The Love Queen of the Amazon: A Novel

by Cecile Pineda

A South American convent girl discovers, after an affair with a skipper, that her talents lie between the sheets, so she turns her home into a bordello and proceeds to service such illustrious figures as George Washington and Ben Franklin

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism

255 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1992

Reviews

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t begin to describe the plot so will quote this from the Kirkus Review: In Malyerba – like Macondo, a mythic town that ``progress had yet to visit'' – a house is taken over by bees, a woman is crystallized into honey, a mummy-like mother-in-law floats toward Heaven, and protagonist Ana Magdalena is expelled from convent school for stripping naked while saving a classmate from drowning.

This is a wonderful send-up of magical realism, with a decidedly feminist bent. I laughed out loud at the ridiculous antics and over-the-top descriptions. Pineda is a wonderful writer, with beautiful phrasing, interesting characters, deliciously wicked scenes of passion, and a perfect sense of timing. I was engaged and pulled into the story from page one, and when I finished, I wanted to start from the beginning and read it again.

[Magdalena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
This magical realism escapade set in a small town in South America in the early 20th century is pretty zany. I mean don't get me wrong I liked it but some of it was quite out there, one women literally floats around the house. However I think if you like magical realism you'll like this. I thought the way it was written was beautiful it almost lulled you into a dreamlike state. It was also a lot of fun to read and I kept catching myself smiling. Overall it was a little too unbelievable for me but I still enjoyed it.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most important thing you need to know about this book is that I bought it at Normal's Used Books in Baltimore, and that book store is my platonic ideal of used book store. I went there all the time in college, and I was in Baltimore for a conference recently so of course I set aside time to go back there, wander around, and buy books. I did my best to buy books the way I would have bought books back in the early aughts when I was a college student and had no cell phone. I wandered around, I randomly picked things up, and I bought only books I would NEVER buy or seek out. This alone makes this book a sentimental favorite.

As to the quality of the book . . . well, I think Pineda does a great job skewering the subject matter and tone of the magical realist novels of El Boom. Now that I think about it, this book came out roughly around the same time as Like Water for Chocolate, which also satirizes El Boom pretty well and also from a woman's point of view. But the book ends in a hurry--almost like Pineda had no idea how to actually end the book. Ironically, the book-within-the-book, also titled The Love Queen of the Amazon, is infinitely long. Or not ironically? Whatever, both books have a problem with knowing how to end. But it's clear we should make fun of the book-within-the-book, and it's not so clear how we should feel about the novel itself falling short in the same way as its satirical subject.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very unusual story... different than what I normally read, so I had a lot of fun with this one. Seems to be rather obscure -- no write-up on Amazon.com to speak of. I found this gem in a used bookstore on S. Broadway.

I wish I knew more Spanish, as it's interspersed in the story, but I got by. Good coming-of-age story, with a surreal fairy-tale-like backdrop.

[Kim Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Love Queen of the Amazon by Cecile Pineda (1992)

[Leslie]

This book is indulgent, escapist, fun, smart, and thoroughly unlikely to change your life. I read it in a day. I'm glad I did.