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book_concierge's review
1.0
The novel is framed as the reminiscence of a woman. An old journalist heads to Mexico during the time of the Mexican Revolution seeking, not a story, but his death. He joins with a band of Pancho Villa’s guerilla fighters, led by General Tomas Arroyo, and witnesses events as they destroy all but the mirrored ballroom of a great hacienda. There he encounters a white woman, Harriet Winslow. Harriet had been hired as a governess for the owner’s children, but they had all fled by the time she arrived from the US, and now she is stranded and yet determined to stay and defend the property as best she can.
There has been much praise for this work; it was the first translated work by a Mexican author to become a bestseller in the United States. But I had great difficulty engaging with the characters and the plot, such as it was.
Fuentes interrupts the action with long stream-of-conciousness soliloquies by each of his characters. Some of these consist of one long sentence that takes more than a page of text to get through. Now, I’ve read other works with a similar technique – Jose Saramago’s works come to mind – and I’ve enjoyed them. But in this book, I felt that these interludes did nothing so much as interrupt the meager story and make me like the book even less.
Then there are the sex scenes. I’ll say this for Fuentes, he doesn’t pull any punches. But he also has NO IDEA how women think or what motivates them to act the way they do. These are nothing but a macho man’s fantasy. Enough said.
The Old Gringo in the story is based on Ambrose Bierce, an historical figure who disappeared shortly after he travelled to Mexico during that country’s revolution. But the name is mentioned only once towards the very end of the book.
One final note about the title of the English translation. The originally titled book in Spanish is Gringo Viejo, which does NOT include an article. So the English title should not have that leading “The” either. A small irritation.
r_musil's review against another edition
4.0
«اکنون تنها می نشیند و به یاد می آرد.»
کتاب با این جمله به پایان می رسد، داستان گرینگوی پیر، روزنامه نگاری که با دو جلد کتابی که نوشته، یک جلد دون کیشوت که میخواهد تا زمان باقی است بخواند، و چند دست لباس زیر از تنها مرزی که برای آمریکا در جنوب باقی مانده عبور می کند تا بمیرد، در بین مردمی که هنوز زده اند، در حال انقلاب.
فونتس داستان پیرمرد را از جایی در واقعیت برداشته و چسبانده به خیال هایش و احساساتی که به مردمش و سرگذشتشان داشته، پیرمرد اما هر چه قدر هم تف مالی شده به جای ماندن آن بالا، از روی هذیان ها سر می خورد می آید پایین، توجه را جلب نمی کند، آدم از تجسم قیافه ش کراهت دارد. هریت هم باید در آمریکا می ماند و به وجود نداشتن ادامه می داد؛ مکزیکی ها اما می ارزند تا به سرعت از روی توصیف ها و فلسفه کردن ها بپرید تا به داستانشان برسید، به آتش بازیشان، به دعا کردنشان، نوکری و سر و ته کردن کشور و ارباب هایشان.
کتاب پاره پاره است، کمی از لحاظ زمانی و بیشتر از این بابت که نویسنده چه قدر خودش است چه قدر آدمی که نیست. انگار که در شلوغی به دیگران تنه میزنید و راهتان را باز می کنید، برای احترام به نویسنده کتاب را این طور بخوانید.
کتاب با این جمله به پایان می رسد، داستان گرینگوی پیر، روزنامه نگاری که با دو جلد کتابی که نوشته، یک جلد دون کیشوت که میخواهد تا زمان باقی است بخواند، و چند دست لباس زیر از تنها مرزی که برای آمریکا در جنوب باقی مانده عبور می کند تا بمیرد، در بین مردمی که هنوز زده اند، در حال انقلاب.
