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Jungle Novels #2
The Carreta
In the first of his six Jungle Novels, Traven brings his remarkable narrative talents to bear on the coming of age of a young Indian ox-cart driver and the oppressive world in which he must make his way. B. Traven is coming to be recognized as one of the narrative masters of the twentieth century. --New York Times
264 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1931
14 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
About the author
B. Traven
121 books255 followersB. Traven was the pen name of a German novelist, whose real name, nationality, date and place of birth and details of biography are all subject to dispute. A rare certainty is that B. Traven lived much of his life in Mexico, where the majority of his fiction is also set—including his best-known work, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927), which was adapted as the Academy Award nominated film of the same name in 1948.
Virtually every detail of Traven's life has been disputed and hotly debated. There were many hypotheses on the true identity of B. Traven, some of them wildly fantastic. Most agree, that Traven was Ret Marut, a German stage actor and anarchist, who supposedly left Europe for Mexico around 1924. There are also reasons to believe that Marut/Traven's real name was Otto Feige and that he was born in Schwiebus in Brandenburg, modern day Świebodzin in Poland. B. Traven in Mexico is also connected with Berick Traven Torsvan and Hal Croves, both of whom appeared and acted in different periods of the writer's life. Both, however, denied being Traven and claimed that they were his literary agents only, representing him in contacts with his publishers.
B. Traven is the author of twelve novels, one book of reportage and several short stories, in which the sensational and adventure subjects combine with a critical attitude towards capitalism, betraying the socialist and even anarchist sympathies of the writer. B. Traven's best known works include the novels The Death Ship from 1926 and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre from 1927, in 1948 filmed by John Huston, and the so-called Jungle Novels, also known as the Caoba cyclus (from the Spanish word caoba, meaning mahogany), a group of six novels (including The Carreta, Government), published in the years 1930-1939, set among Mexican Indians just before and during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. B. Traven's novels and short stories became very popular as early as the interwar period and retained this popularity after the war; they were also translated into many languages. Most of B. Traven's books were published in German first and their English editions appeared later; nevertheless the author always claimed that the English versions were the original ones and that the German versions were only their translations. This claim is not taken seriously.
Virtually every detail of Traven's life has been disputed and hotly debated. There were many hypotheses on the true identity of B. Traven, some of them wildly fantastic. Most agree, that Traven was Ret Marut, a German stage actor and anarchist, who supposedly left Europe for Mexico around 1924. There are also reasons to believe that Marut/Traven's real name was Otto Feige and that he was born in Schwiebus in Brandenburg, modern day Świebodzin in Poland. B. Traven in Mexico is also connected with Berick Traven Torsvan and Hal Croves, both of whom appeared and acted in different periods of the writer's life. Both, however, denied being Traven and claimed that they were his literary agents only, representing him in contacts with his publishers.
B. Traven is the author of twelve novels, one book of reportage and several short stories, in which the sensational and adventure subjects combine with a critical attitude towards capitalism, betraying the socialist and even anarchist sympathies of the writer. B. Traven's best known works include the novels The Death Ship from 1926 and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre from 1927, in 1948 filmed by John Huston, and the so-called Jungle Novels, also known as the Caoba cyclus (from the Spanish word caoba, meaning mahogany), a group of six novels (including The Carreta, Government), published in the years 1930-1939, set among Mexican Indians just before and during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. B. Traven's novels and short stories became very popular as early as the interwar period and retained this popularity after the war; they were also translated into many languages. Most of B. Traven's books were published in German first and their English editions appeared later; nevertheless the author always claimed that the English versions were the original ones and that the German versions were only their translations. This claim is not taken seriously.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
December 5, 2020
On pre-revolutionary Mexican society-----plus a simple story
B. Traven, a German leftist who fled the chaos of post World War I Bavaria for the New World, wrote many novels of Mexico, including the movie immortalized by Bogart, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". This is the first one I've read, so don't put me on your list of Traven experts. I have learned that this novel, THE CARRETA, is part of a series. I hope that the characters continue from novel to novel, but have no idea if this is true. If they do not, then this book is a very slight effort, in terms of a story and sequence of events. A young Indian man, a peon on a hacienda, is traded off by his patrón during a card game. His new boss runs a cartage company---the workers are on the road all their lives, and due to an extreme system of debt slavery, can never escape their hard existence. Andrés, the young man, finds a young woman at a fiesta and makes her his wife. They love, but must part when Andrés learns that his father, back on the plantation, has been sold to a timber cutting firm deep in the jungles, a fate that nearly nobody can survive. This is the entire plot of the book. What makes the book interesting is the great amount of detail the author gives on Mexican life in the time of Porfirio Dias, the dictator who was overthrown in 1910. The land, the lives of the simple people, Indian legends, the details of work are all depicted in beautiful prose interspersed with considerable irony on the cruelties and injustices of the whole system. Some people might find the political slant not to their taste, but how could you ignore or accept a system that kept more than half of the Mexican people in virtual slavery all their lives ? If you read this book, which is set in the southern state of Chiapas, and wonder how the Revolution changed everything, think about what took place in that very state during the 1990s. The Indians were still in a state of armed revolt against the landlords, who still thought that the native peoples were theirs to use and discard. If you link the times described by Traven and the news of our days, you will find that his novel remained entirely relevant.
