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91st out of 479 books
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Pedro Paramo
Deserted villages of rural Mexico, where images and memories of the past linger like unquiet ghosts, haunted the imaginations of two artists#151;writer Juan Rulfo and photographer Josephine Sacabo. In one such village of the mind, Comala, Rulfo set his classic novel Pedro Paacute;ramo, a dream-like tale that intertwines a man's quest to find his lost father and reclaim his...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
March 10th 1994
by Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
(first published 1955)
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K.D.
rated it
Recommended to K.D. by:
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)
Shelves:
1001-core,
latin-american
Absolutely brilliant. First published in 1955, Pedro Paramo was the only novel by Mexican author and photographer, Juan Rulfo, yet it established his name as one of the most important Spanish-language writers of the 20th century together with Jorge Luis Borges. This novel started the genre, magical realism that inspired Gabriel Garcia Marquez to write his masterpiece, 100 Years of Solitude. In fact, Marquez liked the novel so much that he read it many times and could recite portions of it for ma...more
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It makes sense to me that this surrealist tale was published in 1955, but it took 40 years for it to be published in English.
I read this book for my infamous "Sex and Death" English writing class at CCA, taught by Mr. J. Acosta (who is from Mexico City). It sure did fit the theme of the class. I don't think you can say that this book has a happy ending, so don't read it while really depressed.
This book is best read a little out of focus. If you are a control freak...more
I read this book for my infamous "Sex and Death" English writing class at CCA, taught by Mr. J. Acosta (who is from Mexico City). It sure did fit the theme of the class. I don't think you can say that this book has a happy ending, so don't read it while really depressed.
This book is best read a little out of focus. If you are a control freak...more
I grant it five stars for context; for a book written in 1955 Mexico, it stands out even now as tremendously original and strangely gorgeous. To those familiar with Magic Realism, it would be less impressive than a five, but I am attempting to imagine what it would be like to come across it upon first publication. It is not a classic narrative. It is violent, confusing, but soundly built through the motifs that, if I read through again more closely, I could tie together thematically. It's rare t...more
This is a good novella.
Parts were absolutely brilliant, while other parts were merely okay.
Rulfo's prose, however, is consistently wonderful. The depth of imagery he creates is truly remarkable, and the surreal nature of the narrative is bolstered by this quality.
It reminded me a great deal of the weird fiction written in the early 1900s, and I wonder if any of that ever penetrated into Mexico. Was Magical Realism somewhat informed by the Weird Tales?
...more
Parts were absolutely brilliant, while other parts were merely okay.
Rulfo's prose, however, is consistently wonderful. The depth of imagery he creates is truly remarkable, and the surreal nature of the narrative is bolstered by this quality.
It reminded me a great deal of the weird fiction written in the early 1900s, and I wonder if any of that ever penetrated into Mexico. Was Magical Realism somewhat informed by the Weird Tales?
...more
Desde la primer hoja me atrapo. Leí y releí. Creo que si lo leo otras cuatro veces más seguiría encontrando nuevos sentidos a la historia.
Es muy interesante como los mexicanos tenemos una visión muy particular sobre el tema de la muerte. Juan Rulfo toca este tema de uan forma que de verdad te atrapa. Cuando menos pense todos estaban muertos ajajaja. Hasta en una ocación que leía se fue la luz y me dio miedo ajajajaj pero no lo solte. Segui hasta terminarlo.
Este pueblito m...more
Es muy interesante como los mexicanos tenemos una visión muy particular sobre el tema de la muerte. Juan Rulfo toca este tema de uan forma que de verdad te atrapa. Cuando menos pense todos estaban muertos ajajaja. Hasta en una ocación que leía se fue la luz y me dio miedo ajajajaj pero no lo solte. Segui hasta terminarlo.
Este pueblito m...more
Although he wrote few works in his lifetime, namely a thin volume of short stories (The Burning Plain and Other Stories) and a single novel, the name of Juan Rulfo is well respected in Latin American letters. His novel, Pedro Páramo (1955) broke from the traditional realist novel and with its unique narrative ushered in magical realism, popularised in the Latin American Boom by the likes of Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes.
