Las viudas de los jueves in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 01, 2015 Bogdan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mundus-novus

If you asked me before reading this novel about a South American women writer, I would not know any answer. But aside from this, Claudia Pineiro's novel is a good piece of modern literature. She (and her generation according to the editor) broke up with the magical realism that made famous the previous generation of writers from South America and this makes me glad, as I never was a fan of that style.

After I've turned the last page, I thought that the main idea that naturally is the message of t If you asked me before reading this novel about a South American women writer, I would not know any answer. But aside from this, Claudia Pineiro's novel is a good piece of modern literature. She (and her generation according to the editor) broke up with the magical realism that made famous the previous generation of writers from South America and this makes me glad, as I never was a fan of that style.

After I've turned the last page, I thought that the main idea that naturally is the message of the novel can be summarized as "there is trouble even in paradise", paradise here being the society of Argentinians that succeeded at some point in life well enough to afford buying a big house in an exclusive complex, support their kids at best private schools, allowing their partners (usually wife) to not work, etc. It is not necessarily something that was not attempted in literature or other media, but in this case, I reckon that the usage of cliches is carefully avoided (as much as the topic allows it). If it wasn't so, for me it would have been considered a kitsch. In this context I'll give it a 4 for premise.

Regarding the form, as I already said, I was very glad to see the definitive break with the tradition of magical realism. There is nothing magical in it and I am also praising Claudia for the concise and to-the-point style of writing. There are very few side elements from the main story and this is a good thing to me, especially as the story is a good one. Excellent writing, so I'll give it a 5 for form.

In terms of originality, there are only several elements related to the Argentinian society (setting) that make up the originality of the novel. But the story itself is present in world literature from long time. Then I will give it a 3 for the level of originality.

On the characters, I really liked the way Claudia individualizes each character. They are not copies of a single type (one for men and one for women) and this makes feel the story much more real. Additionally, there are some characters for which most readers may develop emotions (either like/hate them or pity/envy them). This is the reasons why I will give it a 5 for characters.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, the novel should not pose difficulties to anyone trying to read it while commuting. It has day to day events in it and is not forcing the reader out of his/hers comfort zone. So that's why I will rate it with a 5 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, I will be bold enough to say that Claudia simply captured a portion of life in his novel. There is common among those that get prosperous to desire to remain as such, despite any turn of fate (luck). (view spoiler) Thus my rating for credibility is 5.

The last criteria is edition. Again I will note that translation was done very well, but this comes with no surprises for me as it is not translated from a exotic language, but from Spanish and I would expect there are a lot of good translators available. A slight disappointment was the paperback edition that after just the first day of reading, I got the cover corners bend. Due to the quality of the execution, I'll only give it a 3.

To summarize, I am glad that contemporary South American literature is not just about magic realism, but has also other good writers that deserve equally my praise for their contribution to world literature. All in all, my final rating for it is 4.28, which I will round it to 4 on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 4.28 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+