false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1163452190m/3398.jpg 3398 13 Louis de Bernières is a masterful writer, which is to say his command of the various crafts of writing--creating character, innovative description, telling a whopping good story--weaves a spell and sucks you into the magic. From the moment Dionisio Vivo and Ramón "Cochinillo" Dario attend to the <I>cravate</I> corpse deposited in his garden by the coca lords, you become ensconced in the world of Ipasueño, its passions, ironies, and political intrigues, and cease to be aware of the hand of Bernières behind the scenes.<p> Dionisio, a professor of philosophy, writes a series of letters, published in the prestigious journal <I>La Prensa</I>, castigating the coca trade, and from there the story spins furiously in many directions and subplots. There's the love affair of the century between Dionisio and Anica Moreno, Lazaro's tragic dance with leprosy, and--to the great pleasure of fans of Bernières's previous novel, <I>The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts</I>--further interactions with the magical jaguars and human inhabitants of Cochadebajo de los Gatos. Events take their course in the way of a grand tragicomedy, with the devastation that's expected followed by the irrepressible joy of life that's never expected and Bernières's tongue-in-cheek touch throughout.<p> It's a delightfully mesmerizing book. Set in a mythical South American country that's a composite of real South American history and Bernières's fertile imagination, and therefore a perfect companion to take on a south-of-the-border vacation, the book is awash in the realities and flavor of South America and the lunacies of Bernières's genius. <I>--Stephanie Gold</I> 3247784 1991 Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord total:438|5:171|4:159|3:90|2:13|1:5| 438 1792 621 32 3 1 false true Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 21 12:28:27 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 12:31:21 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Dec 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 10:22:27 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 17:49:09 -0800 2008 Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord is a parody, pastiche and example of magical realism in equal measure—the tale of a philosophy professor, Dionisio Vivo, from a country not unlike Colombia, who begins a war of letters in the newspaper editorial pages against a major drug trafficker, and is forced to en...more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Aug 29 14:45:39 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 14:49:51 -0700 2009
It wasn't until the end that it felt like the story was actually going somewhere for ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 13 22:34:43 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 13 22:35:33 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 19 08:09:03 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 19 08:09:21 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed May 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 08:03:55 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 08:05:57 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Mon Aug 24 19:25:20 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 19:25:52 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri May 08 06:09:05 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 06:10:24 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Aug 30 22:00:16 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 22:02:36 -0700 2007
okay. Here's the deal with this trilogy. I LOVED them. . .I think. But, de Bernieres would always introduce these lovely characters who I'd fall in love with, and then brutally brutally murder them in the last chapter. WHY!? There never seemed to be a reason....more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Thu Jan 15 06:30:47 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 06:31:40 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Fri May 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 04 08:39:31 -0700 2007 Sat May 16 09:35:34 -0700 2009 The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, which I very much enjoyed when I read it a few years ago. It also addresses the very serious issue of the cocaine trade in South America, with its attendant corruption and extreme violence.

In places...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 09:51:51 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 06:10:45 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Tue Jun 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Feb 26 11:19:44 -0800 2009 Tue Jun 02 07:33:29 -0700 2009 however this was NOT balanced - too long developing the romance (lovely touching, fresh, wonde...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Apr 27 00:50:21 -0700 2007 Fri Apr 27 00:51:24 -0700 2007
The story follows the progress of a College Lecturer (Senior Vivo) who manages to unset the biggest cocaine barons ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Sun Feb 18 12:55:49 -0800 2007 Sun Feb 18 13:02:13 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Nov 14 08:35:13 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 14 08:37:25 -0800 2007 Corelli's Mandolin: great read, until you get to the end, at which point it becomes embarrassingly stupid. Also, parts of this are extremely gory. There was one scene that made me queasy for months afterward.]]> 4 0 false false Mon May 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 08 10:21:51 -0700 2008 Thu May 08 10:28:32 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Fri Aug 15 07:18:29 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 15 07:19:59 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Mon Nov 13 13:10:57 -0800 2006 Mon Nov 13 13:13:02 -0800 2006 1 1 false false Sun Aug 05 22:31:06 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 22:32:03 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3398