Why he only wrote one novel - he died in 1986 - will...more
Why he only wrote one novel - he died in 1986 - will...more
Re-read Rulfo's beautiful novel and, as with previous returns, it left me stunned. It's no wonder García Márquez acknowledges Rulfo as the padrino of magical realism. I highly recommend the Univ. of Texas Press edition...the black-and-white photographs are the perfect accompaniment to Rulfo's text.
I feel like I really should've loved this book, given my proclivity towards magical realism and existentialism. Rulfo seems to be able to produce a wonderful tour through the hell of defining one's own existence through the eponymous character and the ghosts of Comala that he left in his wake.
In truth, although I know this is considered to be one of THE classics of 20th Century Mexican literature, it just doesn't really do it for me. The poetry in prose is often beautiful, but the disjoin...more
In truth, although I know this is considered to be one of THE classics of 20th Century Mexican literature, it just doesn't really do it for me. The poetry in prose is often beautiful, but the disjoin...more
This is perhaps the finest example of magical realism I have read. They say Gabriel Garcia Marquez has it memorized. I guess I would call it a reflection on the decay of a culture as seen through the lens of human greed and exploitation. It's a very quick read but one you should pay attention to as you go along. It has a lot of unsettling imagery and ideas in it so be prepared to be a little spooked. In some ways, you could even say it is a ghost story in that Pedro Paramo returns to a town whos...more
پدرو پارامو
فکر میکنم بهترین چیزی که برای این کتاب میتوانم بگویم شعری است از کتاب لی لی نوشته ی کورتاسار :
طنین ِ گامهایم ، در این خیابان ،
در خیابان ِ دیگری به گوش می رسد .
جایی
که صدای گامهایم را می شنوم
که در همین خیابان طنین می اندازند .
تنها مه
واقعی است ...
خولیو کورتاسار - کتاب لی لی
فکر میکنم بهترین چیزی که برای این کتاب میتوانم بگویم شعری است از کتاب لی لی نوشته ی کورتاسار :
طنین ِ گامهایم ، در این خیابان ،
در خیابان ِ دیگری به گوش می رسد .
جایی
که صدای گامهایم را می شنوم
که در همین خیابان طنین می اندازند .
تنها مه
واقعی است ...
خولیو کورتاسار - کتاب لی لی
It's difficult to give only 3 stars to a book which seems to have only hard-boiled fans. Reading it I felt it is probably a great book. But I have to admit that I was glad when I finished it though it has only 123 pages in the English translation (145 in German). I know I have to blame myself for not understanding a story told in many tenses and by many characters (you don't know always who is talking and if (s)he is still alive), but in the end I can't give 5 stars only for the fact that I did ...more
It has taken me nearly four years to get around to reading this book, the favorite book of Daniel Alarcon, and so many other aspiring and great writers. And I read it, because a professor of mine assigned it for class. This book is WAY smarter than me. I’ve read it twice and I don’t think I grasped all that it offered. It’s the founding novel of magical realism, the book that inspired Gabriel Garcia Marquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude! I have to read it five more times, I think.
