What do you think?
Rate this book
Die Geschichte von José
Spanish
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Eliseo Alberto
31 books15 followersEliseo Alberto, de nombre completo Eliseo Alberto de Diego García y Marruz, Lichi para sus amigos, fue un periodista, novelista, poeta y guionista cubano que Licenciado en periodismo (La Habana), fue jefe de redacción de El caimán Barbudo y subdirector de Cine Cubano. Obtuvo el Premio Nacional de la Crítica de Cuba (1983) y el Premio Internacional Alfaguara de Novela (1998). Vivió exiliado desde 1990 en México, cuya ciudadanía adoptó en 2000.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 18, 2025
Zanimljiva knjiga. Zaista.
May 4, 2024
¿Cuánto dura hacer el amor? - toda la vida. Me quedo con esta frase y otras tantas que van haciendo la lectura. Me quedo con el desenlace que te atrapa. Pensé que el argumento de un preso expuesto en un zoológico iba a hacer más reflexivo. Quién soy yo para criticar al genio de Lichi (sí, me doy la licencia de llamarlo Lichi).
July 20, 2018
Ay mi Pepe Kid. Juro que no pensé encontrarme el libro que me encontré. Entrañable a su forma.
La historia es muy interesante, muy diferente a lo que he visto antes en autores latinoamericanos, especialmente uno del caribe donde casi siempre se centran en novelas basadas en las historias de sus respectivos paises, y no es como que esta se escape a esa situación, pero el modo en que lo maneja es simplemente admirable.
La narrativa es muy fluida, pero se pierde en muchos ratos cuando el autor da muchos rodeos para contarnos algo, pero aún así se siente muy orgánica y los personajes ni se diga. Llegué a sentir lástima por José (Pepe Kid) y hasta repudio por la pequeña Lulu, a pesar de que su personaje solo tiene una o dos escenas. Lorenzo Lara se robó el show y todo el protagonismo, Camila Novac simplemente no termina de convencerme, pero el autor no me deja odiarla.
De todo lo único que realmente me choca es este amor tan repentino entre Camila y José, pero después todo resulta llamativo e interesante.
La historia es muy interesante, muy diferente a lo que he visto antes en autores latinoamericanos, especialmente uno del caribe donde casi siempre se centran en novelas basadas en las historias de sus respectivos paises, y no es como que esta se escape a esa situación, pero el modo en que lo maneja es simplemente admirable.
La narrativa es muy fluida, pero se pierde en muchos ratos cuando el autor da muchos rodeos para contarnos algo, pero aún así se siente muy orgánica y los personajes ni se diga. Llegué a sentir lástima por José (Pepe Kid) y hasta repudio por la pequeña Lulu, a pesar de que su personaje solo tiene una o dos escenas. Lorenzo Lara se robó el show y todo el protagonismo, Camila Novac simplemente no termina de convencerme, pero el autor no me deja odiarla.
De todo lo único que realmente me choca es este amor tan repentino entre Camila y José, pero después todo resulta llamativo e interesante.
February 7, 2018
muy buen libro! :)
February 2, 2009
Interesting book. I didn't enjoy it much, but it was still interesting.
I bought it because of its plot description - young man kills out of love, ends up in prison, and some fifteen years later is offered the chance to get out of prison and spent the remained of his sentence as a human exhibit in the zoo.
Which fits quite nicely into my not-so-recent fascination with prison fiction and slave universes. (no, I'm not really that kinky. It's a thought experience.)
The realization of that plot was interesting, but not at all what I expected. The writing is strangely, well, I can't really say dreamlike, though it felt unreal. It's different. All descriptions, dialogues, actions, are very much in the present. You, as the reader, read them, and you get into people's head and hearts, but only momentarily. I never felt as if I was getting "the big picture" and because of that, I had trouble following what was going on. Or rather, I think I know what was going on, I just didn't feel that this was really all that was going on.
