and was quite frankly abandoned by Castro.
Nevertheless, I absolutely recommend this book, but recommend too that it be supplemented with a healthy dose of independent research.
This book is phenomenal and chronicles Che's entire life from a priviledged birth to his world famous execution. It is well researched and it is evident that the author spent years researching and writing this book. He has personally spoken to some of the most central figures in Che's life and as such, this text is valuable simply because that chance may never be seized again by any other biographer.
It was only after I finished the book and began to look up sources on the Internet that I discovered a potential flaw in this biography.
The flaw centres on the author's portrayal of Che as slightly hapless and naive, supported by his constant representation of Che as a "Christlike figure" who was betrayed by his closest aides. Many sources, even those supposedly in support of [b:Che Guevara|172732|The Motorcycle Diaries Notes on a Latin American Journey|Ernesto Guevara|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172407292s/172732.jpg|818488], will acknowledge that Che was extremely intelligent, calculating and often ruthless in his execution of his ideals. An example can be seen here: "Guevara exhibited great courage, skill in combat, and ruthlessness and soon became one of Castro’s ablest and most trusted aides. Guevara took responsibility for the execution of informers, insubordinates, deserters and spies in the revolutionary army. He personally executed Eutimio Guerra, a suspected Batista informant, with a single shot from his .32 (7.65 mm) pistol". The remainder of this article appears to be extremely fair and even reverent with regard to Che's life story.
The author portrays Che as an absolute victim in the Bolivian expedition and in the circumstances leading up to his death. Even in his own Bolivian diary, Che acknowledged the mounting setbacks and failures but he did not present as an innocent victim.
I guess the facts speak for themselves, but knowing of Che's intelligence and ruthlessness doesn't detract from his beliefs or accomplishments and so it wasn't altogether necessary for the author to try coat his image in cotton wool. The one thing the text does do though, is neglect the fragile chess game that Che engaged in during his fight for survival in both the Congo and in Bolivia. He strategised and executed plan upon plan to survive, even though it is evident he made mistakes, relied upon mistaken assumptions, was "betrayed" by desperate and defeated cadres and was quite frankly abandoned by Castro.
Nevertheless, I absolutely recommend this book, but recommend too that it be supplemented with a healthy dose of independent research.
therealbeale's review
4.0
Castañeda makes a compelling account of Che's life, though his childhood and formative years breeze through, the focus is definitely on the Cuba foco up to his execution. He provides balance, both demythologising legends, and writing with admiration for Che's example of vehement determination, a capacity to analyse hierarchy and overthrow it, but, unlike Deutscher's Trotsky, failing to examine himself and his own failures. It's a mixture of a man who as an ideological tour de force with the energy to match, with a sequence of accidents and wrong turns that shaped and ended his life. The Cuban years are the most romantic and exotic, which makes the flaws of his expeditions in Congo and Bolivia aberrant. Castañeda can sometimes give emphasis to insignificant details, wondering off as he sets the political scene for Che's life events. Twice he falls into the historian's trap of playing hindsight - first, deriding the boat trip to invade Cuba, by saying they left behind their common sense and didn't bother to plan. Second, by saying Che should've seen the cliff edge that was Bolivia coming before stepping off it. All in all it is a remarkable book of a man who lived like no other.
reverenddave's review
3.0
Too much of a critique of previous material on Che, despite its dry academic style it still managed to provide a lot of insight into the life of the guy on every hipster's t-shirt.
tomharnett's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.75
The first half is captivating and inspiring. It reads quickly as Che’s life rockets into the history books. The second half is slower, dense, and covers the geopolitics of the time. Informative, throughly written, and a bit slow at the end.
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