Pedro Páramo is a novel written by Juan Rulfo. It is the story of a dead town, where even the main narrator, Juan Preciado is dead. After his mother dies, Juan Preciado goes looking for his father in the paradise town that her mother had described to him. However, when he arrives in Comala he finds himself in an infernal place –or better said, in a purgatory. As described by Abundio, one of many of Pedro Páramo’s sons: “This town sits on the coals of the earth, at the very mouth of hell (pg.6)”...more
In his novel "Pedro Paramo," Juan Rulfo manipulates the central theme of haunting memories to evoke the notion of a past that eternally lingers in the present, as enlivened and conveyed through the "murmurs" of the dead. Comala, a purgatorial prison for many souls of its past, is a ghost town, whose story is conveyed through Rulfo's sparse, poetic language, fragmentary structure, and rich detail. Stylistically, I was able to immerse myself in Juan Preciado's experiential unde...more
Juan Rulfo’s novel is a puzzle with multifaceted puzzle pieces comprised of different characters and their memories that-when fully assembled-form the town of Comala. The careful reader is rewarded by returning to the book a second or third time after having a general conception of the larger storyline. This is a puzzle that imparts new meaning with every reconstruction as the multilayered connections Rulfo crafted between characters, events, and settings are revealed primarily through their j...more
Juan Rulfo's Pedro Paramo is a story of hope, love and revenge. To make this story possible Rulfo first creates a magical and supernatural world, a world where talking to the dead and afterlife is possible, with tantalizing effects. Then he charts the story of two men, a father and a son, who are at two different spectrums of time. While Pedro Paramo, the father, is a ruthless landlord who rules his town of Comala with an iron fist, his son, Juan Paramo, is out to fulfill a promise to avenge aga...more
I found this novel to be intriguing on many different levels. I enjoyed it, first of all, for its political aspect in regard to its treatment of the Mexican Revolution as well as its unique insight into the formation of a caudillo. The work follows Pedro Páramo from adolescence through his father's death and the loss of his lifelong love all the way to his cruel tyranny and eventual death. Such an extensive and intimate look into his life equips the reader with a perspective seldom used to stu...more
Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo is a thrilling race through time and space. The story mostly takes place in Comala, Mexico, which is a village inhabited by people in purgatory. Many critics would likely describe the society Rulfo envisions as magical or even unnerving; however, his convincing tone enables more imaginative readers to accept the world he creates as natural, simple, and rational. Thus it is easy to understand why Pedro Páramo is often identified as an example of magic realism.
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Reading Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo was a challenging, but rewarding experience. I was at first uncomfortable with the abrupt and sometimes unclear shifts in perspective and time, but once I accepted this (lack of) organization, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel. Once I had finished the novel, it was fun to go back and try to put the pieces together in some sort of linear chronology and to consider why the author introduced certain parts of the story when he did. I thought Rulfo's writing st...more
What I love about this novel is the use of many different characters to all approach the construct of one man’s character. This is also arguably what makes this novel confusing and somewhat challenging to grasp. The tale of Pedro Páramo as told by the people living around him is one of love, betrayal, and heartache.
Juan Preciado came to Comala to find his father, Pedro Páramo. The novel addresses the concepts of national identity, and magical realism as well as poses the question of realit...more
Juan Preciado came to Comala to find his father, Pedro Páramo. The novel addresses the concepts of national identity, and magical realism as well as poses the question of realit...more
If I was forced to select one aspect of Mexican culture that I has hit me most powerfully in the three years my family has lived in Mexico it would be easy - death. Its Mexico's favorite toy. The Mexican isn't afraid of getting up and personal with death; in fact the mexican - "...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love" (Octavio Paz). Ironically, death in Mexico is a celebration and the culminatio...more
First I read it for school when I was some sixteen years old and I remembered I liked it very much but all details had been washed away by the many , and believe when I say MANY, years that have passed since. I decided to re-read it since this time around I have a better appreciation for fine writing and good stories and this one for a change, lived up to my young impressionable memories.