A man in prison? Shouldn't there be more? More angst, more suffering, more drama?
Well, it seems that this is not what this book is about. It's not about personal drama, it's about society. Which yes, I wanted to read (because what kind of society puts a man into a zoo?), but even in that it isn't what I expected. Because the society Alberto describes isn't different from ours - it's not some apocalyptic world where people are put into zoos (and, how apocalyptic can it be, seeing how only a relatively short time ago that's what our society did with "Savages" from Africa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo). There's also a strong political theme in the book, one that mostly eludes me, because I didn't expect it and noticed too late that this was what felt so off to me. Some expressions rubbed me in the wrong way, but that could be the fault of the translation (I read it in german).
In short (*cough*): the book got me to think, which is - usually - a good thing. But I still didn't enjoy reading it and wouldn't read it again.
I bought it because of its plot description - young man kills out of love, ends up in prison, and some fifteen years later is offered the chance to get out of prison and spent the remained of his sentence as a human exhibit in the zoo.
Which fits quite nicely into my not-so-recent fascination with prison fiction and slave universes. (no, I'm not really that kinky. It's a thought experience.)
The realization of that plot was interesting, but not at all what I expected. The writing is strangely, well, I can't really say dreamlike, though it felt unreal. It's different. All descriptions, dialogues, actions, are very much in the present. You, as the reader, read them, and you get into people's head and hearts, but only momentarily. I never felt as if I was getting "the big picture" and because of that, I had trouble following what was going on. Or rather, I think I know what was going on, I just didn't feel that this was really all that was going on.
A man in prison? Shouldn't there be more? More angst, more suffering, more drama?
Well, it seems that this is not what this book is about. It's not about personal drama, it's about society. Which yes, I wanted to read (because what kind of society puts a man into a zoo?), but even in that it isn't what I expected. Because the society Alberto describes isn't different from ours - it's not some apocalyptic world where people are put into zoos (and, how apocalyptic can it be, seeing how only a relatively short time ago that's what our society did with "Savages" from Africa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo). There's also a strong political theme in the book, one that mostly eludes me, because I didn't expect it and noticed too late that this was what felt so off to me. Some expressions rubbed me in the wrong way, but that could be the fault of the translation (I read it in german).
In short (*cough*): the book got me to think, which is - usually - a good thing. But I still didn't enjoy reading it and wouldn't read it again.
Read
July 24, 2017Algunos defensores de los animales hablan de especieísmo: la noción de que los humanos discriminamos a ciertos animales para favorecer a otros, en especial a nosotros mismos (la comparación obvia y frecuente es con el racismo o el sexismo, pero en este caso en referencia a las especies animales). Detrás de cualquier rechazo a la discriminación existe la idea de que todos somos iguales; en el caso de las especies, los humanos no tenemos exclusividad sobre muchos sentimientos y emociones, que también experimentan los animales. ¿Cómo se justifica entonces, desde este punto de vista, la omisión de hombres y mujeres en las jaulas de los zoológicos? Si vamos a enjaular y exhibir animales de diferentes especies, que también sufren y sienten, ¿por qué no incluir también algunos humanos? ¿No quedaría más completo así el inventario? La pregunta no se sostiene más allá de la hipótesis; por suerte, la literatura es el campo perfecto para el desarrollo de casos hipotéticos.
Continúa.... https://formasdedistorsionarelmundo.w...
Continúa.... https://formasdedistorsionarelmundo.w...
July 14, 2009
This is a story about a Cuban emigrant named Jose, whom is serving a prison sentence for murder, after he has served fifteen years of his sentence he is offered to serve the rest at the Zoo as a human exhibit.
I think this book is really serious, hard and depressing. It has left a strong impression and it made me think about the society we live in.
I think this book is really serious, hard and depressing. It has left a strong impression and it made me think about the society we live in.
June 25, 2024
La prosa de Eliseo Alberto abruma pero encandila.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews