Bad Times In Buenos Aires

by Miranda France

When Miranda France, a 26-year-old freelance journalist, arrives in Buenos Aires to live and work, she discovers a city in crisis. "People said the city was sinking," she writes. "Of the 300 brands of condoms in circulation, only eight were safe. The traffic was out of control . . . More than 2,000 bus drivers were found to be clinically depressed." After securing a dilapidated apartment with a permanently crossed telephone line, Miranda France starts her life as a foreigner in Argentina. At night, she learns the tango ("danced properly it should be as passionate and loveless as a one-night stand"). By day, she tries to acquire the knack of viveza criolla (artful lying) to crack the bureaucracy of the local library and explores the legend of Evita Peron and her well-traveled corpse. During her stay, France encounters first-hand the choas and deep melancholy of the Argentine capital. Buenos Aires is, after all, a city where elegant street cafes overlook local workmen grilling hunks of beef on the curb for lunch; where rats outnumber humans eight to one; where investigative television programs look closely at the trend of rising hemlines; where a nationwide shortage of coins causes trips to the supermarket to end in squabbles over small change; where almost everyone France meets is in therapy (Buenos Aires has three times as many analysts per person as New York). Bad Times in Buenos Aires is a brilliant blend of humor, personal narrative, and rich historical background -- including a chilling interview with an army officer from the Dirty War. Winner of the prestigious Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for travel writing, Miranda France has written an insightful, vivid, and often laugh-out-loud account of daily life in the "Paris of the South."

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Adult, History, Biography Memoir

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Miranda France is an award winning writer and translator. She has written two highly acclaimed travel books, Bad Times in Buenos Aires and Don Quixote's Delusions. France has won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. She has translated Argentine writers including Alberto Manguel, Claudia Piñeiro and Liliana Heker. She grew up on a farm, not unlike the farm that is featured in her first novel, That Summer at Hill Farm, but now lives in London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Erica DuBois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whatever others have found to criticize in this book, I did not find it. I LOVED this book. So much "travel writing" bores me--this did not. Does the book criticize Argentina or does it paint a portrait that makes one more intrigued? I would argue the second. The violence, the passion, the melancholy, the melodrama, the history--it is all represented. I suppose this is why I loved the book, while I dislike so much other travel writing--the author is not describing some bullshit blissful vacation, but rather is expressing her curiosity and emotions when confronting a new, and longed-for place. And frankly, I just love her writing.

[Caroline Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

For everyone criticising the author for being down on BA when she wrote the book, I would urge them to read the title - it was about bad times. The clue is in the title.

The important background is that the author went to BA after a life long interest in BA and Argentina, she didn't set out for times to be bad she simply captured the mood she encountered. I found this a great starting book on BA and am now reading other books on Eva Peron and the Dirty War that I may not have read if I had not started with Miranda France's introduction. I recommend this book highly for anyone looking for an informative and sensual introduction to BA.

