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47th out of 76 books
—
46 voters
The She-Devil in the Mirror
Laura Rivera can’t believe what has happened. Her best friend has been killed in cold blood in the living room of her home, in front of her two young daughters! Nobody knows who pulled the trigger, but Laura will not rest easy until she finds out. Her dizzying, delirious, hilarious, and blood-curdling one-sided dialogue carries the reader on a rough and tumble ride through...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
September 30th 2009
by New Directions
(first published February 2nd 2000)
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I found this book really engrossing. It's written as if the main character is in constant conversation with you (she's kind of vapid and gossipy but she knows everyone else's dirt so you want to hear what she has to say). The chapters are long and there are no paragraph breaks, which might make it difficult for some people to get into, but makes it very easy to get lost in.
It's a great look into El Salvador and its political and societal unrest. If you're not too familiar with the country, I'd s...more
It's a great look into El Salvador and its political and societal unrest. If you're not too familiar with the country, I'd s...more
"Character gives us qualities, but it is in actions — what we do — that we are happy or the reverse... All human happiness and misery take the form of action." — Aristotle
This seems like such a philosophically accurate and material way of seeing both drama but life to me, and yet, lately I've been thinking about this line and wondering if it is fundamentally a male way of perceiving drama/life? I resisted the idea that there was a male/female division in this kind of perception since it seemed s...more
This seems like such a philosophically accurate and material way of seeing both drama but life to me, and yet, lately I've been thinking about this line and wondering if it is fundamentally a male way of perceiving drama/life? I resisted the idea that there was a male/female division in this kind of perception since it seemed s...more
the she-devil in the mirror (la diabola en el espejo) is another gem from salvadoran exile horacio castellanos moya. the second of his books to be translated into english, (after last year's riveting senselessness, and the first of two this year (dances with snakes is slated for release in early fall), the she-devil in the mirror is a frenetic murder mystery written with rousing effect. related entirely by a single female character (and without dialogue or paragraph breaks), the story evolves at...more
Laura Rivera, the narrator of this novel, is a recently divorced and self-absorbed woman of privilege, whose best friend, Olga María, has just been murdered execution style in her lavish home in San Salvador, in front of her two daughters. A renegade policeman nicknamed RoboCop is quickly identified as the killer—but who would have murdered this innocent and faithful wife and friend?
The novel is in the form of a narrative, as Laura speaks to another friend about Olga María's life. We soon learn...more
The novel is in the form of a narrative, as Laura speaks to another friend about Olga María's life. We soon learn...more
Moya is a writer of great skill who creates in this novel an unforgettable narrator, a woman whose best friend has been cruelly murdered. As the narrator discusses her friend's sexual and political entanglements, she begins to slip into madness and paranoia. These emotions are spawned to a great extent by the general climate of political fear that one encounters also in Moya's more famous novel "Senselessness." For a reader like me who does not understand what must be oblique references to Latin...more
I found the narrator to be just as grating as the author intended her to be, though I would have preferred a more elaborate or distinctive style than the rather plain, rather bland batshit served up by Moya.
I'm a fan of obsession and obsessive behavior (in literature) and I find that most obsessive characters have their quirks. It is their quirks that make the reading worthwhile. But when the author has to step in and help his character with creaky devices, like describing for the reader that th...more
I'm a fan of obsession and obsessive behavior (in literature) and I find that most obsessive characters have their quirks. It is their quirks that make the reading worthwhile. But when the author has to step in and help his character with creaky devices, like describing for the reader that th...more
I was sucked into the action due to the fast-paced style of writing, but then it just turned into this monotony of a bored housewife using her friend's death as an excuse to speak in a talk-your-f'ing-ear-off-about-vapid-subjects style. Seriously, the book is a wall of text until the next chapter, which is more like a part, because they're quite long... Each time I swear I expect her to pass out because it never stops.
When this excuse to bore you to tears on romance drama went on for over half t...more
When this excuse to bore you to tears on romance drama went on for over half t...more
Moya's got an awful lot on the ball. Between this and last year's (translation of) _Senselessness_ he's on an English-language roll.
This time we've got a nearly hysterical narrator talking to us, one long paragraph in each chapter. As with the previous novel, Moya manages to wring both laughs and chills from us as we read.
His novels are beautifully engaged with political and cultural life, they sparkle with particularity, yet they transcend that particularity to become something more universal.
