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Searching... Jefferson Public Library | GOLDMAN, F. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
With his previous novels, Francisco Goldman has reaped immense acclaim and established himself as an American voice of vital importance. His third novel is a marvelous tale of love and the birth of the modern spirit, set in the convents, ballrooms, and coffee plantations of late-nineteenth-century Central America and the docks, rooming houses, and stately Fifth Avenue addresses of New York. When we meet Maria de las Nieves Moran, she is a bookish and dreamy novice nun-until the country's new ruler closes the convents. When she enrolls in a writing class under Jose Marti, her life is transformed by the brilliant poet and hero of Cuban independence, whose year in that Central American capital results in Latin America's most famous love poem. Maria de las Nieves's story unfolds among an unforgettable cast of characters. And when Maria de las Nieves departs for New York years later, young daughter in tow, she continues to evade the mystery of who, of her many suitors, the girl's father is, and what really happened between her and Jose Marti.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The Guatemalan-American Goldman (The Ordinary Seaman, etc.) has used the often violent modern history of Central America as the backdrop of his two previous novels. His latest plunges back to the 19th century, telling the story of a woman who might have borne an illegitimate child of the great Cuban poet, Jose Marti. First a nun, then a translator for the British ambassador, Maria de las Nieves Moran is involved with four men, one of whom is Jose Marti. Unfortunately, Marti never transcends his wooden theatricality as "the poet" in Goldman's narrative. Much more interesting are Maria's three other suitors, especially Maria's true love, a mysterious boy whom the ambassador has plucked out of obscurity and wants to make the king of the Mosquitoes, an Indian tribe on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. Certain sequences (a journey to the interior of the republic, the romance between Maria and the "king" of the Mosquitos, etc.) are beautifully written. The narrative, however, loses his sense of what is central and what is peripheral. The novel suffers from too much clutter and the obsession with Marti, a bothersome McGuffin in an otherwise independently interesting story. Agent, Amanda Urban. (Sept.) Forecast: Though a respectable entry in the author's growing oeuvre, this doesn't pack the narrative punch of Goldman's first two novels, and as a result may show quieter sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Goldman (The Ordinary Seaman, 1997, etc.) returns to 19th-century Central America to trace the life and loves of a half-Indian, half-Irish near-nun who falls for JosÉ Marti. Sexier-than-pretty María de las Nieves Moran entered one of the many convents in her nameless little Central American homeland not for love of God but for love of her bosom friend Paquita. It's a long story (densely written, it's muy long), but nubile, adolescent, and beautiful Paquita had become the romantic object of the much older El Anticristo, anticlerical leader of the current Liberal rebel forces. Paquita had promised not to lose her virginity until María de las Nieves had lost hers, so the latter's vows should have put Paquita out of circulation forever. Not so. When El Anticristo, without too much trouble or bloodshed, seizes the country's helm, Paquita becomes the first lady and María de las Nieves, whose misunderstood sacrifice has netted little save a severe allergy for wool, is out of a job. El Anticristo and his Liberal government have disbanded the monasteries and convents, driving the career nuns into hiding and the novices back into the world. Multilingual María de las Nieves cashes in her small inheritance to buy a little house and become a functionary in the English embassy, where she becomes the object of numerous crushes. She, however, has eyes only for Cuban revolutionary poet JosÉ Marti, who has eyes for just about anything in a skirt in general and the beautiful daughter of the deposed president in particular, his Mexican fiancÉe notwithstanding. Too bad she can't see her way to loving ambitious autodidact and fellow Indio Marco Aurelio ("Mack") Chinchilla until they've both gone through more perils and upheavals than Candide and CunÉgonde. Everybody winds up in New York. Informative, chatty, wry, often amusing, but not enough so that readers won't be checking their watches. Or calendars. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Goldman, a highly artistic writer of conscience, delves more deeply into the injustices and paradoxes of Central American society with each book, creating, in his third novel, a dynamically episodic saga written in a more ebullient, mischievous, and sensual mode than before but without belying complexity or tragedy. Two friends serve as polestars: Francisca Paquita Aparicio, lovely and privileged, and Maria de las Nieves Moran, a smart, tough, and multilingual mestiza. They're sequestered in a convent (prompting thorny musings on tyranny and mysticism) to protect Paquita from her much older admirer, a revolutionary called El Anticristo, but once he's in power, Paquita becomes a willing first lady. Maria de las Nieves becomes a translator, which prompts a provocative inquiry into language and conquest, interpretation and dominion, and she falls in love with Jose Marti, the nineteenth-century writer and martyred leader of the Cuban struggle for independence. These volatile circumstances serve as catalysts for a multifaceted, brilliantly satirical tale populated by compelling and diverse characters, and laced with piquant riffs on everything from miscegenation to hot-air balloons. Ultimately, Goldman not only dramatizes the fate of one lush but unlucky Central American country but also conjures the very spirit of humankind in all its perfidy and splendor. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2004 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Maria de las Nieves Moran takes a fantastical journey from Central America to New York, and author Goldman goes on a 21-city author tour. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.