[Henry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I havent really got words to say how much i didnt like this book. It appears that the writer was seriously unhappy at the time of writing but this is never made overt it just seeps through the writing and poisons the book. As someone who has lived in Buenos Aires for more than a year her portrayal is boldly inaccurate and shallow. I generally want a travel writer who is witty engaging insightful bold and open minded. France is none of these things and worse she is pinched, complaining, reactionary and ungenerous not to mention transcendentally unfunny.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing a book requires courage, but writing a non-fiction book about Argentina in English requires quite extraordinary levels of it, in a way that writing about, say, Poland or Sweden doesn't. As soon you mention travel writing and Argentina, or South America, in one sentence, the towering figure of Bruce Chatwin appears and refuses to leave the room. As recently as 3 weeks ago, I heard Damian Le Bas, himself a very gifted writer, mention Chatwin as one of a handful of writers whom he most admires. And so I say: by all means, do read In Patagonia, but then read Miranda France's Bad Times in Buenos Aires, because only France will let you eavesdrop on what indigenous women of Uros Islands in Peru have to say about men: as a woman, she was able to join their women-only Mothers Club. A male writer's perspective on Buenos Aires' tango culture, or its inhabitants' obsession with preserving their youth would also be, I am sure, quite different. "A Fear of Falling Buttocks", the chapter on portenos' pursuit of physical beauty, is full of witty and perspicacious observations. There is also a delicious story about "cakefighting" in Patagonia. But the titular"bad times"are a fair warning that a reader should not expect a light-hearted guide book - France, who was only in her twenties when she lived in Buenos Aires, writes about difficult topics with enviable deftness. The painful history of Argentina is ever-present in the background and the chapter on the "dirty war" is particularly harrowing. The chapter on Evita Peron is both sad and fascinating. It is quite a short book, but so well-written that I learnt a lot about the country's social and political history without once being tempted to skip any boring bits, because there are none. It is hard to imagine a better introduction to Argentina and its people.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book I saw in my local library, so I took it out without checking it out in advance. It was entertaining, but Miranda France presented a very partial view of Buenos Aires as a city of disaffected upper middle-class obsessed with their appearance. That could be because she didn't spend much time talking to anyone else. Sbhe was a fairly depressed young woman who was attracted to other fairly depressed young women. The main exception seemed to be a gravedigger named Hugo at Recoleta Cemetery who seems like a very happy and well-balanced individual.

Along the way, there are some good points made, such as about the prevalence of psychotherapists in BA and the endless queues and stifling bureaucracy. Her discussion of the Dirty War between the armed forces and young Argentinians suspected of belonging to or supporting the Montonero guerrillas of the last 1970s under the presidency of General Videla (now in prison) is one of the better parts of the book for its even-handedness. It is capped off with an eerie interview with one of the torturers, an Argentinian General.

Bad Times in Buenos Aires suddenly runs out of steam when the author travels to Peru, Bolivia, and the Northwest of Argentina before heading back to Britain.

In the end, this is a good book, but a potentially misleading one.In the end, though, her assessment was a positive one:

I knew nowhere in the world where the bookshops and cafés were more inviting. Perhaps there was no city where the atmosphere in the streets was more intoxicating.

‘I know Buenos Aires well,’ I thought. ‘My friends are here; it could be my home. I love it and I hate it. I can't live here, but wherever else I live, I’ll always feel the lack of it.’

Based on my own experience visiting Argentina in 2006, that's about right.

[Michal Leon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must say that I found this book terribly flawed by being dominated by what seems to have been the author's mood at the time. Perhaps Times were that Bad then, in the nineties, when she was here. Certainly, Buenos Aires, where I now reside, has many problems. But it is a vibrant, interesting, full of culture and history, place and the caricature Miranda France depicted is just that: a caricature. The story about deaths in elevators, to pick out just one example, is untrue and absurd. Yes, there are many Argentines who obsess about how they look, certainly. But hey, have you seen how the average 60-70 year old looks in DC lately? It seems like everyone tries to stretch and dye, until they all look like old stretched and dyed people (but not young!). Anyway, it is quite fun to read, in parts, if you ignore her strong negative broad brush on just about anything, and it has some interesting observations, particularly about Evita.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't often give five-star ratings here on Goodreads, but this book was exactly what I hoped it would be, which also doesn't happen all that often. Miranda France was in her late 20s in the early 90s (just like me!) and was a British journalist on a long-term assignment in Buenos Aires. (Not at all like me!) She provides the perspective of an informed and inquisitive outsider, one who, because of her job, goes to a lot of places and talks to a lot of people. She not only describes the city as she experienced it when she was there, but also the key developments that led to that point in time, such as the Dirty Wars, memories of Evita Peron, and the Falklands War. She also gives us a look at the tango and other elements of Argentine culture.

Although this is a very different book in tone as well as in heft, it reminded me in a way of James Michener's book about Spain, Iberia in that it provides a visitor's look at the history, politics, and culture of a nation. And even though books like this inevitably become more and more dated as the decades pass, they're still very much worth reading.

