One of the great masterpieces of modern Latin American fiction, Terra Nostrais concerned with nothing less than the history of Spain and of South A...
read full description
reviews
Feb 05, 2011
brian
rated it: 
well, this is a big big book and i dig the big ones so i carried it around like a cinderblock in my bag for a while. and the first paragraph ranks as one of the great first paragraphs. check this out:
Incredible the first animal that dreamed of another animal. Monstrous the first vertebrae that succeeded in standing on two feet and thus spread terror among the beasts still normally and happily crawling close to the ground through the slime of creation. Astounding the first telephone More...
Incredible the first animal that dreamed of another animal. Monstrous the first vertebrae that succeeded in standing on two feet and thus spread terror among the beasts still normally and happily crawling close to the ground through the slime of creation. Astounding the first telephone More...
0 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Feb 03, 2012
I don't think I was the right reader for this book, it seems to have settled uneasily within me.
I am tempted to say the book is about politics and above all political forms. An alternative historical Philip II (married to Elizabeth of England) fights to impose his will and orthodoxy on the heterodox rebels of the Low Countries. The external politics is mirrored in his construction of El Escorial as an embodiment of the Orthodox unity he is trying to impose - however even this might More...
I am tempted to say the book is about politics and above all political forms. An alternative historical Philip II (married to Elizabeth of England) fights to impose his will and orthodoxy on the heterodox rebels of the Low Countries. The external politics is mirrored in his construction of El Escorial as an embodiment of the Orthodox unity he is trying to impose - however even this might More...
Dec 05, 2008
Alex
rated it: 
Terra Nostra has the most profound opening paragraph of any book this side of The Bible:
Incredible the animal that first dreamed of another animal. Monstrous the first vertebrate that succeeded in standing on two feet and thus spread terror among the beasts still normally and happily crawling close to the ground through the slime of creation. Astounding the first telephone call, the first boiling water, the first song, the first loincloth.
and then shortly after there, Fue More...
Incredible the animal that first dreamed of another animal. Monstrous the first vertebrate that succeeded in standing on two feet and thus spread terror among the beasts still normally and happily crawling close to the ground through the slime of creation. Astounding the first telephone call, the first boiling water, the first song, the first loincloth.
and then shortly after there, Fue More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 30, 2010
Jim
rated it: 
Almighty God, this is a brilliant monstrosity of a book!
It's been a long time,but I remember this being a fabulous, magical, beast of a book. Carols Fuentes is a mythmaker supreme!
It's been a long time,but I remember this being a fabulous, magical, beast of a book. Carols Fuentes is a mythmaker supreme!
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 04, 2010
Veterini
rated it:
Lu après la lecture de « l’art du roman » de Kundera où il le pose comme un des romans du 20eme siècle avec les livres de Kafka et « Les somnambules » d’Hermann Broch. Il est particulièrement question de l’Espagne au moment de la découverte du nouveau monde, du nouveau monde, et un peu de la fin du monde.
Mais c’est toutefois extrêmement touffu et difficilement résumable, avec une volonté de Fuentes d’offrir un roman-monde englobant un peu tout. Mais si y a une chose qui m’a particulièreme More...
Mais c’est toutefois extrêmement touffu et difficilement résumable, avec une volonté de Fuentes d’offrir un roman-monde englobant un peu tout. Mais si y a une chose qui m’a particulièreme More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 26, 2010
nathank
rated it:
About halfway through this book I started to get the feeling that after reading Terra Nostra I could be content never to read another book again, as if it were the culmination of my lifetime of reading.
The absolutely gorgeous prose (could be the translator), is in the same vein as Nabokov and Pynchon, but not quite as complex. You'll run into sentences that go on for a page or more, but are not usually overly difficult to understand. This book also has the most vivid imagery I've e More...
The absolutely gorgeous prose (could be the translator), is in the same vein as Nabokov and Pynchon, but not quite as complex. You'll run into sentences that go on for a page or more, but are not usually overly difficult to understand. This book also has the most vivid imagery I've e More...
Sep 17, 2011
Brent
rated it:
This pink brick was on the shelves of The Monkey's Paw, a store more likely to sell you a dusty stuffed crow or pornography from 1850's than some crazed scream from Carlos Fuentes about faith and death and history. I had wanted to read the book for a decade or so, snatching up the fat Penguin- an edition I'd never seen before- on my way back from the liquor store. 890 pages of size 3 font, three months, two countries, a 50th birthday, and several cities later, I won't even begin to address the c
More...
4 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Aug 07, 2009
Stuart
rated it:
Epic and kaleidoscopic in scope, full of profound weirdness and stunning, hallucinatory prose. Forget Garcia-Marquez, this is more Pynchonian in its lucid irrationality, a waking dream of Spain's conquest of Mexico that straddles multiple centuries, from Aztec creation myth to Millenial apocalypse. Alternately frustrating and mind-blowing - I came close to quitting it more than once, particularly in the first book, "The Old World," but Fuentes kept dragging me back with his wild imagin
More...
Oct 31, 2011
Michael
rated it:
You know I only bought this book because I read the list of characters and couldn't make any sense of it. And I couldn't make any sense of where the book was going till about half way (and that's a lot of pages), although all the separate parts were completely fascinating. Then the bits gradually started to come together - and my head pretty much exploded with the brilliance of it all. Worth the wait, let me tell you.
May 11, 2009
Enrike
rated it:
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I read it many years ago when I was younger as part of a college course and it has stayed with me. From what I remember, Margaret Sayer's Paden, the translator, wrote a very detailed article, "Reader's Guide to Terra Nostra", which will give you a lot of the background behind the story. I don't remember where the article was published. Also, as I recall, "Cervantes or the Critique of Reading", a series of essays by Fuentes, illumi
More...
Sep 18, 2011
Jonfaith
rated it:
This masive meditation on the Conquest and its effect on imaginations, moralities and all matters pertaining to worlds New and Old hit me like a cinder block. I recall going to Day's Espresso at the itme, they had magnificent lattes, they made me fat. I didn't care. I loved this book.
Jul 27, 2011
A very thick book with a wonderful language and interesting scope. Looking forward to really get in to this one. It was so difficult though that I had to put it aside (probably the first book I ever stopped reading). I don't get it, I don't follow what happens really.
Mar 30, 2010
Nayelli
rated it:
One of the most interesting books i've ever read... Unfortunately, i just finished the first part... but i'm crazy for getting the second one and know the end of the story.
Aug 26, 2008
Ed
rated it:
Simply the most exciting book I've read since Under the Volcano, Terra Nostra seeks to unify the mythology and politics of 15th Century Spain and the New World in one meteor-like work! Amazing! It literally has to be read to be believed.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 05, 2009
Mel
rated it: 
Okay I read 1/2 of this which is saying a lot. It started out good but then meandered into a mess of metaphor and no plot. I lost interest and while I wanted to read this book it just became not worth the time.
Jun 19, 2011
Kent
rated it:
A tad long but one of the most imaginative books I've read. When I read The Tinkers, the author stated that Terra Nostra was a huge influence on him.
Jul 17, 2008
David
rated it:
Brilliant monster of a book. My third from Fuentes. Each page a poem. Third of the way through in three months and worth the slow take.
Oct 16, 2008
This book is an intense piece of literature. I would love a book buddy to read it with me.
Feb 12, 2012
Feb 09, 2012
Feb 08, 2012
Feb 01, 2012
