Daniel Chavarria (1933–2018)

When Aldo, a wealthy former Argentinian now living in Italy is visiting a friend in Cuba, he recognizes the man who had tortured him and caused the death of his fiance. Aldo begins an elaborat scheme of revenge, unbeknownst to the torturer, utilizing the aid of his newest love, Bini, a happy-go-lucky prostitute.

This book is cleverly plotted, and kept me, as the reader, constantly guessing as to where it was all going. It's a fast moving thriller, but also a fascinating look at life in (near) show more contemporary Havana. I really liked this book, and highly recommend it if it sounds like your thing.

3 1/2 stars

An interesting sidenote about the author: he was a former Uruguayan revolutionary who hijacked a plane to take him to Cuba in 1959 where he lived for the remainder of his life. show less

Atys is on a mission to retrieve an amethyst stolen from a temple of Cybele and taken to Periclean Athens where it is used in a statue of Athene.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints of a large cast of characters and the language tries to reflect that some characters are narrating events in a language that is foreign to them or are high on drugs, in states of religious ecstasy, or otherwise not quite in their right minds. There were times when I found it very difficult to follow what show more was actually happening and keep track of who was who. Having read it once, I felt I needed to read it again and keep notes to really understand it, but I'm not at all sure it would repay the effort. show less

Read this on the beach in Florida in March. It was a perfect beach read - light in tone, but not an easy read. Funny, but not in a slap-stick way. Pathetic in some senses, but not depressing.

It's a story about people trying to make what they can of their lives. I would not be surprised if it was more realistic than not. There are some twists to the story which are kinda 'sick', but ... overall, it comes across as tongue-in-cheek funny, rather than as perverted.

The characters are basically show more good, and might be doing bad things, but not *very* bad things, and they are only doing them for the right reasons anyway.

Overall, a decent read... which might make you think just a little bit. show less

La historia de unos cuantos amigos y sus vidas, uno estudiara medicina y encontrara unos incidentes relacionados con priapismo de donde viene el nombre de la novela. Pero los otros siguen caminos totalmente distintos.

Lo peor del libro es que parece estar un poco difuso, un poco un personaje por aqui, otro por alli. Y no parece que haya un hilo conector interesante, casi mas un accidente.

Por otro lado es interesante para conocer la sociedad cubana.