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3rd out of 6 books
—
2 voters
Incantation of Frida K.
"I was born in rain and I will die in rain," begins Kate Braverman’s The Incantation of Frida K., an imagined life journey of Frida Kahlo. The book opens and closes inside the mind of Frida K., at 46, on her deathbed, taking us through a kaleidoscope of memories and hallucinations where we shiver for two hundred pages on the threshold of life and death, dream and reality,...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
June 3rd 2003
by Seven Stories Press
(first published 2002)
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1st out of 17 books
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2 voters
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Apr 25, 2013
Diann Blakely
added it
Conceived as a single opiated fever dream by Kahlo on her deathbed, Braverman's novel as stylistically compact, imagistically lavish and brutally confrontational as Kahlo’s paintings. “I do not feel like a victim from the accident,” Braverman’s protagonist tells us near the beginning in the short, disjunctive sentences that sustain and derange the overall narrative momentum: “I felt chosen. Strangely, the actual collision was a clarification. I suspected that I was inexorably different. But an i...more
186 lapaspuses haotisku sāpju, neprāta un krāšņa rudens. Breivermenai veiksmīgi izdevies iztulkot Frīdas gleznas vārdos, attēlojot viņas dzīvi mākslinieces pēdējo dienu drudža murgu formā.
Tomēr es tai nedodu visas piecas zvaigznes, jo arvien šķita, ka grāmata cenšas par daudz - manuprāt, ne jau katram teikumam ir jābūt kā sāpju templim. No sākuma uzspīlētā murgainība kaitināja, bet galu galā es pieradu.
Grāmata lika padomāt par cilvēka ķermeņa pūstošo trauslumu un tā skaudro atšķirību no gara un...more
Tomēr es tai nedodu visas piecas zvaigznes, jo arvien šķita, ka grāmata cenšas par daudz - manuprāt, ne jau katram teikumam ir jābūt kā sāpju templim. No sākuma uzspīlētā murgainība kaitināja, bet galu galā es pieradu.
Grāmata lika padomāt par cilvēka ķermeņa pūstošo trauslumu un tā skaudro atšķirību no gara un...more
I hesitate to give this book three stars because I did not actually like it.
I did not like Braverman's portrayal of Kahlo--I believe it is inaccurate. I found almost all of the writing to be very morbid, very depressing, very melancholy. Braverman essentially reflects upon the tragedy of Kahlo's life, albeit in flowery prose...prose that are sometimes very beautiful, sometimes bizarre and meaningless (meaningless to me, anyway). I felt that the writing is a little too contrived. However, it is...more
I did not like Braverman's portrayal of Kahlo--I believe it is inaccurate. I found almost all of the writing to be very morbid, very depressing, very melancholy. Braverman essentially reflects upon the tragedy of Kahlo's life, albeit in flowery prose...prose that are sometimes very beautiful, sometimes bizarre and meaningless (meaningless to me, anyway). I felt that the writing is a little too contrived. However, it is...more
Sep 25, 2009
Jerm
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
artists, addicts socialists, and feminists
This is an EXCELLENT book. I like Frida Kahlo, but looking at the book I didn't think it would be very good. I was completely mistaken. This is one of the best books I've ever read. I'm not sure how biographically accurate it is, but the author does an incredible job of getting into Frida's head and showing us just what may have been going on in there. I love the relationship dynamic between Frida and Diego. I can't recommed this book enough, especially to anyone interested in art.
I still can't decide if I liked this book or not! The writing was very rich and beautiful... but relentlessly so, to the point where I wanted to say, "OK, does EVERY sentence have to be such a rich confection?" I found it a bit much but others may disagree. I did love the section describing their lives in San Francisco; I cannot walk throughout Chinatown without picturing it through Frida's eyes now.
Apr 29, 2009
Lauren
added it
A fast and easy read, despite its rich language. I never before considered Frida Kahlo to be a major feminist icon - these days, she's more an icon of the eccentric and bohemian - but Braverman's interpretation has me convinced. If we listen to Braverman, we find that Frida was a bold, angry, unswaying woman, in deep with true physical suffering, imbibed with drugs and yet never sexually beholden to anyone except perhaps Diego, who is made out to be a self-absorbed monstrosity, his ego as mammot...more
WHile I liekd the writing style of this book I am not sure it would have made much sense if I did not have some background knowledge about Frida Kahlo.
This is a hallucination in the form of a novel, complete with flashes of brilliance and moments that are often gruesome and disturbing. Braverman's wild, poetic language gives it an incredible authenticity - this could be Frida Kahlo's long-lost diary. It certainly feels more real than autobiography, if such a thing is possible. It's the anti-Hollywood version of Kahlo's life, diving gleefully into her stormy relationship with Diego Rivera, her taste for heroin and for out-of-control women, and...more
I can't put this book down. Could have easily read it in one sitting but started it at bedtime and didn't dare stay up all night because I had work the next day! I put the other book I was reading aside to just look at this and that's all it took to get me hooked. But then,I am fascinated by Kahlo. I should say this is not for the average reader and there is a lot of graphic sex and violent behavior. I also think only people truly fascinated by Frida and her art and life will enjoy this.
Ok...as much as I love Frida K. and love learning about her life, I HATED the writers style. She writes in some fugue state that is filled with angst. Usually after a writer does about a paragraph in this style is jumps to regular prose. Holy cow, this made me crazy. Enough. Not a good read for me.
Atsauksme blogā: http://greeneyednevertells.wordpress....
I am still digesting this one. It made me nauseous and was also incredibly interesting. Braverman's perspective on a woman who has become a pop-culture icon is eery and deeply personal. A good fiction alternative to the biography.
currently feel as if i would have liked this book much better when i was 17...it reads like a poem from frenzied teenager
This was surreal, which of course is totally appropriate.
Apr 26, 2013
Cate
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Apr 23, 2013
Lea
marked it as to-read
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Apr 16, 2013
Filiz
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Mar 15, 2013
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Mar 08, 2013
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Kate Braverman (born 1950) is an American novelist, short story writer, and poet, originally from Los Angeles, California, who has garnered great acclaim for works including the novels Lithium for Medea (1979), Palm Latitudes (1988), Wonders of the West (1993), and The Incantation of Frida K (2001). Her most significant work has been in stylistic hybrid forms built upon poems and rendered as short...more
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Mar 29, 2012 05:50am
A wonderful, wonderful book, and I'm delighted that my review nudged it into your ken. Please let me know...more
May 27, 2012 02:43am
Feb 09, 2013 01:51am