Maybe (hopefully) Buenos Aires is a happier and less melancholy place than it was 25 years ago. And maybe it never was all that melancholy; this book just provides the view of one individual. Having not (yet) been to Buenos Aires, I really can't say. But I very much enjoyed reading about Miranda France's time there.

[Wendy Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the world of travelogues, it is easy to find glowing tales about exotic cities, or to find superficial observations of those quickly passing through. It is more difficult to find deeper and more complex accounts written by people who have lost their rose-tinted glasses and have invested in understanding the many facets of a place. Miranda France has definitely lost her rose-tinted glasses, and in doing so, has provided what feels like a nuanced and accurate picture of Buenos Aires. Much of it is rather grim - but then, so is the city's history. Her views are informed by unusual characters - such as caretakers in the cemetery - who offer a different perspective to past events and people. She also dives into random aspects of BA culture, such as the heavy reliance of porteños (people who live in BA) on psychoanalysis. Overall, a great pre-trip read. It will be interesting to see how much of it resonates when I get to Buenos Aires later this year.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t decide how I feel about this book. I found the history, interviews and all the little anecdotes really interesting, I enjoyed her writing style and I think she is right when she says the whole nation is melancholy. However, throughout the book there is an underlying feeling that she hates the country. I assumed that as a Spanish language and literature student she went to Argentina because she loved it. Perhaps she was utterly disillusioned by it while living there. She talks about standing on street corners to ‘take in’ the city before she leaves, which implies sadness at leaving. Yet, the last sentence implies that she has ‘survived’ the ordeal. I don’t know if I would recommend this book to anyone. There are better books out there to inspire a traveler and set their heart racing from excitement.

[Seingalt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very witty. Many passages made me laugh out loud. In particular one about a visit to the Museum of the Morgue, where one of the exhibits, we are told, has a penis tattooed "For you."

Bad Times in Buenos Aires almost made me envious (though I, too, lived in Argentina during the Menem presidency, I could not write about my experience as well as Ms. France has.) Not perfect, but not nearly as bad as the one-star reviews left by Argentines with bruised egos would lead you to believe.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bronca" is to B.A. what "angst" is to Germany, but after reading this book, you will prefer to go to Germany rather than B.A.

[Paula · Rating 2 out of 5]

not bad, I just don't trust her

[David Partikian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miranda France’s Bad Times in Buenos Aires evokes the ugly and humorous contradictions in the soul of a people and city better than virtually any other travel book in the last 25 years (Simon Winder’s first effort on Germanic regions comes close). Memories of my own time in Buenos Aires in the late 90’s came flooding back with a precision that could only be prodded by a true travel writer like France: Having to cross the atrociously wide Avenida de 9 de Julio*; the interminable lines for everything; the material obsessions of the porteños; the omnipresence of psychoanalysis, most likely related to the looming stagnant cloud of the Guera Sucia with victims and victimizers crossing paths daily, especially when Miranda France worked as a journalist there in the mid-90’s.

Imagine a book written by an English person living in Berlin or Münich circa 1955 and you have the essential background of the national psychosis that Miranda France encountered daily in her job as foreign correspondent in a nation emerging slowly from extreme trauma. While no travel book—to my knowledge—has been written about the post-World War II German era by an English observer, Miranda France brilliantly encapsulates a nation obsessed with its lost war. The psychological wounds from the Malvinas and the Guera Sucia are left gaping and unbandaged. They are nebulous factors appearing in every chapter.

I have written in other reviews about the difficulty in capturing the mood of repressive regimes in any culture due to the lack of evidence or ability of a surviving voice to make sense of the mess. As Stalin said, “One death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic.” Miranda France, with snarky wit and a keen eye for the absurd, shows that the statistic can be reduced to a somber yet funny travel tale if one lives in a repressive regime about a decade after the fact. Yet, she isn’t making light of the nation or its past, her prose is simply quite comedic and serves as a coping mechanism.