It is the story of Juan Preciado, who at his mother's deathbed promises to go back to his old tow...more
It is the story of Juan Preciado, who at his mother's deathbed promises to go back to his old tow...more
A slim, strange, wondrous book. When I got to the end I started right from the beginning again--the first time gets you acclimated to these strange waters, the second time you begin to make sense of it all. A man receives from his mother a deathbed wish that he return to the town of his birth to seek out his father, who she claims owes him a mysterious something. The man, who narrates portions of the book, finds the town only to realize, gradually, that everyone he meets there is dead. If you bl...more
I'm rating Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo with three stars simply because of the sheer complexity with which this book is written. In my mind only a genius could have written this novel. While I enjoyed reading the novel, and found aspects of it moving, I was throughly confused throughout the time I spent pouring over this work. I think that any person interested in reading this novel needs to set aside time to go back and re-read the parts of the text that do not make sense and the parts that do m...more
Pedro Paramo is both a demanding and difficult book to read. The book is demanding in that it requires the full attention of the reader. The tenses and narration are constantly changing leaving the reader quite confused. I read the book in segments, which I would not recommend. Allotting a specific amount of time to read the book would benefit the reader and may lessen confusion. However, the story will still leave the reader wondering, which is an aspect of the work I admire. I can relate...more
As many others have mentioned i found the novel "Pedro Paramo" to be rather confusing. The structure of the novel is the main cause of any frustrations that the book might cause. The novel is not developed in a linear fashion but is instead a fragmented collection of short "scenes" that bridge both time and reality. The fact that the reader is forced to "jump" between time and reality causes lots of frustration and ultimately takes away from the novel. Personally...more
Jasmine
rated it
Recommends it for:
To my mother
Recommended to Jasmine by:
Professor Barnett for my LACS 256 course
Pedro Páramo is a really good book, if you have the patience to read it slowly and thoroughly. Juan Rulfo spent a long time thinking about what to include in this work. His novel is filled with themes and insights, some more obvious than others. There are so many themes that readers have to pick and choose which themes to follow, otherwise it's too difficult to finish the novel. I took a particular interest in the role that religion played in the novel. Father Rentería is a corrupt clergyma...more
My first read of this book left me very confused and frustrated. I had a difficult time following the many paths which Juan Rulfo presents. It is a very complex novel that requires close attention to detail, especially noticing the narrator shifts. As a reader, you are left with an uncertainty about what is reality and what is not, who is alive and who is dead, and the timeline of events. After spending time in class discussing the book and hearing other people's ideas, I was able to go back and...more
Smatarese
rated it
Recommends it for:
LACS Minors, anyone interested in societal relations
Recommended to Smatarese by:
Washington and Lee University, LACS 256, Winter 2010
Although set in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, “Pedro Paramo” addresses many universal issues that individuals and societies face. The novel’s themes—among them the role of religion in society, the nature of local power structures and the perception and realities of death—expressed through the lives and deaths of individuals in the town of Comala have been masterfully weaved into a unique, multi-person and multi-narrator story. Although at times difficult to read because of the constant...more
It is a book that requires the reader to be fully engaged with the work. While piecing together the story and keeping the vignettes straight is at times difficult the novel is well written with an abundance of symbolism and metaphors throughout the work. The overarching themes are well woven into the lives and deaths of the people of Comala. It is a history that much of Latin America has seen and could be set in a number of other countries. For me, the mini stories within the main story make the...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W&L LACS 256 ...: Pedro Paramo - General Questions | 1 | 1 | Feb 07, 2012 07:58am | |
| Literatura Latina-americana | 1 | 30 | Feb 20, 2008 02:01pm |
Juan Rulfo (16 May 1917[1] – 7 January 1986) was a Mexican novelist, short story writer, and photographer. One of Latin America's most esteemed authors, Rulfo's reputation rests on two slim books, the novel Pedro Páramo (1955), and El llano en llamas (1953, The Burning Plain), a collection of short stories that includes his admired tale "¡Diles que no me maten!" ("Tell Them Not to K...more
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“No one knows better than I do how far heaven is, but I also know all the shortcuts. The secret is to die, when you want to, and not when He proposes. Or else to force Him to take you before your time.”
—
10 people liked it
“There you'll find the place I love most in the world. The place where I grew thin from dreaming. My village, rising from the plain. Shaded with trees and leaves like a piggy bank filled with memories. You'll see why a person would want to live there forever. Dawn, morning, mid-day, night: all the same, except for the changes in the air. The air changes the color of things there. And life whirs by as quiet as a murmur...the pure murmuring of life.”
—
4 people liked it
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