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Purgatorio = Purgatory
In the winter of 1976, Simon Cardoso is arrested by the military and is never seen again. Thirty years later, Emilia Dupuy, his wife, is stunned to find him in New Jersey. Her world, which had crumbled after losing him, is alight with life again. There is a caveat, however: for Simn Cardoso time stopped when he disappeared. Using this enigma as the foundation, Toms Eloy Ma...more
Paperback, 291 pages
Published
March 30th 2009
by Alfaguara
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En el invierno de 1976 Simón Cardoso es detenido por los militares que impusieron una dictadura sangrienta en Argentina, y nunca más aparece. Treinta años después, su mujer Emilia Dupuy, se paraliza al oír su voz en una fonda de suburbio en New Jersey. El mundo, que se había desmoronado con la tragedia, recobra su luz.
A partir de ese enigma, Purgatorio enlaza la ansiedad del amor perdido y recuperado con una reconstrucción magistral de la irrealidad siniestra creada por el régimen. T...more
A partir de ese enigma, Purgatorio enlaza la ansiedad del amor perdido y recuperado con una reconstrucción magistral de la irrealidad siniestra creada por el régimen. T...more
This is a love story and ghost story that spans 3 decades. I happened to win this book from GoodReads at a time when I, like Emilia Dupuy lost someone I dearly love and like Emilia I just want that person back. Well, unfortunately for me, "Purgatory" is simply a good story and I doubt I will ever find my sister sitting in a restaurant lounge as Emilia found her husband Simon in such a lounge. And so, the book begins, with the impossible. Although it doesn't offer any real tips on bri...more
Purgatory is a story about life being put on hold. It's a story of not knowing if your love one is alive or dead. You can't move forward even though life has continued to move on. This is what happened to the character Emilia Dupuy. Her husband Simon Cardoso was last seen by her when both were arrested as subversives. She saw him going into a prison but never saw him comes out. All the paperwork indicated that Simon has been released but then again, paperwork could be forged.
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Haven't received yet, just received notice I had won. 11/4/11
I recevied my copy 12/31/11 and hope to start soon. I have 7 plus my current read in front. 01/03/12
Just started today 01/21/12.
Finished last night. 01/27/12
Simon has been dead for 30 years when his wife Emilia sees him in a cafe. She has aged normally but he has remained the same. This is the start of a book that jumps back 30+ years ago and is set in present day. It is the story of Emilia and her life in...more
I recevied my copy 12/31/11 and hope to start soon. I have 7 plus my current read in front. 01/03/12
Just started today 01/21/12.
Finished last night. 01/27/12
Simon has been dead for 30 years when his wife Emilia sees him in a cafe. She has aged normally but he has remained the same. This is the start of a book that jumps back 30+ years ago and is set in present day. It is the story of Emilia and her life in...more
Purgatory is set in Argentina during the Dirty War when thousands went missing and were described by the government as being "lost" or "disappeared." Emilia, a cartographer, has "lost" her husband Simón, also a cartographer, just days after they marry. She is devasted and searches for him. Though there are numerous accounts and witnesses that claim Simón was captured, tortured, and killed by the military, Emilia refuses to believe. She holds on to the hope that ...more
I won this book on GoodReads and was hoping for a good educational historical novel. The story is set in the "dirty war" in Argentina - the nearly 8 years of military rule by the Junta from 1976 to 1983. Those who opposed the regime were called subversives and the military systematically rounded them up and got rid of them in their "National Reorganization Process." The junta defended their actions as necessary to keep order and tried to call the war a civil war; the truth...more
Read for Modern Times Books, Spanish Book Group, San Francisco: June 2009.