Bad Times in Buenos Aires has always seemed to offend Argentinians, who somehow think that Miranda France is unqualified to poke fun at their nation. They need to lighten up. The book is hilarious, and if the insecure superiority complex of the people she paints comes off as offensive, it is because there is more than a grain of truth to her depiction. The book is not a final judgment on Argentina or Argentinians, but a hilarious look at a people and city by a woman in her twenties struggling to deal with a maddeningly perplexing and frustrating city during the ample time she lived there; the title could equally refer to her own spiritual crisis. More than cameo appearances by Diego Maradona, Eva Perón, and Carlos Gardel, as all are raised to the level of deities within Buenos Aires. This book withstands the test of time. I just reread it after twenty years, and it still makes me laugh aloud and reminisce. France’s debut work serves as a better introduction to Argentine history and its experience in the late 20nth century than any other book on Argentina.

*Really?! Why would anyone brag about his or her city having the widest avenue in the world? What a nightmare to cross, with the bonus of the pedestrian sucking the diesel fumes of World War II era German buses with no mufflers.

[Marc Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dare I say that there are those who have lived in Buenos Aires and those that haven't?
Someone who doesn't know BA will find this book a tad depressing. On the other hand, if you have lived in Buenos Aires for any length of time, you will immediately recognise the city through this book.
Argentina was in crisis in 1993 and as I write this in 2022, the country has been plunged into yet another economic crisis, which for me has seemed never ending since I arrived in 2005. Crisis is just a way of life.
Miranda France paints a vivid and true likeness of BA. It's not pretty, but it's also a kaleidoscope of colliding views of Argentines who seem destined to hate their own country because of all the wrongs inflicted upon them by successive governments.
When reading it for the third time, I can smell the coffee permeating from the cafeterias, not to mention the chorizos being grilled at the roadside by Paraguayan workers.
Not a great deal has changed since Miranda wrote this book and it's hard to imagine life in BA not being a struggle, as is so aptly portrayed in Bad Times.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

1998
Blurb on the cover calls it a "travel book" but I would not.
It gives you a lot of political and social history of Buenos Aires, and the country in general, but in a very personalized way -- through the mouths of people she talks to or interviews [for writing articles as a foreign correspondent] -- , so it's a good read.
She puts herself right near the middle of the narrative, and conveys her feelings of oppression, frustration, amazement, wonder...

I really didn't know much of anything about the country, and found this a good introduction. I had not known ARgentines' reputation for being despondent. The most amazing tidbit is how popular it is for city dwellers to have a therapist! Fascinating! Would make a great topic for a comparative study -- I suspect in Holland the family doctor plays the same role for some people - a shoulder to cry on, somebody to ask for advice.

Also useful for a exploration of why and how people allow/desire a dictator.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd recommend this book to anyone visiting Buenos Aires. I read it in advance of a trip there and got a lot of value from the writer's recollection of living there in the 1990s as a foreign correspondent. I gleaned odd bits of social history, such as the Argentine fascination with psychoanalysis (who knew?) and what it was like to hang out in tango bars. Even if you aren't going to BA soon, but fancy some armchair travelling, this book would do nicely. It has a dark side as well as the sunny bits, but that's true for Argentina so the writer has done well to balance the two. I particularly admire the writer's admission toward the end of the book that she wasn't a very good foreign correspondent after all, and maybe needed a change of career. As someone who lived on the fringes of overseas journalism, I had similar doubts this was my future. I see she's since written other books so good on her for acting on that impulse.

[Tim Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book as a child and the memory of the author's imperialistic arrogance has stayed with me ever since. This was around the same time Britain under Tony Blair was going around dropping bombs on people to "liberate" them and Miranda France is definitely cut from the same cloth. I checked out this woman's twitter profile and, surprise surprise, she is a progressive, liberal, feminist, EU-loving droid...the sort who always turn out to be the most elitist, arrogant and racist of all.