B. Traven, a German leftist who fled the chaos of post World War I Bavaria for the New World, wrote many novels of Mexico, including the movie immortalized by Bogart, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". This is the first one I've read, so don't put me on your list of Traven experts. I have learned that this novel, THE CARRETA, is part of a series. I hope that the characters continue from novel to novel, but have no idea if this is true. If they do not, then this book is a very slight effort, in terms of a story and sequence of events. A young Indian man, a peon on a hacienda, is traded off by his patrón during a card game. His new boss runs a cartage company---the workers are on the road all their lives, and due to an extreme system of debt slavery, can never escape their hard existence. Andrés, the young man, finds a young woman at a fiesta and makes her his wife. They love, but must part when Andrés learns that his father, back on the plantation, has been sold to a timber cutting firm deep in the jungles, a fate that nearly nobody can survive. This is the entire plot of the book. What makes the book interesting is the great amount of detail the author gives on Mexican life in the time of Porfirio Dias, the dictator who was overthrown in 1910. The land, the lives of the simple people, Indian legends, the details of work are all depicted in beautiful prose interspersed with considerable irony on the cruelties and injustices of the whole system. Some people might find the political slant not to their taste, but how could you ignore or accept a system that kept more than half of the Mexican people in virtual slavery all their lives ? If you read this book, which is set in the southern state of Chiapas, and wonder how the Revolution changed everything, think about what took place in that very state during the 1990s. The Indians were still in a state of armed revolt against the landlords, who still thought that the native peoples were theirs to use and discard. If you link the times described by Traven and the news of our days, you will find that his novel remained entirely relevant.
November 9, 2020
Yazarın Türkçe’ye çevrilen dokuz romanının dördü, “jungle books” olarak tanımlanan altı kitaplık bir serinin parçası. Ne yazık ki bu serinin son kitabı da dahil olmak üzere iki kitabı Türkçe olarak basılmamış. Bu seri, 1876-1910 arasında Meksika'yı yöneten Porfirio Díaz’ın diktatörlüğünü devirmek amacıyla 1911 yılında başlayan Meksika Devriminden önceki sömürü dönemini ayrıntılı olarak anlatan, kahramanlarında da devamlılığı olan, edebi olarak değilse bile, içerik olarak inanılmaz etkileyicilikte bir eser.
Bu serinin ikinci kitabı olan ‘Araba’, Devrim öncesi Meksika kültürü, yaşayış tarzı ve insan ilişkileri hakkında, çok değerli bir metin. Sanki biraz da tarihe not düşmek için de kaleme alınmış. Çünkü roman kronolojik zaman akışına uygun olarak yazılmış, kahramanlar da zaman akışı içerisinde sırayla ortaya çıkıyorlar. Detaylı bir kurgu hazırlanmamış. Akış içerisinde zaman zaman bazı davranış kalıplarına, inançlara, kavramlara, fikirlere, hatta gerçek hayattaki kişiliklere, ‘aşırı’ denebilecek detaylarla yer verilmiş. Öyle ki, bazı bölümler, ‘belgesel’ tadında.
“••• Sefil ve umutsuz ekonomik durumlarının baskısı altında biriken öfke, proleterlerin birbirini kardeşçe paralamasıyla yatışır çünkü. Ekonomiyi bir güzel altüst etme fırsatı tam ellerine geçmişken, onların yeterli itici güçten ve sağlıklı bir öfkeden yoksun olmalarının nedeni budur…”, sf; 105.
