Group Read, May 2016: Gabriela, Cinnamon and Clove

Our May Group Read is Gabriela, Cinnamon and Clove by Jorge Amado. I thoroughly enjoyed this book when I read it last year - a 4.5/5 read for me. Hopefully others will enjoy it - I look forward to your comments.

I don't have a lot of reading time these days but I'm about 30 pages in, and liking the texture of this book. I think I'm going to enjoy it.

>2 annamorphic: I LOVE that you said you like the texture of the book. That made me smile, because I know exactly what you mean. I read this book a few years ago and it definitely has texture.

Are other people reading this? It's a great book, highly enjoyable, but somehow not very discussion-friendly. I've read over 100 pages and there's nothing I feel compelled to debate or untangle.

>4 annamorphic: When I read this last year I summarized it as:

A wonderfully joyous novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. Maybe nothing startling or original, but a colourful and entertaining story, and one of the rare List books you could take away on a relaxing beach holiday. 4.5/5

which I think reflects what you are saying.

I have just picked it up from my local library who had to bring it in from outside their local group. It's quite a rare work it seems, even the greater library system only had the single copy.

I've picked up a copy as well but haven't started yet. Hoping to finish Proust first.

I just started and am reminded of García Marquez from the beginning. But that May change, I only read about 20 pages.

I'm 102 pages in and I'm definitely feeling a One Hundred Years of Solitude vibe. But without all of the craziness.

So far it's been a very smooth and enjoyable read. But, I agree, there isn't all that much to discuss. Everything seems to be on the surface - no hidden meanings or anything of that nature. Just a straight forward story.

I've nearly finished, the politics of the town look to be reaching a dramatic conclusion but we'll see.

I have really enjoyed this novel. It wasn't what I expected as it didn't really concentrate solely on one or two people but spread out and in doing so made the whole town and region come alive. In that way it has reminded me of Midaq Alley and The Bridge On The Drina.

I just finished this now. Overall an excellent read, although I thought the ending was a bit of a damp squib.

I'll be giving it 3 1/2 stars

Me too, 3,5 stars.

It was an enjoyable read, not at all like García Marquez, as I presumed. A lot of machismo, so typical Latin American. The story, but perhaps Amado himself as well. The Gabriela in the story is not a real woman, in my opinion, but just a man's fantasy.

On the other hand, perhaps that was exactly Amado's intention!

>12 Simone2: thanks for that suggestion/insight. It may help me get through the last 1/3 of the book, because once the feisty bluestocking Malvina disappears, I was afraid I couldn't stand just having Gabriela around to exemplify young womanhood.

A question for anybody in the group who is still reading -- what is Gabriela's role in the novel's structure, in relation to the modernization of the city. Is she just there to represent a primitive humanity that never modernizes?

Grrr, I so dislike that character that I'm trying to find a reason why she's there in the middle of an otherwise lovely book.

Yes I think so. A primitive, primal beat of the human heart.

Just managed to squeeze this in this month. I liked the book a lot, though the story seemed a little on the simple side.

I didn't like the "romance" aspects of the book so much, but the ins and outs of the town politics really grabbed me.

>16 amerynth: I agree with you on the political aspects. They are quite interesting and realistic. Why didn't Amado just focus on that part of the story? Now I kept being side-tracked by Gabriela, who I thought very uninteresting.