Vicini eccentrici

by Rosario Ferré

La storia, che si snoda nell'isola di Puerto Rico, narra le vicende di potenti famiglie: i Rivas de Santillana, aristocratici terrieri, e i Vernet, industriali emergenti. Le vicissitudini di due famiglie unite dal matrimonio di Aurelio e Clarissa.

Genres: Fiction, Latinx, Latin American, Historical, Literature, Spanish Literature, Womens

335 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Rosario Ferré was born in Puerto Rico, where her father served as governor. She was best known for her novels and short stories. In 1992, Ferré was awarded the Liberatur Prix award at the Frankfurt Book Fair for the German translation of her novel Sweet Diamond Dust. She was a finalist for the National Book Award for her novel The House on the Lagoon in 1995.

Reviews

[Faress Joober · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really great parts, but also lots of boring parts.

[Abigail Ceremuga · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow burn, this book takes you through a family tree, with all the twists and turns that happen through generations.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating to me. And I am not sure why. I loved the homey feel of it. It was the kind of book you want to curl up with on a wintry day; it was whimsical and exotic. It made you feel warm. I want to draw lines of comparison to Like Water for Chocolate, but this was WAY better. I like the personal, political and working struggles of these families.

I did really like it, although I felt that the character transition was a little maddening at times. Tia this, and Tio that... it was sometimes harrowing to follow. I wish I spent more time studying the family tree in the beginning of the book.

I truly did love the old photos at the beginning of each chapter. I developed a habit of studying the pictures before and after each of them. It was one of the most endearing parts of the book.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

He leído Maldito Amor y La casa en la laguna de Rosario Ferré, y me han gustado ambas, pero esta saga familiar es aún más entretenida a la vez que relata la historia de Puerto Rico. Los personajes son excéntricos, además de bien dibujados, y Ferré narra sus diversas historias a través de la voz de Elvira, la nieta de los abuelos de un lado de la familia. El árbol genealógico, imprimido en el libro, ayuda mucho a hacer un seguimiento de los diversos matrimonios e hijos en esta novela compleja y a veces humorística.

[Carmen Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vecindarios Exéntricos creates a colorful family saga as a way to explore the modern political and social history of Puerto Rico. This a story of two prominent Puerto Rican families living in the first half of the XIX century during the sugarcane aristocracy’s last days. The principal narrator, Elvira Vernet, describes three generations of her forbears. On her mother's side (Clarissa Rivas de Santillana), landed gentry of the Central La Plata; on her father's side (Aurelio Vernet), powerful, politically ambitious builders who flourished during the 1940s when the U.S.A. began to pour federal money into housing and municipal projects. Ferré spends too much of the middle of the novel introducing new characters and subplots. However, she prunes the sprawl in the final section, which focuses on Elvira's love-hate relationship with her family's past. It is a novel where the stories of men and women whose loves and losses coincided with the disappearance of the island's colonial society and with the birth of a class of newly rich people, unfold in a range of splendid stories. This is a novel full of humor, nostalgia, and fateful irony. It is artfully told, carefully shaped, and sprinkled with bits of pure poetry. Throughout Vecindarios Exéntricos Ferré’s voice is bright and vital. I give it 5 stars out of 5.

[Nichola · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a rich family in Puerto Rico and how they, through multiple generations, had varying choices about how to live. It did make me want to try some Puerto Rican coffee. The rise and fall of the land owning, plantation running and processing mill, and how some left the island Through the plantation system, hurricanes, and war. I found it frustrating that everything was given to a member of the family who showed no interest or aptitude for the business, because of his gender. It was interesting how things changed so quickly when distant colonial powers agreed to an exchange of leadership. And I was also frustrated that anyone would believe they would make money from people encouraging you to go to a different island to cut sugar cane, not surprised at the results.

[Auro019 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disfruté la narración de la novela y su forma de llevar al lector a través de diferentes momentos históricos, desde el punto de vista de las familias poderosas y ricas de la época. Sin embargo, no puedo superar el hecho de que el editor de la obra no haya realizado bien su trabajo, ya que hay una cantidad exhorbitante de errores ortográficos y de confusión de nombres, que no fueron corregidos. Además, me parece un poco perturbador que se note cuán privilegiada es la voz narrativa, y se refiera a posiciones de menor rango con cierto desprecio, es algo que comienza a notarse luego de haber leído la obra varias veces.