Having said this, the book is well worth a read, not because it will teach you anything valuable about Argentina, but because of the insight it gives into the psyche of a self-righteous, profoundly racist and absolutely incapable of introspection, middle class British liberal imperialist...the kind who would have no problem waging war on you or starving you to death with sanctions just to liberate you from your own "backwardness" and "ignorance".

[Camille Cusumano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written and researched. Didn't affect my decision to see Buenos Aires one way or the other. I was already going as a freelance journalist but one who writes about food, travel, and, as it turned out, tango. These "chapters" were stories written for newspapers, hence they have a certain clipped verve, and tight focus. They are not deeply probing, but are nonetheless illuminating and enjoyable. I enjoyed France's wry humor even when I think it was a bit caricatural. I tried my darnedest to find that morgue she visited (having been to most of the other places she mentions), but I could not. Maybe that was a phantom place.

[dianne b. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read - lots of good info that jived with what i know of this geographically confused, gorgeously pathetic (like a Victorian consumptive) city. i think she should have left off the last chapter on "going home". It was sort of gratuitous and sappy. i don't know if it's true that one remembers most clearly the final note of a symphony, and carries that final note home - but i wonder in Miranda's case if (when rating 'Bad Times') that sad little last chapter made folks forget the rest of the book.

[Stephen Twist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike Henry and Michal, I loved this book. Having spent 2 of the last 10 years in Buenos Aires, I recognised so much of what Miranda France wrote, the places, the situations, the characters - recognised and enjoyed. I also agree with Caroline that, if you don’t want to read about ‘bad times’, you look elsewhere for that book. It is now of its period, but that is part of its character and appeal. Should you be intending more than a short holiday in Buenos Aires, I heartily recommend that you read it.

[Charles Athill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. I lived in Buenos Aires at the time - the time of Menem - and it rings very true to me. It's always ludicrous to attack someone's take on anywhere or anything. I came to love the city but there was a palpable melancholy hanging over the place - for me. I think the best depiction of this is Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together; he captures that sense of dislocation so well. Of course it's vibrant and exciting, but also hugely disfunctional. Always nearly there. Miranda France captures that really well and is neither imperialist or racist - what stupid accusations.

[George Penty]

I can understand why people don't like this book, but for me it captures perfectly the malaise one can feel when you're far away from home and traveling for a long while.

I spent six months in South America and have read a lot of travel books about the continent since then, but this book perfectly encapsulates a lot of my feelings towards I had whilst traveling the great land mass.

It's an honest account of a city that's equally infuriating and intoxicating that also provides a very good historical basis for further exploration of Argentinian history.

[Katharine Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It was beautifully described, about the 2 years that the author spent living in Buenos Aires. I enjoyed the fact that it's not all positive. Argentina was going through a difficult time in the mid-1990s, and so perhaps that accounts for the melancholy feeling that pervades the book. I enjoyed the constant crossed wires on the telephone, and the chapter on Eva Peron was fascinating.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pros :: Well written -- sad history of current (1990s) Argentina about the cultures affinity of needing psychoanalysts; bronca (Italo-Spanish fury); concentration camps of the past "Dirty War" including living with the human rights violators without having justice, not recognizing or talking about the past and viveza criolla, or creole cunning of artful lying and cheating. And of course, the Peron legacy.

Cons :: Nothing

Cover art :: 5 out 5

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilariously spot-on in her assessment of Porteños and all of their craziness.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting travel narrative from a time bait before my first trip there.

[Carl Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strangely dour book from an author who ultimately admits that she'll miss Buenos Aires. Nevertheless, a compelling account of BA & Argentina.

[Thanakorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

great chapter on what the Falklands means to the Argentine.

[Darren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like the main character, almost as much as she didn't like either Argentinans or Buenos Aires.

[Christopher Hylland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed the review and reflections of Miranda France. Having lived in Buenos Aires myself, albeit some 25 years later, I had similar cultural experiences and shocks !