A perspective about the psychological damage that resulted from the dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). This work shares the experience of those that were left behind, society's acceptance/denial of the situation, and the sickening manipulation techniques used by the military group to keep the nation numb with fear. Emilia's sense of reality and life is blurred after Simon is disappeared during a trip only a...more
A perspective about the psychological damage that resulted from the dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). This work shares the experience of those that were left behind, society's acceptance/denial of the situation, and the sickening manipulation techniques used by the military group to keep the nation numb with fear. Emilia's sense of reality and life is blurred after Simon is disappeared during a trip only a...more
I won this book from a contest of Goodreads on November 4/11 and recently received it. I would have liked to have given it 3 1/2 stars, but the program will only accept whole numbers.
Set in Argentina in the 1970's when the 'dirty war' was disposing of thousands of 'subversives' by arresting, torturing and executing them. Emilia and Simon, both Cartographers, are married and days later Simon disappears. Emilia is unable to accept the rumours that he has been killed and spends the nex...more
Set in Argentina in the 1970's when the 'dirty war' was disposing of thousands of 'subversives' by arresting, torturing and executing them. Emilia and Simon, both Cartographers, are married and days later Simon disappears. Emilia is unable to accept the rumours that he has been killed and spends the nex...more
New Jersey and Argentina - that right there makes it so that I must love it. It's heavy. Someone who has lost someone during the Dirty War, her dad involved with the military (and therefore with her loss); she has been hit so hard that she's trapped in time in her mind. It affects you, stays with you. Martinez is one of the best Argentine writers I've ever come across. This was his last book before passing, and it's worthy of carrying that title.
Surreal tale of the Argentine military junta responsible for thousands of missing and presumed dead during the '70s and '80s. Also a dreamy story of the mental anguish of those searching for loved ones over a thirty-year period. Also a commentary on the art of the novel, the intersection of what really happened with what never happened but might have. A strange, dark story.
I received this book through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
This is the second of Martinez's books that I've read, having previously read Santa Evita in Spanish. This one somehow felt strongly reminiscent of another book, though, and I'm not sure which one, maybe Bolano's Savage Detectives, as the author is a character in what is nonetheless fiction. I'm having a hard time writing this review because I think the book left me somewhat unsettled. It didn't provide any real answers ...more
This is the second of Martinez's books that I've read, having previously read Santa Evita in Spanish. This one somehow felt strongly reminiscent of another book, though, and I'm not sure which one, maybe Bolano's Savage Detectives, as the author is a character in what is nonetheless fiction. I'm having a hard time writing this review because I think the book left me somewhat unsettled. It didn't provide any real answers ...more
Esta novela me dejó un sinnúmero de sentimientos peleando por cuál será el que predomina. La historia del personaje principal es triste, una de tantas víctimas de uno de tantos régimenes dictatoriales que han ocurrido a lo largo de la historia de la humanidad. Pero claro, la verdadera historia de Argentina durante éste régimen dictatorial es lo que quiere mostrar Tomás Eloy Martínez (el cuál vivió en el exilio) en ésta historia disfrazada de historia de amor. Esta es la segunda novela que leo...more
Heartbreaking, beautiful novel about a woman searching for her husband for thirty years after he disappears during Argentina's "dirty war" of the 1970s. The narrative keeps you guessing about what is reality and what is Emilia's fantasy, in keeping with how the Argentine government determined what was and was not "real" during the war. Wonderful book.
!Tæmbuŝu
marked it as to-read
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review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary-fiction,
multi-jurisdictional
Reviewed by The Guardian, The Complete Review
El amor incomprensible no per se, si no por la mano del hombre que lo vuelve inalcanzable. Amor, Fantasmas, Cartografía, la represión del gobierno. Una realidad latinoamericana que parece haberse olvidado.
This book was not at all what I expected and I actually spent the majority of it lost and disinterested. Portions of brilliance were buried in the midst of drudgery that I couldn't figure out. I can't tell if it's a cultural cue I was missing, or perhaps knowledge of the military dictatorships in Argentina it was assumed I had, but I struggled through most of the book. However, the last quarter of the book finally picked up, something clicked, and I almost couldn't put it down. I would like to g...more
Painful together through
I just received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I haven't had a chance to start it yet, but it looks really good.
So far this really got me hooked, and don't want to finish just yet.
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