[Myron Lezak · Rating 4 out of 5]

A glimpse into a Puero Rican past

An eccentric but believable Puerto Rican family. The history of Puerto Rico recounted through honest but loving family stories is a very entertaining and compassionate read.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't figure out if Ferré wrote this book in English because there was no credit to a translator. It is an interesting book that tells the history of all the family members of the Vernet-Rivas de Santillana family. (Review written in 2001 - I don't remember the book.)

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historically interesting

I must say I knew very little about the history covered in the book. There were some interesting things, but I felt it was a bit scattered. The characters were mostly well done.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this after hearing the author speak at a luncheon. She was a wonderful speaker, and this is a wonderful book. It is about several generations of a wealthy Puerto Rican family, written in the style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the amazing books I read while travelling. Just loved all the details about life in Puerto Rico during the sugar years. Looking for more from this author.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

A true sweeping account of a family's history, in Puerto Rico. Charming at times, plodding other times.

[Karen Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosario Ferre

Charming novel with similarities in style to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, with references to Puerto Rico’s 20th-century history incorporated.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This is a wonderful story of family, culture, and Puerto Rico's history.

[Melva Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the history of both sides of her family. As in all families, there are some characters and some brave men and women. It was enjoyable and took the reader on a trip from 1901 to 1998.

[Mercurialgem · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasn't my cup of tea.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a tangle of family threads in this book that following it was often a challenge. Four generations on both sides of this narrator's life in Puerto Rico formed the basis of dozens of intertwined tales handed down from parent to child and over again.. Hard to know whose voice was before me on the page at times as sometimes the narrator's mother or grandfather would take over the story for paragraphs at a time. Full of the island's history beginning in the mid-1800s and carrying through to the 1970s.

[Laura Planton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of two Puerto Rican families. While there is no plot in the book we learn about these families through a series of stories about the members of each family. The families are involved in the sugar industry and later concrete. The role of women is also a part of the book. Both matriarchs emphasized the education of woman, one for the purpose of finding a good husband and the other for self sufficiency.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable look at the history of Puerto Rico through stories about a single family. Ferre draws intriguing characters, and illustrates without judgment the issues and difficulties often found in families, whether successful or not. The seeming lack of conclusion was a little jarring for me. I could have used a bit more denouement. I also would have liked a little bit more plot; at times, the chapters felt more like anecdotes than like related parts of one story. Still, a lovely read.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story told from the point of view of the granddaughter of two important families living in Puerto Rico. Some of the names were the same, or very close, that it took my a little while to figure out who was who. Interesting look at the history of Puerto Rico, really, and what life is like there. Nicely written.

*Read for the PopSugar Reading Challenge:

#29: Book set where you've always wanted to visit. Clearly need to go to Puerto Rico now.

[Mirian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book transported me to my childhood, even if it's from a culture different from mine. There was that cozy family feeling, even if sometimes I lost track of who was who among the characters. Afterwords, I've learned that it was the author's family she was writing about, people that have been part of the country's politics. Very interesting!
The author's way of writing is fantastic. Very well written.

[Joann Dietch]

This is my favorite Ferre novel. While House on the Lagoon is the author's literary acclaimed novel I enjoy the following the the family and the insights into Puerto Rican and Cuban political/economic histories. I also enjoyed The Flight of the Swan. To me the author's strenght is her understanding that our families and environments bind us to almost predetermined outcomes.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of those amazing books that let's you forget about your own life for awhile. Put yourself in someone else's shoes walk around the island. Live in their joy and heartbreak but doesn't make you wallow in drama. Facts are facts. Life isn't perfect and whether it be the turn of the century or 2013 I definitely appreciate a survivor. Whiners need not apply, people need to live.

[Tzeittle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was pretty good. I liked how Ferre went back and forth weaving different aspects of both of her families to tell their story. The ending seemed thrown together to me, but it could also be that I was anxious to finish and read it a little faster without "savoring" it.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of two families in Puerto Rico and its transition from the land-owning sugar families to modern-day concrete cities

[Meg Clayton]

novel,1st Edition

[Allison]

This is my favorite book.

[Virginia Strukel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story of Puerto Rican plantation/construction family with multiple generations depicted, growing up and going separate ways.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long time favorite, not quite as good as I remember it being but pleasurable and magical nonetheless.