I...more
This time we've got a nearly hysterical narrator talking to us, one long paragraph in each chapter. As with the previous novel, Moya manages to wring both laughs and chills from us as we read.
His novels are beautifully engaged with political and cultural life, they sparkle with particularity, yet they transcend that particularity to become something more universal.
I...more
Murder mystery with a twist. Usually my thing. Set in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, Laura's best friend Olga Maria is shot dead in her living room in front of her two daughters. All very upsetting and such, and Laura is trying to find out who has done it. And along the way she finds out more and more about her best friend who she didn't know as well as she thought.
The interesting thing about this book is that it intertwines the history and politics of El Salvador with the book. The a...more
The interesting thing about this book is that it intertwines the history and politics of El Salvador with the book. The a...more
I enjoy the effective combination of creeping paranoia, corruption, violence and black humour that define Moya's work (this was more successfully sustained to a conclusion in the 'She-Devil...' than 'Senselessness') and as a reflection of the political and social unrest of both his native San Salvador and Latin America more broadly, Moya's work stands out from his contemporaries but despite his obvious talents there's the nagging feeling that his books never quite deliver their full potential.
To...more
To...more
The thing that makes this a very different sort of crime novel (and I use the term loosely here; this is not Daschel Hammond story) is all in the narrator. She is, in fact, a story unto herself, narrating another story. Her voice becomes the most important part of the book. And, she's terrible- snobbish, self-obsessed, self-contradicting, and bizarrely promiscuous.
The actual political scandal that seems to be the focus of the novel is sort of vague and unimportant. That the narrator starts figur...more
The actual political scandal that seems to be the focus of the novel is sort of vague and unimportant. That the narrator starts figur...more
Castellanos Moya was a professor of mine while studying writing in college, and I regret that it took me a year after graduating to finally pick up this book. I had to get used to the style in the very beginning, though as soon as I did I blew right through it in a day. I was hesitant when I saw the writing format, the complete lack of paragraphs or indentation. Books written like this have always been the bane of my existence because I find them next to impossible to get through, and most of th...more
Very unconventional, told by the narrator to you the reader as if if to her girlfriend, which really pulled me into the story. The ending was a bit abrupt and jarring, BUT the frenetic pace and effective style make this a book I may in the future revisit. I also plan on seeking out Moya's other works.
Loved the book... I felt very much a part of the book, being the so-called confidant of the main character of the book! The book is funny and the main character should have been italian as she is very dramatic and gossipy! But overall it was an interesting read and would recommend this book.
A fast-paced breathless batshit crazy book with an amazing unreliable narrator that sketches a fantastic picture of Salvadoran Civil War & its aftermath through a gossipy murder mystery. Highly highly highly recommended.
I loved the voice in this book, and that the pace kept speeding up. After reading two unsatisfying satires recently, it was good to find a dark humoured book that worked for me. Maybe it helps that it was short?
this one wasn't as good as senselessness either but it's still pretty good.
Quick and fun read. The mental decline of the narrator is very realistic.
Wonderful storytelling, voice, plot twists--all very fresh.
Not as impressed by this as I was with "Senselessness." The gulf between author and narrator seemed a little too wide, which felt (not in a good way) alienating...
I waited a day to rate this book to see how the finish lingered. With chapters that are a single paragraph and pulse-pulse-pulse writing, this is not a book for a casual reader. But, it is a wonder of creativity and stream of consciousness prose. By the end, I knew all the characters by heart, just from Laura's hysterical, judgmental descriptions. I'd love to see a sequel where her voiceless friend tells us what was really going on while Laura wove her tale.
"Until the end, I did not enjoy reading this book."
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.co.uk...
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.co.uk...
May 22, 2013
Bach
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Salvadoran novelist and short story writer.
Horacio Castellanos Moya and his family moved to El Salvador while he was only a few years old. He lived in San Salvador until 1979.
He then worked twelve years as a journalist in Mexico and has lived in Costa Rica, Canada, Guatemala, Spain and Germany, under the auspices of the Frankfurt International Book Fair.
From 2006 to 2008 he was writer in residenc...more
More about Horacio Castellanos Moya...
Horacio Castellanos Moya and his family moved to El Salvador while he was only a few years old. He lived in San Salvador until 1979.
He then worked twelve years as a journalist in Mexico and has lived in Costa Rica, Canada, Guatemala, Spain and Germany, under the auspices of the Frankfurt International Book Fair.
From 2006 to 2008 he was writer in residenc...more
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