Reviews

Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig

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bookishsumaiyah's review against another edition

4.0

‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ is an Argentinian novel by Manuel Puig, which I had picked up at my local Waterstones on a complete whim - briefly reading the plot, and immediately drawn into the storyline. Picking up this book, an anomaly to my many hours of researching the perfect books to read, has been one of the best decisions I have made recently.

The novel depicts daily conversations between two cellmates in an Argentine prison, between Molina and Valentin, and share an intimate bond in the process, exchanging detailed stories from the movies Molina has watched and from their previous life. What is captivating about this novel is that the writing style is unusual - the book is written in dialogue, which is sometimes tricky to follow as there is minimal indication of who is speaking, however, for a novel that’s just contained mostly in a dialogue format/stream-of-consciousness writing - the writing is absolutely gorgeous, and poetic: delving into philosophical insights on homosexuality and politics. There are also six sub-plots as well, in which Molina describes each of the movies he loves, and rather then providing a synopsis, Puig enables us to delve into some of the most darkest and strangest movie ideas I have ever read. Puig’s own film appreciation cannot be ignored here, and it is one of the rare cases where the writing is better than the movies. Further, the plot-twists did genuinely cause me to gasp very loudly in public transport - a testament for creating unpredictable twists and turns.

Perhaps the only off-putting this about this novel, was the inclusion of footnotes about the psychoanalytic theory of homosexuality, which was explained well throughly. I am just considering if it was best placed in this novel perhaps? While it does a fantastic job in understanding Puig’s intention to provide an objective view of masculinity and homosexuality, I have never come across footnotes in a literary fiction. While I am not opposed to this, and I do adore non-fiction psychological works, what could’ve been the perfect mixture of combing fiction and non-fiction, I felt like the footnotes were not best placed and needs to be revised. It is credit to Puig’s seductive writing, I was so caught up in reading the dialogue, sometimes I just purposefully ignored the footnotes. While it would have enhanced my understanding on homosexuality at that given point, I just didn’t think it was necessary nor gained or depreciated my understanding of the book. I am a firm believer if something doesn’t add value or remove value, it is better off leaving it out. However, this novel is beautifully crafted, and I will be definitely re-reading during the summer (perhaps watching the real-life movies it had been based around), and I will go back with a fine tooth-comb over the footnotes, for sure!

fred312's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

uutopicaa's review against another edition

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5.0

La verdad es que pensé que no me iba a gustar.

Sé que es un libro que tiene errores. Que escapa en si estilo narrativo a lo que es usual. También sé que tiene algunas cosas sobre la comunidad LGBT que no están bien expresadas y que suenan horribles.

Pero es el reflejo de una época. De dos visiones en un espacio y tiempo determinado. Y, como tal, me resultó fascinante. Los personajes, con más defectos que virtudes, son extremadamente creíbles y humanos. Están construidos de forma excelente, igual que el modo en el que los vamos conociendo de a poco.