Bu serinin ikinci kitabı olan ‘Araba’, Devrim öncesi Meksika kültürü, yaşayış tarzı ve insan ilişkileri hakkında, çok değerli bir metin. Sanki biraz da tarihe not düşmek için de kaleme alınmış. Çünkü roman kronolojik zaman akışına uygun olarak yazılmış, kahramanlar da zaman akışı içerisinde sırayla ortaya çıkıyorlar. Detaylı bir kurgu hazırlanmamış. Akış içerisinde zaman zaman bazı davranış kalıplarına, inançlara, kavramlara, fikirlere, hatta gerçek hayattaki kişiliklere, ‘aşırı’ denebilecek detaylarla yer verilmiş. Öyle ki, bazı bölümler, ‘belgesel’ tadında.
“••• Sefil ve umutsuz ekonomik durumlarının baskısı altında biriken öfke, proleterlerin birbirini kardeşçe paralamasıyla yatışır çünkü. Ekonomiyi bir güzel altüst etme fırsatı tam ellerine geçmişken, onların yeterli itici güçten ve sağlıklı bir öfkeden yoksun olmalarının nedeni budur…”, sf; 105.
December 26, 2017
The second of Traven's "jungle novels" depicting the seeds of the Mexican Revolution. No recurring characters from the first book, so it could be read as a stand-alone, but the story is a logical progression from the first, so I think my mission to read them in order makes a lot of sense. This one's not quite as great as the first - it feels somewhat light in comparison. I think the main reason is because (unlike the first book) the hero of this one is entirely sympathetic. He's been forced into a hard life as a carreta driver - a carreta being a cart pulled by oxen which is used for transporting goods. As a put-upon innocent, he's somewhat idealised, and there's some uncharacteristic sentimentality on Traven's part here. There's still much to admire, though, and Traven's portrait of the lives of the carreta drivers, who routinely risk their lives on treacherous journeys, is typically detailed and convincing.
January 18, 2024
Read this for class. Miserable depressing read about debt and slavery <3
October 2, 2009
It really is a shame that more people have not read B.Traven. His style and story telling is unfuckwithable.
That being said I thought this was not as good as Government, the first book in the jungle novels. The only flaw is in Mr. Travens beautiful written and extreamly detailed prose of daily mexican life. All is told in exquisite facftual tone with a thin but very hard cynical and humourus tone (mostly in regards to the government, church and other aspects of "civilization". At times it can drag on, but when you find it does just focus on what is being written, the way the words sweat and live on the page. It is amazing now and hard to believe he was writing in the 20^s. Pretty close to perfect. 4stars indeed.
but if you want perfect Traven, go with the Death Ship.
That being said I thought this was not as good as Government, the first book in the jungle novels. The only flaw is in Mr. Travens beautiful written and extreamly detailed prose of daily mexican life. All is told in exquisite facftual tone with a thin but very hard cynical and humourus tone (mostly in regards to the government, church and other aspects of "civilization". At times it can drag on, but when you find it does just focus on what is being written, the way the words sweat and live on the page. It is amazing now and hard to believe he was writing in the 20^s. Pretty close to perfect. 4stars indeed.
but if you want perfect Traven, go with the Death Ship.
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November 7, 2017My deep fondness for the author cannot salvage The Carreta. Squeezed between an overstretched section on the life of the carreteros and the most grotesque double-love story, the novel is the worst I have read so far. It exposes Traven's shortcomings when building characters and plots. As an anarchist and a social writer, B. Traven has the hardest time following the conventions of the novel, this most bourgeois of forms. Other anarchists of the same era have managed a lot better (Jules Valles or Louis Guilloux come to mind). However, when painting the everyday lives, jobs and gestures of the workers, B. Traven has no equivalent. His portraits of rural Mexico, its markets and its fairs, are as lively and precise as a Brueghel.
May 11, 2017
Traven is now one of my favorites writer, He did not born in Mexico but I feel proud if considering himself as a Mexican, it would be a truly honor the writing is about Mexican culture. A deep explanation about Mexican working life on days of Porfiriato. "Yo te ensañare a hablar castellano, a escribir, a leer y a contar. Porqe verás, no se puede escribir tzeltal, no tenemos letras. Sólo los ladinos tienen letras para su idioma".
November 15, 2010
Ein hervorragendes Buch was zu seiner Zeit sicherlich skandalös war. Trotz der zwischendurch immer wieder auftauchenden "Erklärungskapitel" ist es nie langweilig, im Gegenteil.
