What do you think?
Rate this book
Colombian Gold
"Columbian Gold is studded with unforgettable characterizations, in a portrait of a rotten society with the bare bones of corruption poking through." -- William Burroughs
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1984
13 people want to read
About the author
Jaime Manrique
25 books39 followersJaime Manrique (16 June 1949 - ) Colombian American author, poet, and journalist.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 1, 2023
"Santiago Villaba, the illegitimate so of a wealthy landowner, suffers the extremes of contemporary malaise. He is ambivalent, disaffccted, apolitical, bisexual, addicted to cocaine.
"As the story opens, Santiago and his wife return to the place of his birht, Barranquilla, and to the bedside of his ailing father, who has inspired a driving hatred in hius son. This rage extends to his stepfather, who is grooming him to take over the family business (once bananas now marijuana) and urging him to prepare himself for political office and 'assume the responsibilities of his class'. When his father dies, Santiago believes he is finally free, only to find himself at the hub of a nightmarish world..." From the jacket of the 1983 hardback edition of the novel published by Clarkson N. Potter.
I went to a great deal of trouble to acquire a copy of this novel, having wanted to read it for sometime, and was very disappointed but, I think my expectations were unreasonable. Back in my late teens and early twenties I discovered and fell in love with many South American authors - I remember in particular being blown away by Carpentier's 'Reason of State' and Fuentes's 'Terra Nostra'. I didn't read, or know of, Manrique or his novel 'Colombian Gold' back then (although it was publsihed in English at the same time as 'Reasons of State' and 'Terra Nostra')and, I must confess, that all these years later I was hoping for the same tremendous 'bang' from Manrique's novel now that I got from Fuentes and Carpentier back then. Of course it didn't happen and I am probably looking for something that is impossible, the excitement of youth in discovering something new that speaks, moves, excites and makes you dream. new dreams because new vistas have been opened up to you.
On a more practical level I wonder if any book written about Colombia in the early 80's will stand up against the reality of Colombia a country which became more baroque, more outrageous, more unexpected then anyone could have predicted. The world Manrique sends up in Colombian Gold was on the verge of being replaced by the world of Escobar - and in truth how could you send up, or exaggerate the worlds of the drug cartels - they are beyond parody - if only because their results have been so tragic.
I can't help but contrast this work with Our Lady of the Assassins by Fernando Vallejo - a short novel of such real corruption and tragedy that it makes this novel look like a exercise in bloated vacuity struggling to find meaning in pretentious conceits which have nothing to do with any reality, or truth.
I also wonder if maybe the fact that the text as published was partially in the English of Manrique (he is down as joint translator) may have also be to blame. I only note for his later book 'Moon over Manhattan' he left the translation to another.
As final piece of information this novel is also listed under Jaime Manrique Ardila - that is in fact the edition I read and nothing leads me to believe the text of this edition is any different. I will also post this review under that author's listing.
"As the story opens, Santiago and his wife return to the place of his birht, Barranquilla, and to the bedside of his ailing father, who has inspired a driving hatred in hius son. This rage extends to his stepfather, who is grooming him to take over the family business (once bananas now marijuana) and urging him to prepare himself for political office and 'assume the responsibilities of his class'. When his father dies, Santiago believes he is finally free, only to find himself at the hub of a nightmarish world..." From the jacket of the 1983 hardback edition of the novel published by Clarkson N. Potter.
I went to a great deal of trouble to acquire a copy of this novel, having wanted to read it for sometime, and was very disappointed but, I think my expectations were unreasonable. Back in my late teens and early twenties I discovered and fell in love with many South American authors - I remember in particular being blown away by Carpentier's 'Reason of State' and Fuentes's 'Terra Nostra'. I didn't read, or know of, Manrique or his novel 'Colombian Gold' back then (although it was publsihed in English at the same time as 'Reasons of State' and 'Terra Nostra')and, I must confess, that all these years later I was hoping for the same tremendous 'bang' from Manrique's novel now that I got from Fuentes and Carpentier back then. Of course it didn't happen and I am probably looking for something that is impossible, the excitement of youth in discovering something new that speaks, moves, excites and makes you dream. new dreams because new vistas have been opened up to you.
On a more practical level I wonder if any book written about Colombia in the early 80's will stand up against the reality of Colombia a country which became more baroque, more outrageous, more unexpected then anyone could have predicted. The world Manrique sends up in Colombian Gold was on the verge of being replaced by the world of Escobar - and in truth how could you send up, or exaggerate the worlds of the drug cartels - they are beyond parody - if only because their results have been so tragic.
I can't help but contrast this work with Our Lady of the Assassins by Fernando Vallejo - a short novel of such real corruption and tragedy that it makes this novel look like a exercise in bloated vacuity struggling to find meaning in pretentious conceits which have nothing to do with any reality, or truth.
I also wonder if maybe the fact that the text as published was partially in the English of Manrique (he is down as joint translator) may have also be to blame. I only note for his later book 'Moon over Manhattan' he left the translation to another.
As final piece of information this novel is also listed under Jaime Manrique Ardila - that is in fact the edition I read and nothing leads me to believe the text of this edition is any different. I will also post this review under that author's listing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review