book data
66 ratings, 4.11 average rating, 10 reviews
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published
June 1st 1988
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
binding
Paperback, 240 pages
isbn
014009444X
(isbn13: 9780140094442)
description
This first novel in Arenas's "secret history of Cuba"-- a quintet he called the Pentagonia--is a powerful story of growing up in a world whe...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 106)
Read in January, 1995
recommends it for:
anyone
One of my favorite authors from college, his voice still rings true to this day. I was drawn to his passage, " I scream, therefore I am." Even a stay at home mom needs to be reminded to live in technicolor and turn up the volume every once in a while. My favorite book is his autobiography, "Before Night Falls," which Julian Schnabel made into a movie years ago. Aishah Rayman's (Chewed Water) voice and that of Arenas are very much the same...more of a roar than a voice; howeve...more
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Read in March, 2008
"Singing From The Well" is written like a memoir but without the flow of other memoirs I've read. The prose switches from dream sequences to real time quickly and seamlessly; so quickly I found it difficult to keep track of.
Through deceased relatives and raw,uncut dialogue, Arenas proves that real life and dreams can coexist if only to be used for psychological escape.
(The book was smuggled out of Cuba into Europe due to it's controversial content)
Through deceased relatives and raw,uncut dialogue, Arenas proves that real life and dreams can coexist if only to be used for psychological escape.
(The book was smuggled out of Cuba into Europe due to it's controversial content)
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to the fire eye in the clouds survives the gods by:
axjrecommends it for: people with patience for lyric poetry written on an epic scale
He who lives by the narrative will die by the narrative. By which I mean, as a *story* the book fails to sustain dramatic tension in its second half. There isn't really any narrative arc by which the main character changes or is changed. The investment one makes in his unreliable viewpoint goes unrewarded. Still, the language in this book is childlike, lyrical, horrible, and lush - and the translation is stunningly vivid and alive.
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Read in January, 2002
written in prose-poetry, the imagery overlaps chronologically, making it difficult to follow. pov shifts from family member to family member. i think, however, the effect is reached as a blurry account of youth and dueling personalities. if you plan to continue the five-book history of cuba, this is a must.
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
People who walk on hot coals with shoes on, defeating the whole purpose of the damn hot COALS!
No really, this is a deeply poetic book. It gets into a section where the book becomes a play, that is the only part I didnt like. Other than that, this book is deeply moving.
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Poetic, emotional, Disturbing. Boy in cuba, hard times, bad family, mental illness.
One of my favorites for a while.
One of my favorites for a while.
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Read in October, 2008
Yikes, this book was confusing. Where do the dreams end and reality begin? I could't tell.
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This book rocks balls. If I ever write a novel, then I want to write one like this.
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currently-reading (on 1 person's shelf)
never-really-finished (on 1 person's shelf)
need-to-finish-reading (on 1 person's shelf)
mount-toberead (on 1 person's shelf)
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quotes from this book
"Like a lightning bug... Like a lightning bug?... Yes, just like a night lightning bug; because there are day lightning bugs too - even if nobody has ever seen one, I know there are some, and I know the day lightning bugs are the cockroaches that since they can't light up, people kill them."
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