Der Schreibstil ist manchmal grammatikalisch etwas komisch und lässt grübeln ob und aus welcher Sprache das Buch übersetzt wurde.
Der Schreibstil ist manchmal grammatikalisch etwas komisch und lässt grübeln ob und aus welcher Sprache das Buch übersetzt wurde.
January 15, 2022
El reflejo de un México que se ha ido, pero que en algunas situaciones (corrupción y desigualdad social) resulta muy parecido al actual, es el que plasma aquí este autor tan enigmático como fue B. Traven.
August 15, 2021
Me gustó a pesar de que es un género de libro que no estoy muy acostumbrada a leer.
Solo lo leí por recomendación a mi padre que le gusto demasiado.
Me gustó mucho la parte de las costumbres que vivian antes en méxico, el pueblo indígena especialmente. En todo libro me la pase con mucho coraje por todas las injusticias que se les hacía, El valor tan poco que les tienen, Todo lo que cultivaban lo que criaban no eran para ellos, sino que todo es para el patrón.
Gracias a este libro aprendí más del méxico de antes, que todas esas injusticias Qué se hicieron en esa época por parte de la iglesia como por el gobierno.
La parte que no me gustó fue el romance que tuvo el protagonista se me se vio muy fantacioso muy simple un amor que no le vi nada de importancia.
Es un libro que podría recomendarlo solamente a las personas que les gusta la historia a gente como mi padre que le gusta leer estos tipos de historias.
Un muy buen libro que te habla de costumbres que se vivieron en nuestro México por una persona que no fue mexicana pero que la supo explicarlo tan bien, con esto me dejo más intrigada de los otros libros que tiene B. Traven
Solo lo leí por recomendación a mi padre que le gusto demasiado.
Me gustó mucho la parte de las costumbres que vivian antes en méxico, el pueblo indígena especialmente. En todo libro me la pase con mucho coraje por todas las injusticias que se les hacía, El valor tan poco que les tienen, Todo lo que cultivaban lo que criaban no eran para ellos, sino que todo es para el patrón.
Gracias a este libro aprendí más del méxico de antes, que todas esas injusticias Qué se hicieron en esa época por parte de la iglesia como por el gobierno.
La parte que no me gustó fue el romance que tuvo el protagonista se me se vio muy fantacioso muy simple un amor que no le vi nada de importancia.
Es un libro que podría recomendarlo solamente a las personas que les gusta la historia a gente como mi padre que le gusta leer estos tipos de historias.
Un muy buen libro que te habla de costumbres que se vivieron en nuestro México por una persona que no fue mexicana pero que la supo explicarlo tan bien, con esto me dejo más intrigada de los otros libros que tiene B. Traven
January 11, 2018
You definitely wouldn't like this book if you're a republican or a libertarian, because Traven lays out how capitalists use their power over their workers to get rich off the poorest and enrich their families and friends. Traven uses his talents and publishing platform to expose the Capitalists and the Catholic Church in their shameful oppression of the lowest economic class in Mexico.
But this is also a love story and a description of the beautiful scenery and the Animals and plants of Chiapas.
But this is also a love story and a description of the beautiful scenery and the Animals and plants of Chiapas.
December 7, 2019
Book 2 of the “Jungle Novels,” about pre-revolutionary Mexico. Much better than Government – a bit less didactic, with an actual main character and more of a plot. A sad and fascinating glimpse of a corrupt society and the sufferings of the poor. The portrayal of the consequences of inescapable debt slavery and a nonexistent justice system are chilling; the views of everyday life are warmly drawn.
December 17, 2018
Very disappointing. I had high hopes for this after reading 'The Rebellion of the Hanged', but it's not even half as good. The life of the cart driver is well described, but the burgeoning romance of the second half is embarrassing. That part is dull, lacking drama, and utterly unconvincing - it reads more like a personal fantasy that Traven should have kept inside his own head.
February 24, 2018
"Era un ejemplo de la sabiduría de la Iglesia que se apresurara a juntar sus rebaños cuando están tiernos, porque la niñez acepta todo tal como se le dice y carece de la facultad de pensar por sí misma y de separar lo posible de lo probable y lo imposible de lo simbólico."
June 19, 2022
Excelente historia, siento que es una lectura obligada para traileros o gente en el rubro del transporte ya que se identicarian con muchas cosas más aparte me ayudó a ver muchas cosas del México de tiempos de Juárez
October 15, 2017
If you really want to understand a little bit more of Mexico, read this one.
