The Divine Husband

by Francisco Goldman

The Divine Husband is a tale of tragedy, human comedy, and great love, of the soul of the Americas and the birth of the modern spirit. It follows Maria de las Nieves Moran through the nineteenth-century Central America of convents, ballrooms, and coffee plantations, to the stately Fifth Avenue addresses of New York. When we meet Maria de las Nieves, she is an obsessively bookish and dreamy novice nun - but this career is cut short when the country's new ruler orders the closing of the convents. What will be her fate in the rapidly changing secular world? When she takes a job at the British legation and enrolls in a writing class taught by Jose Marti, her life is transformed by the brilliant and seductive poet and hero of Cuban independence, whose year in that Central American capital results in more than one broken heart and in Latin America's most famous love poem.
Maria de las Nieves's story unfolds among an unforgettable cast of characters striving for love or success in late-nineteenth-century Central Paquita, her lifelong best friend and nemesis, who begins a beautiful and impetuous schoolgirl and ends up hosting one of Gilded Age New York's celebrated salons; Mack Chinchilla, the Yankee-Indio entrepreneur intent on winning Maria de las Nieves's hand; a stuffy British diplomat looking after the Queen's interest in the isthmus, and his own in our heroine; Mr. Doveton, the smooth-talking former Confederate ambassador and double agent; Don Jose, the elderly Jewish umbrella repairman who becomes her trusted confidante; and a character known only as "the Mysterious Muchacho." And when Maria de las Nieves departs on a packet boat to New York years later, young daughter in tow, she continues to evade Paquita's - and our - curiosity over who, of her many suitors, is the girl's father, and what really happened between her and Jose Marti.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, Novels, Literary Fiction, Historical, Book Club

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Francisco Goldman is an American novelist, journalist, and 'maestro', at Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), the journalism school for Latin-America created by Gabriel García Márquez. Goldman is also known as Francisco Goldman Molina, "Frank" and "Paco".

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a Guatemalan mother and Jewish-American father. His first novel, The Long Night of White Chickens (1992), won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, and his second, The Ordinary Seaman (1997), was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was short-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He currently resides in Mexico City and Brooklyn, New York. He also teaches at Trinity College (Connecticut).

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[megHan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly believe that books speak to you, a lot of times in ways that the author least expected, and this was one of those books. I will warn you, though, that the first couple of chapters can be a bit off-putting because, for me, it was hard to get into at first. I can't give up on a book, though. It is impossible. I merely take a break, placing it on my bedside table so that I can pick it up again in a few days or weeks and begin again. I am so glad that I did that with this one. The story follows a young woman from a convent when she is young, through her adult life, showing her relationship with God, her best friend, the man that she falls in love with that she can not have and, later in life, her young daughter.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this historical novel. It had several of my "favorites": a latino landscape, a touch of mystic, and interesting female characters.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convoluted and humorous, set in 19th century Guatemala, it follows the story of Maria de las Nieves and her many suitors. Not a quick or easy read but well worth the time.

[Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning of this book held lots of promise with its turn of the century settings and introduction of the main cast, namely Maria de Las Nieves, as they discover their paths in life and love. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Maria and her 'frenemy' Paquita; they were almost like sisters yet were inclined to their very different opinions that led to their eventual estrangement.
However, once the middle of the book was reached, I felt it began to go in different directions as it constantly switched amongst the main cast; first Maria de las Nieves and her journey to Jose Marti and his legend to Mack Chinchilla and many others, leaving the reader almost in a state of confusion as who to follow. It eventually tied together towards the last third of the book and began to engage the reader in the same manner as the beginning, where the reader sees the varied feelings Maria de las Nieves has towards her suitors, especially with her daughter's father, and with her companions in her regualar and spiritual life as well as the adventures of the remaining main cast. But then the reader finds the narrative switching to another person whose connection towards the main cast is revealed before the ending, where new revelations appear to confuse the reader once again before finally tying everything together for an almost predictable end.
Overall, this book was just ok. I loved the descriptions of the Americas (North-South) where you can almost see and touch the surroundings as well as those of the main cast and their personalities. The only thing that makes me give this book just a two star rating was the constant jumping between the plots that appeared to be connected and yet not connected to each other, causing the story to just drag before reaching the end.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful intense story of María de las Nieves, an unconventional woman from the late 19th century whose life weaves in and out with Jose Martí, Man of Poetry and Freedom. Francisco Goldman's writing style is intense, non-linear and descriptive in the most detailed way. It was hard to say in which direction the story was heading, but with patience and commitment, everything comes together in the second part of the book. And when you finally read all the way to the end, you start savoring the whole story as a whole and find the common themes and coincidences that happens throughout the book. This is the perfect book to discuss with somebody else. It's definitely the literature college type of book, where you can easily make an essay out of. Definitely recommend it, but please commit to it - the best part is reading it completely.

