Ángeles Mastretta

"No arruines el presente lamentándote por el pasado ni preocupándote por el futuro."

Este es uno de los libros que mayor sorpresa me han causado. Nunca había leído a Mastretta a pesar de que en varias ocasiones me la habían recomendado y que realmente me llamaba la atención, pero siempre se anteponía otro libro. En este caso acudí a la biblioteca pública y, al ver que acaban de asignar a un nuevo bibliotecario, decidí solicitarle que me recomendará un libro, el que quisiera y ella show more me entregó esté. La verdad es que siento que fue una decisión muy sabía.

"Cuando lo imposible se quiere volver rutina, hay que dejarlo. Uno no puede meterse en el lío de ambicionar algo prohibido, de poseerlo a veces como una bendición, de quererlo más que a nada por eso, por imposible, por desesperado, y de buenas a primeras convertirse en el anexo de una oficina."

Compuesto por muchísimas y cortísimas historias acerca de mujeres que decidieron no conformarse, y al decir esto me refiero no sólo a no conformarse con lo que la sociedad esperaba de ellas, sino con las concepciones de lo que ellas creyeron que debía de ser su vida, con la posición en que las circunstancias las dejaban ni con las alegrías únicas que se les ofrecían.

Descubrí a muchísimas mujeres que eran fuertes, sensibles, dubitativas y seguras, apasionadas y religiosas. Mujeres cuya construcción e historia se narraba en tres o cuatro páginas, pero con una profundidad y un realismo que novelas larguísimas ya desearían y con el maravilloso estilo de escritura de Mastretta, el cual me enamoró.

Mi único problema con el libro radicó en la longitud: todos los cuentos eran muy pequeños, y realmente al ser personajes que se me hicieron interesantes yo quería saber más, quería que me contarán de sus vidas, de como se desarrollaron los conflictos, de cómo se enteró la narradora de estas historias...entiendo que en muchos casos esto no habría funcionado, pero me quede con una sensación de hambre e insatisfacción, y al mismo tiempo, todos los cuentos tenían un dejo de alegría y esperanza que me enamoraba y hacía que siguiera leyendo.

Creo que este es un libro recomendadísimo si es que deseas algo ligero o acercarse al trabajo de la autora, también si quieres conocer personajes no tan estereotipados o si quieres leer acerca de atravesar por situaciones que parecen absurdas hasta que tú las vives.

"Ella supo siempre que ninguna ciencia fue capaz de mover tanto, como la escondida en los ásperos y sutiles hallazgos de otras mujeres con los ojos grandes" show less

3.5 stars

"When did you get here?" Emilia asked him, kissing him as she had when their lips were smooth and unwrinkled. The eternal throbbing beat below her breastbone.
"I never leave," said Daniel, stroking her head with its scent of mysteries.

Spanning almost 50yrs, this is the story of Emilia. The vast majority of the story takes place during the Mexican Revolution (1910-20) and does a good job shining a light on how discontent, injustice, and passion bring about such wars. Emilia's show more childhood friend, who grows up to be her love, Daniel, is more than full of passion for the war and constantly leaves and is at battle leaving Emilia. Their love story is one people in their younger years would find exciting, dramatic, lustful, and love torn; a lovestory that is exciting to read about but hellish to live.

Emilia's father was a pharmacist, and she starts to study under him and grow her own passion but for medicine. She naturally and fights her way to becoming a doctor, no mean feat during this time period. She meets a Dr. Zavalza and love triangle ensues.

I really enjoyed the first 70% of this, as we get a historical feel for the Revolution with discussion and interaction with Diaz, Madero, Zapata. I do wish we could have had some scenes from Daniel to get a feel for the battles but this look at it from ordinary citizens was encompassing in its own way, too. Emilia's aunt and a poet who is in love with said aunt, were my favorite secondary characters and I would happily read the aunt's life story, what a woman she sounds like.

The last 30% was very rushed through as we get some of the conflict following the Revolution with Zapatistas and Cardenas with Daniel and Emilia continuing their relationship in a not thought of conventional way. Years pass quickly and Emilia becoming a doctor and having children is quickly told. This rushed ending kind of gave all the emotional upheaval and drama, I as the reader, went through less gravitas.

Lovesick couldn't be a more apt title as Emilia and Daniel's relationship wasn't exactly healthy. Daniel's passion for the war and how he constantly puts it above Emilia and Emilia's inability to let impulsive Daniel and his frenzy for fighting go in favor of Zavalza's calm supporting love will make you want to pull your hair out.

The historical context was weaved expertly into the story and Emilia's life journey will definitely make you feel. show less

Set in Puebla, a village in Mexico, this quintessential Latin American story embraces three generations in the life of a country. As in many other such tales, the smaller story of love and family is enhanced and challenged by the larger story of politics and war, with a few delightful twists. At the heart of the tale is the daring, fearless Emilia, the second generation of pharmacist Diego Sauri’s freewheeling, politically astute family. His daughter Emilia is torn between two loves in a show more classic Wuthering Heights conundrum: choose your childhood friend, the rough and tumble radical who is unreliable and tortured, but makes your body sing? Or choose the gentle, steady doctor who can provide a home and a family, and never leave your side? As her nation and her village, her family and her career waver, Emilia sorts through this problem of the heart. In the end, her solution is so simple that we all wonder why we never thought of it. Well-written and adeptly plotted, this book is peopled by such a large number of endearing characters that you may go away with a virtual photo album of people you will always want to remember. I know I will. show less

I didn't enjoy this novel, set in 1930's post-revolutionnary Mexico. The book opens with the marriage at an early age of the narrator, Catalina, to a much older general, Andres Ascencio, and ends about 15 years later with Ascencio's death. Catalina is my main problem; I found her wholly unlikeable, and often found myself wanting to reach into the novel and give her a slap. I know that this is supposed to be a feminist novel about a woman's journey towards self-determination in a macho world, show more but in fact her "journey" seems to take her from submissive wife who refuses to believe her husband is involved in mass killings despite all the evidence, to selfish woman who, at best, ignores her children completely ("it was years since I'd last played with my children") or, at worst, lives out her many affairs under their noses. Yes, I know we've seen the heroines of the great 19th century adultery novels behave like this, but Emma Bovary, Anna Karenina and Ana Ozores get away with it by being better-drawn characters in better-written novels. show less