فونتس داستان پیرمرد را از جایی در واقعیت برداشته و چسبانده به خیال هایش و احساساتی که به مردمش و سرگذشتشان داشته، پیرمرد اما هر چه قدر هم تف مالی شده به جای ماندن آن بالا، از روی هذیان ها سر می خورد می آید پایین، توجه را جلب نمی کند، آدم از تجسم قیافه ش کراهت دارد. هریت هم باید در آمریکا می ماند و به وجود نداشتن ادامه می داد؛ مکزیکی ها اما می ارزند تا به سرعت از روی توصیف ها و فلسفه کردن ها بپرید تا به داستانشان برسید، به آتش بازیشان، به دعا کردنشان، نوکری و سر و ته کردن کشور و ارباب هایشان.
کتاب پاره پاره است، کمی از لحاظ زمانی و بیشتر از این بابت که نویسنده چه قدر خودش است چه قدر آدمی که نیست. انگار که در شلوغی به دیگران تنه میزنید و راهتان را باز می کنید، برای احترام به نویسنده کتاب را این طور بخوانید.
jamesdanielhorn's review against another edition
3.0
Carlos Fuentes’ The Old Gringo is undeniably well written. It’s got all the elements of a great book; symbolism, engaging characters, interesting setting and plot, and beautifully executed prose, but it just wasn’t very appealing to me.
There’s an extremely toxic masculinity that courses through this book’s veins that made it hard for me to truly enjoy. I’m sure this is in part because of the setting and culture depicted in the novel, and is probably intentional, as most of the book centers around two men measuring their masculinity against one another. I found the female protagonist, who’s memories we are following, a little too one note to be totally believable. This narrative structure may also be difficult for some and requires your full attention. Despite this, the book did in end rope me in enough finish, but it just didn’t leave me as satisfied as writing of this caliber usually does.
I can see why upon its release it became a best seller in the US. It is well crafted enough to appeal to critics and misogyny wasn’t as frowned upon in that era. For the modern reader though, I think it’s really only worth a read if you love post-modern writing, or if you are deeply interested in this era in Latin history. Just know going into it the type masculinity you are intending to subject yourself to.
There’s an extremely toxic masculinity that courses through this book’s veins that made it hard for me to truly enjoy. I’m sure this is in part because of the setting and culture depicted in the novel, and is probably intentional, as most of the book centers around two men measuring their masculinity against one another. I found the female protagonist, who’s memories we are following, a little too one note to be totally believable. This narrative structure may also be difficult for some and requires your full attention. Despite this, the book did in end rope me in enough finish, but it just didn’t leave me as satisfied as writing of this caliber usually does.
I can see why upon its release it became a best seller in the US. It is well crafted enough to appeal to critics and misogyny wasn’t as frowned upon in that era. For the modern reader though, I think it’s really only worth a read if you love post-modern writing, or if you are deeply interested in this era in Latin history. Just know going into it the type masculinity you are intending to subject yourself to.
liberrydude's review
3.0
The Old Gringo is not about Ambrose Bierce but about Mexico. I can see the greatness of this work. It’s erotic, sacrilegious, cruel, stark, dark, light. It constantly goes from reality to dreams. It’s the history, anthropology, and psychology of the nation.
Some great lines:
Page 70 “No more West, boys, except in the blurry frontier of an empty whiskey glass.”
Page 75. “... the ludicrous filth, the farts of God, we call humanity.”
Page 76. “ We are caught in the business of forever killing people whose skin is of a different color. Mexico is proof of what we could have been,....”
Page 129 You can never go home again. A familiar theme in literature. “ Home is a memory.”
Page 145. “ To be a gringo in Mexico ...ah, that is euthanasia.”
I’m going to have reread it. For sure.
Some great lines:
Page 70 “No more West, boys, except in the blurry frontier of an empty whiskey glass.”
Page 75. “... the ludicrous filth, the farts of God, we call humanity.”
Page 76. “ We are caught in the business of forever killing people whose skin is of a different color. Mexico is proof of what we could have been,....”
Page 129 You can never go home again. A familiar theme in literature. “ Home is a memory.”
Page 145. “ To be a gringo in Mexico ...ah, that is euthanasia.”
