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Old Rosa
A terrifying and beautiful novel, Old Rosa is composed of two stories that converge on a single charged point in the lives of a Cuban mother and son. In the first, the mother finds her son in bed with another boy; in the second, the son is imprisoned in one of Castro’s camps for homosexuals.
Paperback, 106 pages
Published
September 15th 1994
by Grove Press
(first published January 1st 1980)
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In two short stories, each containing a paragraph that doesn't end until the last page of the story, Reinaldo Arenas uses independent clauses most often separated by commas to make the action in the story more immediate.
This style works best for the first short story, Old Rosa, than it does for the second, The Brightest Star. Told by a young Cuban boy observing the relationship his mother has with each of the men in his family, Old Rosa reads like a sheet of musical notes. It is an ode from the...more
This style works best for the first short story, Old Rosa, than it does for the second, The Brightest Star. Told by a young Cuban boy observing the relationship his mother has with each of the men in his family, Old Rosa reads like a sheet of musical notes. It is an ode from the...more
Arenas had already found his way into my heart and onto my list of greats, but Old Rosa confirms this placement. This slim but powerful book could easily fit into his great Pentagonia (the structure reminded me of Farewell to the Sea). Essential for fans of Cuban literature and good reading regardless of national origin.
I didn't know how to deal with the style at first. But I slowed down and was able to let the text pull me along. This was especially true for the second story, which become ultra-fanciful. Still, it's easy to follow the plot. The images are fantastic and haunting at the same time.
It was a different type of book. It wasn't my favorite read. The last half on the book was one sentence put together by commas.
Mysterious, poetic little book. If you never knew fire could be dreamy, equally so Cuba's gay prison camps, read on.
super interesting view of Cuba (pre & post revolution) from a literary perspective.
A fever dream of a book, best read in as few sittings as possible. The second part is one of the best fictional depictions of dedicating ones life to art I've read.
A story from two different perspectives. Steeped in that lovely Latin American magical realism.
Sep 22, 2008
Lina
added it
Impressive, specially Old Rosa
An incredible book.
Pure poetry in prose.
Mar 24, 2011
Stephanie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Stephanie by:
Flora González
Shelves:
latin-american,
literature
Amazing fiction.
May 13, 2013
Patricia
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Apr 29, 2013
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Apr 17, 2013
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Arenas was born in the countryside, in the northern part of the Province of Oriente, Cuba, and later moved to the city of Holguín. In 1963, he moved to Havana to enroll in the School of Planification and, later, in the Faculty of Letters at the Universidad de La Habana, where he studied philosophy and literature without completing a degree. The following year, he began working at the Biblioteca Na...more
More about Reinaldo Arenas...
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