The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini

by Stephen Dobyns

Acclaimed poet and novelist Stephen Dobyns fashions a compelling novel of sex and power amidst the war-ravaged streets of a Latin American city.

Genres: Fiction, Latin American, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Thriller

260 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Dobyns was raised in New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He was educated at Shimer College, graduated from Wayne State University, and received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1967. He has worked as a reporter for the Detroit News.

He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.

In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a straightforward narrative voice of reason. His journalistic training has strongly informed this voice.

Reviews

[Paul Ataua · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are revolutionary times, there is bloody violence in the streets, and yet the 6 monthly dinner gathering of friends still takes place at the home of Doctor Pacheco, albeit with fewer members in evidence. Attention suddenly focuses on the displayed photo of a young woman who turns out to be the Pacheco’s old housemaid, Senora Puccini. Here is a mystery that needs to be unraveled. As the doctor, in stretches between attending to wounded soldiers and other happenings, recounts the events of his twenty year ‘relationship’ with this woman, we find that the upheavals are just not confined to outside in the streets. I really didn’t enjoy the process of reading this. It dragged. And yet, by the end I was quite taken by it as all the pieces started to come together. This is one of those books that affects you more after you have finished than when you are actually reading it.

[Gatorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but ultimately disappointing tale from Dobyns about boyhood friends who gather for dinner amidst government upheaval and end up discussing the bizarre relationship between the host and his female servant. Dobyns' writing is top notch and the words flow off the pages but the story fails to engage and left me wanting more. While the themes of the story are heavy, there is a definite lack of substance in the execution, and the conclusion did not have the emotional impact it should have. It wasn't boring, and I kept reading with peaked interest, but I was never able to fully wrap myself in the goings-on or the characters themselves. I didn't expect a Dobyns book to feel so slight. This is the second straight book by Dobyns that has left me disappointed after wowing me with The Boy In The Water and The Church of Dead Girls. I liked it, but I wanted to love it.

[Debra B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A creative novel about sexual obsession and the ties we have to our past friendships from our school days and a whole lot more.... Very well-written. Intriguing, even shocking at times. Very interesting characters.

[Emily Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't write fiction unless you have read this work of art. Dobyns shows writers how to master the craft; and escorts readers into a new world.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over forty years of friendship, rivalry, envy, fear, and hatred collide at a semi-annual dinner party held in an unnamed South American country. Even as the three guests arrive at the ornate home of Dr. Daniel Pacheco, an eminent surgeon, a revolution has erupted in the streets of the city. As the violence outside intensifies so does the psychological and physical violence among the four middle aged men assembled to look back over their lives. At the center of it all is Pacheco's housemaid, Antonia Puccini. Pacheco and Puccini have a grisly hold over each other that has stretched out over twenty years. This night, the night of the banquet, reveals all their secrets, strips away all their masks and facades, and culminates in a scene of destroyed lies and lives.

It may appear that it is the outside world working its way into the fragile mental worlds of the dinner goers so carefully constructed over the past four decades. But is that so? Is it really the outside that causes the final unmasking of Pacheco, his maid, and his guests? As their dishonest inner psyches collapse one by one, each person reveals themselves as something of a monster. Dalakis, the sentimental government official, is the least offensive of the lot, although even he is revealed as something of an emotional vampire feeding off the tragedies of others while displaying his own hurt at his wife's leaving him. Malgiolio, a gluttonous ne'er-do-well, destroys his own future and that of his family in pursuit of a humiliating sexual perversion. And Nicolas Batterby, a literary editor and the novel's narrator, denies his past, his son, and wife, all out of wounded pride and vanity. Above them, Pacheco and Puccini act as puppet masters, manipulating the guests and each other, while positioning themselves for the ultimate dramatic reveal at the end. And simultaneous with it all, the world outside is coming apart. It is as if the outer world is the more temporary construct, for after the night of horrors ends, a new world easily emerges.

In terms of exploring psychological depths, Dobyns' novel is among the best. His clarity of style meshes with his ease of form, while focusing on the subtleties of peeling away the layers of self-delusion. Yet at the end, is it at all sure that the truth is known? For even the narrator has proven unreliable and the stories of the others seem altered when their motivations seem to disappear and then reestablish themselves in other ways. Nothing is true, really, except for Pacheco's and Puccini's release from their gradual dance towards destruction.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once upon a time there was a little second hand bookshop in Newtown, Sydney, whose owner knew my taste in novels so well that it was spooky. One day when I walked in he handed me a copy of The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini and it is one of a handful of novels I have carried with me my entire life. What enchanted me about the book was that it was written by a man reflecting on the nature of the male ego in mid-life, and that reflection was incredibly brutal and to a certain extent, frightening. This is a very frank and dark look into the weaknesses of men whose dreams were never realised and the damage they can do not only to their 'loved' ones but also to their peers, not to mention the easy lies they create to cover it all, if for no other reason but to make their lives seem complete to themselves.