I’m going to have reread it. For sure.
lumari3's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
shanviolinlove's review
4.0
Now she sits alone and remembers.
This refrain throughout Fuentes' The Old Gringo softly reminds the reader again and again of the witness, Harriet Winslow, whom the community will always respect, because she will be the one to carry the memories of everything that occurred during the revolution. The old gringo, who came to Mexico to die; the young general, who himself saw life and death as the same entity and each necessary of the other. And Harriet, reconciling the two while navigating her Mexican life with her U.S. influence (literally hailing from D.C.) and ambitions of English lessons and democracy for a town that has no place for either. The theme of the novel is the new violence that must replace the old, and battles, accounts of rapes and murders, executions and coups de grace, flood the pages.
Taken literally, these three characters are hard to assess. Harriet Winslow is moved like a chess piece between the two men, sometimes literally positioned by one or the other. Her relationship with the old man is especially confounding, as he is constantly negotiating his feelings for her "as a wife or as a daughter," sometimes aroused by and sometimes protective of her. Same with Tomas Arroyo, with whom she shares mutual contempt and mutual lust. Taken allegorically, these three embody the ideologies that their background communities have created. The old man serves as a patriarchal figure who could potentially bridge the Mexicans oppressed by the hacienda owners with the white foreigners who will never truly belong otherwise to the community. Yet the theme persists: the new violence comes to replace the old. There is no removing it in its entirety, as the constant flashback narratives remind us--someone must be held accountable for the suffering, the oppression, the abuse. Indeed, the framework of the narration suggests this allegorical reading at times, as past and present tense shift, perspectives shift (dialogues from the past literally supersede the dialogues of the present), the quotation marks denoting character speeches are sometimes absent--suggesting an ideology rather than an actual spoken word. This is a novel of ideas and politics, both entrenched in history and focused on the future.
This refrain throughout Fuentes' The Old Gringo softly reminds the reader again and again of the witness, Harriet Winslow, whom the community will always respect, because she will be the one to carry the memories of everything that occurred during the revolution. The old gringo, who came to Mexico to die; the young general, who himself saw life and death as the same entity and each necessary of the other. And Harriet, reconciling the two while navigating her Mexican life with her U.S. influence (literally hailing from D.C.) and ambitions of English lessons and democracy for a town that has no place for either. The theme of the novel is the new violence that must replace the old, and battles, accounts of rapes and murders, executions and coups de grace, flood the pages.
Taken literally, these three characters are hard to assess. Harriet Winslow is moved like a chess piece between the two men, sometimes literally positioned by one or the other. Her relationship with the old man is especially confounding, as he is constantly negotiating his feelings for her "as a wife or as a daughter," sometimes aroused by and sometimes protective of her. Same with Tomas Arroyo, with whom she shares mutual contempt and mutual lust. Taken allegorically, these three embody the ideologies that their background communities have created. The old man serves as a patriarchal figure who could potentially bridge the Mexicans oppressed by the hacienda owners with the white foreigners who will never truly belong otherwise to the community. Yet the theme persists: the new violence comes to replace the old. There is no removing it in its entirety, as the constant flashback narratives remind us--someone must be held accountable for the suffering, the oppression, the abuse. Indeed, the framework of the narration suggests this allegorical reading at times, as past and present tense shift, perspectives shift (dialogues from the past literally supersede the dialogues of the present), the quotation marks denoting character speeches are sometimes absent--suggesting an ideology rather than an actual spoken word. This is a novel of ideas and politics, both entrenched in history and focused on the future.
bellep's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
croaker155's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
cassiefleurs's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing read.
The flow is a bit slow but the praise nd the characters portrayal is the quality you can find Carlos Fuentes has a reputation for.
I loved the basis of the story in general.
The flow is a bit slow but the praise nd the characters portrayal is the quality you can find Carlos Fuentes has a reputation for.
I loved the basis of the story in general.