[Itziar Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am currently reading this book. It is very interesting, as it depicts my country, Guatemala, in the time of Justo Rufino Barrios. I pertains to the time Jose Marti spent in Guatemala, and as I enjoy poetry it is an interesting novel of the time. However, it is not a fast paced reading and at times it becomes repetitive.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Several years ago, I read Goldman's The Ordinary Seaman and loved it. So I finally picked up this more recent novel of his, because it sounded equally interesting. Alas, it was quite the disappointment. Set in the late 19th century, The Divine Husband follows the tale of Maria de las Nieves Moran from her youth in an unnamed Central American country as first a schoolgirl then a novice nun through her young adulthood which eventually lands her in New York City then Massachusetts. The narrative also takes a close look at the lives of Maria de las Nieves love affairs and suitors, who include a great Cuban writer and revolutionary, an half-American adventurer, a clever and devoted entrepreneur, and at least two foreign dignitaries.
The story and characters had a lot of potential, but none of it worked. There was too much sprawl and not enough sweep - the story never hung together properly. The changes of focus were also largely unsuccessful. I always felt like there wasn't enough of Maria de las Nieves in the story, even though she was nominally the main character. At the same time, when the narration switched over to the stories of the suitors and lovers, I felt like they were treated too distantly. All of the elements were fine individually, they just never added up to much.

[Mallory D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beginning was great but then it turned meh for me. Didn't finish. Life's too short to read books you're not enjoying!

[Tom Hooker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Central America and New York in the late 19th Century, this is the story of Maria de las Nieves Moran, a clever, strong-willed girl of mixed heritage--half Irish-American, half Mayan Indian. In childhood, she and her closest friend, Paquita, discovered the pleasures of making themselves sneeze with fibers of wool extracted from their clothing. When Paquita, at age 12, began to return the attentions of a rapacious Liberal reformer nicknamed El Anticristo, Maria de las Nieves made Paquita swear not to surrender her virginity before she did. Immediately, the scheming Maria de las Nieves announced her vocation, and joined a convent.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up in a school staff lounge. Teachers generally have very good taste, and this one was no exception. It had a wonderful gaggle of colorful and three dimensional characters, lots of historical details. Up until the end, it was a great page turner. The end was a little weak, but other 95% was so strong, it really didn't subtract from my enjoyment very much.

[maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Francisco Goldman's non-fiction work and I was intrigued by the idea of a novel about the poet and revolutionary hero José Martí. So I was disappointed that this novel didn't live up to its promise. Still, it's not bad as a source of interesting factoids about Central America at the end of the 19th century.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating in its intricate engagement with social, political, and cultural forces at play in a historic period in Guatemala and, to some extent, New York. Not one of my favorites, though. It was a bit of a disappointment after reading Goldman's outstanding Long Night of the White Chickens.

[Carolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Divine Husband alternated, for me, between an engaging historical and novelistic narrative to a rambling, almost mundane story. For this, I found it mostly enjoyable, but flawed. Perhaps Goldman would have benefited by more rigorous editing.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting exposure to the history of Latin America from a fictional standpoint, but not a favorite of mine.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to finish this one, but it just drifted along. Others may like it though

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this in a graduate class. It was strange, and that's what made it interesting.