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mbuckley92's review against another edition
3.0
It took me two weeks to read this book - for a variety of reasons. As someone who doesn't speak Spanish and isn't familiar with southern Spain, the translation kept Spanish words sprinkled into the text (turns out most were swear words) and the nature of the book describes a lot of locations in southern Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco. Once I resigned myself to consulting a map and a translation tool, I fell into a better reading rhythm.
I did persist in finishing the book because I did enjoy the story. Teresa Mendoza flees Mexico for Spain after her boyfriend, Güero Dávila is killed for double crossing his drug-smuggler boss. In Spain, she falls in love with Santiago Fisterra, who transports/smuggles tobacco & hashish from Morocco into Gibraltar & Spain. But with Santiago, she didn't want to be the naive girlfriend. Good with numbers, she manages the books and eventually goes out on jobs with him. They become true partners. After Santiago is killed and she spends time in prison, she decides never to rely on men again.
Teresa's prison cellmate is Patty O'Farrell Meca, the black sheep of a rich Spanish family. Patty introduces Teresa to the world of books - providing Teresa an education she never had growing up. After they are released, Patty bankrolls Teresa's entry into southern Spain's drug smuggling market. With Teresa's contacts from her time with Santiago and Patty's contacts in the money laundering world, the two become the biggest transportation system of drugs in the Mediterranean. Teresa soon becomes know as the Queen of the South. Eventually, her past catches up with her and she must decide how to confront it.
The story is told alternating between the voice of a journalist investigating Teresa Mendoza, hoping to write a book about her, and the third person. The journalist is interviewing people that interacted with Terese in both Mexico and Spain. That perspective gives more insight into her motivations, or perceived motivations.
Teresa evolves from a young, poor, naive girlfriend to a cultured, powerful, realistic illegal-business owner. She is driven by the need to control her own life, image & destiny. While I believe she truly loved by Güerra and Santiago, she chooses not to let love control her choices ever again.
There are many references to The Conte of Monte Cristo, a book she reads in prison and refers back to often. I have never read the book, but it makes me wonder if The Queen of the South is a loose retelling of that classic.
The three star rating reflects my opinion that knowing Spanish and Spain would make this a much more enjoyable book. While I enjoyed the story, I find it hard to justify all the work I put into reading it.
I did persist in finishing the book because I did enjoy the story. Teresa Mendoza flees Mexico for Spain after her boyfriend, Güero Dávila is killed for double crossing his drug-smuggler boss. In Spain, she falls in love with Santiago Fisterra, who transports/smuggles tobacco & hashish from Morocco into Gibraltar & Spain. But with Santiago, she didn't want to be the naive girlfriend. Good with numbers, she manages the books and eventually goes out on jobs with him. They become true partners. After Santiago is killed and she spends time in prison, she decides never to rely on men again.
Teresa's prison cellmate is Patty O'Farrell Meca, the black sheep of a rich Spanish family. Patty introduces Teresa to the world of books - providing Teresa an education she never had growing up. After they are released, Patty bankrolls Teresa's entry into southern Spain's drug smuggling market. With Teresa's contacts from her time with Santiago and Patty's contacts in the money laundering world, the two become the biggest transportation system of drugs in the Mediterranean. Teresa soon becomes know as the Queen of the South. Eventually, her past catches up with her and she must decide how to confront it.
The story is told alternating between the voice of a journalist investigating Teresa Mendoza, hoping to write a book about her, and the third person. The journalist is interviewing people that interacted with Terese in both Mexico and Spain. That perspective gives more insight into her motivations, or perceived motivations.
Teresa evolves from a young, poor, naive girlfriend to a cultured, powerful, realistic illegal-business owner. She is driven by the need to control her own life, image & destiny. While I believe she truly loved by Güerra and Santiago, she chooses not to let love control her choices ever again.
There are many references to The Conte of Monte Cristo, a book she reads in prison and refers back to often. I have never read the book, but it makes me wonder if The Queen of the South is a loose retelling of that classic.
The three star rating reflects my opinion that knowing Spanish and Spain would make this a much more enjoyable book. While I enjoyed the story, I find it hard to justify all the work I put into reading it.
ombraluce's review against another edition
4.0
La "biografia letteraria" di una regina del narcotraffico, molto ben scritta, piena di colpi di scena, eppure lineare dall'inizio alla fine nel descrivere la caduta, la resurrezione e la definitiva nemesi della protagonista, con tanto di possibile assunzione nell'empireo.
aisling73's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
amh08's review against another edition
2.0
I’m always amazed at what inspires a director or screenwriter or producer to turn a certain book into a movie. Especially in cases like this where the books is tedious and slow and the writing bounces around from pov to pov. I tried but could not finish this one.
tezarnet's review against another edition
4.0
Brilian....
meski tebal, tapi detailnya terasa sekali
dan Ratu Selatan, suka baca buku *sesuatubanget*
meski tebal, tapi detailnya terasa sekali
dan Ratu Selatan, suka baca buku *sesuatubanget*
linn1378's review against another edition
3.0
Hay mucha jerga de narcotraficantes así que tengo que usar el diccionario más que lo habitual. Pero me gusta la historia. Tal vez la serie en Netflix sea mejor.
shgmclicious's review against another edition
4.0
I'm really glad I read this, if for no other reason than I never read books like this, not this scope, not this topic, not this style. This is the type of story I prefer in my mindless movies but I might have just had my mind changed, because after 100 or so pages, this novel was rather gripping, if confusing due to my very square-ness when it comes to drugs and violence and the vocabulary and context associated with them.
That said, there are some problems, like jumping around a lot, and the inexplicable and unnecessary extra storyline of a fictionalized version of the author cropping up to research the novel's real protagonist. It probably would have been a much tighter and more readable narrative without that.
In doing some browsing into reviews and descriptions of the novel, I can say that I find it creatively fascinating because of its unique mixture of fact and fiction. It's not the usual thinly disguised biography, but it incorporates real people in a fascinating way.
That said, there are some problems, like jumping around a lot, and the inexplicable and unnecessary extra storyline of a fictionalized version of the author cropping up to research the novel's real protagonist. It probably would have been a much tighter and more readable narrative without that.
In doing some browsing into reviews and descriptions of the novel, I can say that I find it creatively fascinating because of its unique mixture of fact and fiction. It's not the usual thinly disguised biography, but it incorporates real people in a fascinating way.