November 15, 2018
Dismal and fatalistic, but well-written in the simplest language, this isn't so much a novel as a social polemic. It's a necessary and valuable book, but not a pleasant one.
March 25, 2021
Buen libro
December 18, 2023
I usually love Traven and can look past his sometimes less than polished storylines, but this was just too much tell and not enough show for me.
August 16, 2025
never expected to cry that much
November 26, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ I understand what the author was trying to do but I don’t think it was the most captivating read of my life
December 14, 2025
Muy buen libro
April 28, 2025
Not a lot happens. But the quality of the writing makes an otherwise slow story enjoyable. This is the 2nd out of i think 6 books describing the birth of the Mexican revolution. So, it feels like a slow simmer before an eventual explosion. I think I'll come back for at least one more book to see where the story goes.
My only real complaint is the storyline in the last third of the book about how the carreteros found their future wives at the festival. It felt extremely contrived. The women were one-dimensional, and the dialogue was cheesy and stereotypical. It felt like reading a teenage boy's fantasy; meeting a woman, and then providing for them because they are so helpless.
My only real complaint is the storyline in the last third of the book about how the carreteros found their future wives at the festival. It felt extremely contrived. The women were one-dimensional, and the dialogue was cheesy and stereotypical. It felt like reading a teenage boy's fantasy; meeting a woman, and then providing for them because they are so helpless.
November 23, 2015
El estilo de B. Traven se caracteriza por la crítica social hacia los abusos de las minorías y las clases menos privilegiadas mediante una descripción muy detallada con toques de sarcasmo, sus críticos tenían una opinión muy positiva de sus novelas pero todos estaban de acuerdo que el nunca sería capaz de escribir una novela de amor, la Carreta fue la respuesta de B. Traven, una narracion que deja de lado elementos fantasiosos e idilicos tan comunes en las novelas de amor y relata los sentimientos y pesares de los indigenas a principios del siglo 19 especificamente la historia de Andres que pasa de ser peon de finca a carretero, cargando eternamente con las deudas -todas ellas exageradas por su amo para mantenerlo como esclavo- el regalo que sabe que el posee al tener la habilidad de leer y escribir, su critica y eventualmente su liberacion de dogmas religiosos en una epoca en la que el dominio del catolicismo y el alto nivel de analfabetismo eran prevalentes, ademas del giro que toma su vida al conocer a Estrellita y darse cuenta que su padre ha sido vendido a las monterias donde los taladores son tratados peor que animales hacen de esta novela una de las mas realistas y tiernas de su genero.
September 12, 2016
I can't remember the last book that taught me so much about what life was like at a certain point in history and told me a beautiful story at the same time.
La Carreta is a book that goes beyond describing the lives of laborers and carreteros in the beginning of the 19th century, in the mountainous regions of the south of Mexico/northern Guatemala. It tells the story of Andrés, from the time that he is 12 years old to his late 20s.
It doesn't just tell Andrés' story, it tells the story of the natives of that region, how they are forced to live as farmhands, how their bosses keep them in debt so that they can't move forward in life. It also talks about the small joys they have; the simple joy they all share when coming together for a meal, when they gaze at the stars, when they find a person with whom to share their life with. Most important of all, among all of the social commentary and descriptions about the injustices that these people face day to day, it is filled with the portrayal of love. Romantic love, yes, but also the love for one's parents, for one's home, for one's people. It is a story of love unlike anything I've read before and I could say the best love story I have read.
I recommend this to everyone. Read it, you will not be disappointed.
La Carreta is a book that goes beyond describing the lives of laborers and carreteros in the beginning of the 19th century, in the mountainous regions of the south of Mexico/northern Guatemala. It tells the story of Andrés, from the time that he is 12 years old to his late 20s.
It doesn't just tell Andrés' story, it tells the story of the natives of that region, how they are forced to live as farmhands, how their bosses keep them in debt so that they can't move forward in life. It also talks about the small joys they have; the simple joy they all share when coming together for a meal, when they gaze at the stars, when they find a person with whom to share their life with. Most important of all, among all of the social commentary and descriptions about the injustices that these people face day to day, it is filled with the portrayal of love. Romantic love, yes, but also the love for one's parents, for one's home, for one's people. It is a story of love unlike anything I've read before and I could say the best love story I have read.
I recommend this to everyone. Read it, you will not be disappointed.
