Las Historias Prohibidas de Marta Veneranda: Cuentos

by Sonia Rivera-Valdés

The Forbidden Stories is the author's inspired response to a statement made by a Cuban politician regarding the conflicted attitude towards homosexuality in Cuba. Rivera-Valdés creates the character of Marta Veneranda, a graduate student working on a thesis which aims to graph clinically the discrepancy between an individual’s sense of shame and society’s attitude toward the incidents that inspire self-censorship in a person. But the orderly study becomes unruly as the subjects interviewed reveal their hidden stories.
In "Little Poisons,", the nameless narrator is heavily influenced by pop psychologist Patricia Evans. Through her copious reading, she manages to gain some distance from her co-dependent relationship with her husband. Sharing with Marta the minutiae of her liberation, she recounts: "As the days and months went by, I began feeling proud of myself, strong, free from his subjugation and my neurosis, even when his romance with the young woman began and he told me about it. In the fifteen years of marriage he would tell me everything, even about his sexual escapades— if he couldn't share them with me, who would he share them with? Besides, that way no one could come running to me spreading rumors. In the end, he couldn't live without me: his wife, friend, lover, and mother. Can you believe that I listened to these stories and even felt proud of the trust he had in me?"
Beneath the humor and the deceptively simple surface of The Forbidden Stories is a deadly-serious look at the co-mingling of Anglo and Latino cultures, and an exposé of the comforts and discomforts of that cohabitation.

Genres: Short Stories, Spanish Literature, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2000

Reviews

[Camilo González · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saco un cassette de cinta magnética, lo introduzco en mi grabadora americana, cierro la tapa y doy al botón play. Se inicia la reproducción y una voz, latina, cubana, caribeña, familiar al fin y al cabo, empieza, con timidez al principio, a contar su historia.

Esa es la sensación que produce este libro: encontraste una voz, un testimonio, un secreto, alguien (parece ser) confía en ti. A pesar de ser un libro enfocado en caracterizar las comunidades latinas en New York, no pierde su esencia y sabor cubano. Sonia Rivera-Valdés, quien abandonó, según entiendo, la isla en sus tiempos mitológicos (aun antes del Mariel), conserva en este relato la fraternidad cubana de la palabra, su calidez, su infinitud y su barroquismo. Así se revuelque el señor Carpentier en su tumba, el barroquismo cubano vive, aletea y se perpetúa en cada relato erótico, en cada situación propia del sueño americano y en cada recuerdo y giro de la historia de estos personajes.

¿Cuántos cargamos una historia prohibida? Este libro es una confesión íntima que nos mueve por varios laberintos. Nueve historias aparentemente sueltas, conectadas por el hilo de la memoria, el exilio y el ser latino en un mundo voraz y veloz: neoyorquino. En conclusión, todos necesitamos ser escuchados.

[Beril · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gerçek insanların gerçek hikayelerini okuyacak olmaktı beni cezbeden ama tek konuya saplanıp kalması beni rahatsız etti, sıkıldım ve çok sevmedim.

[Elifcan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Doğru dürüst konuşamadığınız biriyle sevgili olmanın ne anlamı vardır ki?
...
Bilirsiniz, ilişkiler soğuk alır, alerji olur, hatta bazen zatürre bile olurlar ve ta­bii ki hastalığın derecesine göre tedavi edilirler ya da edilemezler.
...
İşte böylece, kalıcı olduğunu düşündüğüm bir limana varana dek, bindiğim geminin yalpalamasına izin verdim.
...
Malecon’un güneşle yıkanan bu boyasız odasında, iki­miz de zevkten tükenene dek sözcüklerin büyüsüne teslim ettik kendimizi. Kırk yıl önce aradığım ve varlığından bugü­ ne dek asla emin olamadığım o mükemmel diyaloğu bul­ muştum sonunda.
Bu öğleden sonrayı üç yıl önce yaşadık. Hâlâ da yaşıyoruz."

[Javier Andres Omodeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Te permite explorar áreas del pensamiento, en particular femenino, muy interesantes. Historias prohibidas, la mayoría vinculadas al sexo y la homosexualidad, temas proscritos en la Cuba comunista. Muy recomendable.

[Carlor]

⁴

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Sebadiaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Los cuentos no son muy interesantes, obsesionados con el sexo, particularmente sexo homosexual. Pareciera que la autora tenía ganas de escribir slash-fiction sobre mujeres cubanas mayores que experimentan con su sexualidad pero como tenía suficiente talento logro que se considere literatura. No son malos, pero me parecieron realmente cortos de imaginación. Podría haber mezclado otros cuentos donde lo prohibido se relacionaba con algún otra cosa que no fuese la lujuria y se hubiera resaltado mas los cuentos en vez de todos parecerse.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was an interesting collection of short stories that were told to the narrator who was collecting forbidden stories for her thesis. Most of the characters were Cuban women, many of whom questioned their sexuality and have had relationships with both men and women.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strangers confide their darkest secrets in a student’s sociology interviews. A bit like Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies by way of Anais Nin, with a Cuban twist.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give it 0, I would. My (usually cool) book club is considering this as a choice, but if it's chosen, I'll skip. Won't re-read it.