[Tina Tamman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange book. Somebody once said that he didn't quite understand what it was all about and I'd agree with that. It is written in an exciting way, there is a bit of a mystery, so for a while it is not a bad read, but in the end I felt a bit cheated. What did I learn? What did I gain? Why was the novel written in the first place? It's quite unsatisfactory, at least for me.

[Twistedtexas · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10
Surreal and beautiful prose, flavored with sections of abject cruelty.

"I look at it this way: It takes the light of the sun eight minutes to reach the earth. So if the sun blinked out this very instant, we would have eight minutes of warmth, eight minutes of further life. And who's to say? Maybe it has already been out two, three, five minutes. That's how I live, as if the sun had already blinked out."

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Senora Puccini is the housekeeper for Dr Pacheco. He has tormented her for years. He tells the story of their relationship to long time friends at a dinner party. At the same time a disturbance causes a curfew and night time of violence in town. She tolerates his cruelty so that he will take care of her fiancé. He exploits her since she refuses to love him. It is a slow tale like a story over cocktails. I thought of Milan Kundera a couple times while reading.

[Katie Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because The Church of Dead Girls is one of my favorites and I wanted more from this author. I said wtf so many times while reading this. Maybe I just didn't get it. Not boring.

[Max Anadon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did goodreads exist in 2002? Regardless, I wasn't inputting, but I do remember quite enjoying the story, as I am especially partial to Latin flavor writings...something From Library Journal:
In a war-torn Latin American capital, a group of old friends gather at the home of Dr. Daniel Pacheco for their semiannual reunion. Kept prisoners by an emergency curfew, they wander into revelations of brutality and deception. The evening's centerpiece is the host's gradual disclosure of his obsession with Seora Puccini, whom he met as a young socialite. Now his housekeeper and sexual slave, she quietly serves dinner as Pacheco details the limitless debasement he has forced on them both so that he can possess her physically, though she vows never to love him. The violence in the streets serves as counterpoint to the emotional violence of these refined, prominent men. A dark, existential thriller by the author of the Charlie Bradshaw mysteries. Highly recommended. BOMC alternate.Rob Schmieder, Boston
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

[Justin Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where to begin? Dobyns is certainly a master of the written word, which shows greatly here. But it is not just his prose that makes me such an adamant fan, it is the way Dobyns can make even the most simple setting and concept a study in human emotion.

This novel begins with the arrival of friends to a dinner gathering. The events that follow all take place on this night, revealing the darkness within each character, and ourselves in turn. As I read through this, I was struck by how much desperation and loss was oozing out of every page. Though this is a theme rooted in reality, it is at times a bit difficult to swallow.

However, in the midst of the darkest moments, Dobyns drops in bits of optimism and beauty that make this piece even more realistic. There are moments that make the reader feel both uncomfortable and worthless, but moments that give hope for the future.

Overall, this one is highly recommended. A bit of the action seems like a vehicle for conversation, but the conversation is top notch. Not a beach read, but worth the time.

[Nick Seeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dobyns is perhaps my favorite writer of prose and poetry, and so I delay reading his books--I save them up, frightened by the day I will have read all of them.

The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini is masterful, a fantasy of desire and obsession that can stand alongside Marquez or Lagerkvist, told in Dobyn's singular and beautiful prose.

[Rachael Cudlitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astonishing writing. Reminded me of Ibsen and Strindberg. Powerful, stylized story telling, without being pretentious. I don't recommend it for a beach read though. This one's more of a rainy day book. Highly recommend.

[Sarah Ingram · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a goodreads giveaway. I was slow in getting into it, but did find it pretty captivating about halfway through. Still, not sure what it was about this book that didn't really do much for me.

[Chris and Yuri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, strong architecture underlies a story and characters that at the time I found repellent. A little too neat, with too little heart.

[Ann Kuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written. Really dark and kinda made me feel yucky.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found the book to be quite interesting - takes place in one night - old school friends meet for dinner while an unnamed city is in turmoil - stories told of betrayals which keep your interest.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterfully written.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent treatise in both the frailty and resilience of being human and loving