December 17, 2024
Een ongewone en eerder toevallige toevoeging aan mijn Latijns-Amerikaanse leeszomer. Traven is ook helemaal geen Zuid-Amerikaan, maar hoogstwaarschijnlijk een Duitser. Geïntrigeerd door zijn mysterieuze identiteit en de sociale bewogenheid die - naar horen zeggen - in zijn boeken zat, heb ik de Ossekar impulsief uitgeleend en uitgelezen.
Veel literair soeps is het niet, maar dat ambieert Traven ook niet. De sobere, droge, maar nooit onverschillige stijl past goed bij de beschrijvingen van het onrecht waaronder de Mexicaanse péones (net-niet slaven van grootgrondbezitters) gebukt gingen voor de Mexicaanse Revolutie. Bijtende ironie, humor en niet-aflatende kritiek voor het Mexicaans kapitalisme zijn de grootse drijfveren die me door dit boek hebben geloodst. En ook enige bewondering: wie schrijft er in de jaren 1920 over de Mexicaanse onderlaag, in het Duits nota bene, en hoopt daarmee de markt te veroveren?
De Ossekar was niet zozeer als boek memorabel, dan wel als voedingsbodem die mijn interesse in Zuid-Amerika nog meer heeft aangewakkerd. Vuile verhalen moeten ook verteld worden, maar daar zijn andere schrijvers nu eenmaal beter in.
Veel literair soeps is het niet, maar dat ambieert Traven ook niet. De sobere, droge, maar nooit onverschillige stijl past goed bij de beschrijvingen van het onrecht waaronder de Mexicaanse péones (net-niet slaven van grootgrondbezitters) gebukt gingen voor de Mexicaanse Revolutie. Bijtende ironie, humor en niet-aflatende kritiek voor het Mexicaans kapitalisme zijn de grootse drijfveren die me door dit boek hebben geloodst. En ook enige bewondering: wie schrijft er in de jaren 1920 over de Mexicaanse onderlaag, in het Duits nota bene, en hoopt daarmee de markt te veroveren?
De Ossekar was niet zozeer als boek memorabel, dan wel als voedingsbodem die mijn interesse in Zuid-Amerika nog meer heeft aangewakkerd. Vuile verhalen moeten ook verteld worden, maar daar zijn andere schrijvers nu eenmaal beter in.
December 9, 2021
Bella historia de amor y descripción del sistema de incentivos sociales en el México pre-revolucionario.
June 17, 2020
No longer using this website, but I'm leaving up old reviews. Fuck Jeff Bezos. Find me on LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/profile/...
Andres and his family and everyone he knows is forced further and further into debt peonage with no hope of relief. He is a rational actor in an irrational economic structure filled with people who self-justify their cruelty and deviousness with appeals to reason and order.
One striking aspect in the book is the effect of innumeracy and illiteracy and the way that both are used as weapons of class warfare meant to enslave.
This book is heavy on exposition and stage-setting and light on plot. And the romance gets very saccharine and devotional (dependant?) very quickly.
purchased at 2018 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair
Andres and his family and everyone he knows is forced further and further into debt peonage with no hope of relief. He is a rational actor in an irrational economic structure filled with people who self-justify their cruelty and deviousness with appeals to reason and order.
One striking aspect in the book is the effect of innumeracy and illiteracy and the way that both are used as weapons of class warfare meant to enslave.
This book is heavy on exposition and stage-setting and light on plot. And the romance gets very saccharine and devotional (dependant?) very quickly.
purchased at 2018 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair
April 6, 2016
Desde que B. Traven llegó a México se hizo estudioso y simpatizante de las comunidades indígenas de quien siempre escribió bellos libros. Esta historia narra la situación de la época, entre peones y patrones; las injusticias, explotación y sometimiento bajo el cual estaban los indios que trabajaban de sol a sol, sin sueldo o con una miseria, mala alimentación, entregados a una religión que no entendían y con una ciega obediencia a sus amos. Muy bella historia que además encierra una hermosísima trama de amor con un final precioso.
June 9, 2010
No one knows quite who B. Traven was, when he was born, or even where. He undoubtedly lived in Mexico, and this is a steadily sarcastic look at indigenous Mexico before the revolution. Sarcasm, however, is reserved for those with wealth and power, there is much sympathy with the protagonists and the blinding need for a radical politics. I imagine it simplifies people's lives just a bit, but a great read.
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