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The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón
1975. The cusp of Argentina's Dirty War. The magnate Tamerlán has been kidnapped by guerrillas, demanding a bust of Eva Perón be placed in all ninety-two offices of his company. The man for the job: Marroné. His mission: to penetrate the ultimate Argentinian mystery—Eva Perón, the legendary Evita.
Carlos Gamerro's novel is a caustic and original take on Argentina's history.
Carlos Gamerro is one of the best-known and most highly regarded contemporary Argentine writers. Born in 1962, he has published six works of fiction, including the novels The Islands (2014, And Other Stories) and An Open Secret (2011).
Carlos Gamerro's novel is a caustic and original take on Argentina's history.
Carlos Gamerro is one of the best-known and most highly regarded contemporary Argentine writers. Born in 1962, he has published six works of fiction, including the novels The Islands (2014, And Other Stories) and An Open Secret (2011).
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
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236 people want to read
About the author
Carlos Gamerro
27 books35 followersCarlos Gamerro nació en Buenos Aires en 1962. Es Licenciado en Letras por la Universidad de Buenos Aires, donde se desempeñó como docente hasta 2002. Actualmente dicta cursos en la Universidad de San Andrés y en el MALBA. En 2007 fue Visiting Fellow en la Universidad de Cambridge y en 2008 participó del International Writers Workshop de la Univesidad de Iowa. Es autor de la versión teatral de Las Islas que se estrenó en el Teatro Alvear de Buenos Aires, con dirección de Alejandro Tantanian.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 10, 2024
My complete review is published at Before We Go Blog.
In Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famed musical Evita, Eva Perón brings the audience to tears with “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.” However, you’ll be laughing yourself to tears with The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón, Carlos Gamerro’s hilarious novel that satirizes 1980s yuppie business culture, 1970s Argentine politics, and the cult of Evita.
The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón takes place in 1975, just before Argentina’s Dirty War. A business tycoon, Sr. Tamerlán, has been kidnapped by leftist guerrillas. As a ransom, they demand that a bust of Eva Perón be placed in all ninety-two offices of Tamerlán’s construction company.
Who is up to the task? Our knight in shining armor is Ernesto Marroné, a 1980s-style business yuppie, who is equipped with all the latest business management skills he learned from How to Win Friends and Influence People. Will Ernesto’s management skills work against the Dirty War guerrillas and their comrades? Will our brave knight in his shining business suit be able to unravel the mystery of Evita herself?
The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón cleverly pokes fun at the commoditization of Eva Perón, who is described as “a self-made woman who had created a product - herself - that millions in Argentina and around the world had bought and consumed.”
This book is especially hysterical for readers who have been subjected to endless business management training. Marroné’s use of management training such as Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” is wonderful satire. Gamerro cleverly adds a seventh hat, the Brown Hat, whose purpose I won’t describe. You have to read The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón to find out—it’s absolutely hysterical for anyone familiar with de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” technique.
I love The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón. The political and social satire are brilliant, as is the roasting of traditional business management techniques.
In Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famed musical Evita, Eva Perón brings the audience to tears with “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.” However, you’ll be laughing yourself to tears with The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón, Carlos Gamerro’s hilarious novel that satirizes 1980s yuppie business culture, 1970s Argentine politics, and the cult of Evita.
The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón takes place in 1975, just before Argentina’s Dirty War. A business tycoon, Sr. Tamerlán, has been kidnapped by leftist guerrillas. As a ransom, they demand that a bust of Eva Perón be placed in all ninety-two offices of Tamerlán’s construction company.
Who is up to the task? Our knight in shining armor is Ernesto Marroné, a 1980s-style business yuppie, who is equipped with all the latest business management skills he learned from How to Win Friends and Influence People. Will Ernesto’s management skills work against the Dirty War guerrillas and their comrades? Will our brave knight in his shining business suit be able to unravel the mystery of Evita herself?
The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón cleverly pokes fun at the commoditization of Eva Perón, who is described as “a self-made woman who had created a product - herself - that millions in Argentina and around the world had bought and consumed.”
This book is especially hysterical for readers who have been subjected to endless business management training. Marroné’s use of management training such as Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” is wonderful satire. Gamerro cleverly adds a seventh hat, the Brown Hat, whose purpose I won’t describe. You have to read The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón to find out—it’s absolutely hysterical for anyone familiar with de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” technique.
I love The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón. The political and social satire are brilliant, as is the roasting of traditional business management techniques.
February 12, 2016
02/12/2016: Wow! I opened my email this morning to discover that the publisher had liked and tweeted about my post; their tweet was retweeted several times. Nice, considering I'm just a reader not a reviewer!
First of all, I loved loved loved this book. It's part of this year's resolution to limit my reading of big publisher novels and read more smaller press offerings, and so far, I've been extremely lucky in my choices. Second, it's definitely not a novel that everyone will like; it certainly will appeal much more to readers who know a bit about Argentina's 20th-century history. Things will make much more sense, especially in terms of the Peronists, still active and still a big, ongoing part of the political scene today.
more here at my reading journal.
The novel begins when Ernesto Marroné, the "financial manager of the most powerful construction and real estate conglomerate in Argentina," returns home from an afternoon of playing golf and discovers a poster of Che Guevara hanging on his son's bedroom wall. As he "unknotted the laces of his Jack Nicklaus golf shoes," he realizes that it may be time to reveal his own "guerrilla past" to his son. After all, "there's no escaping the past" --
"No matter how far you run, sooner or later it catches up with you -- with all of us. Because far from being an exception, Marroné's story was emblematic of a whole generation -- a generation now striving to erase the traces of a shameful past with the same diligence it had once devoted to building a utopian future."
He makes up his mind to tell his story the next day; and that night he laid back, unable to sleep, watching "the film of his rebellious past from beginning to end..." The novel consists of Ernesto's look back -- it is all at once a wicked satire on politics and history, a look at the mythology of Eva Perón, and a story about one man's personal journey.
After I finished this book, a saying of Marx's popped into my head, something along the lines of history repeating itself first as tragedy then as farce, and there may be something to that here in this most excellent novel. I can't possibly describe everything here; it's a book a person must absolutely experience on his or her own. Aside from its silliness, it is a story with an incredible amount of depth, it's highly intelligent, and one I hated putting down for any reason. Most highly recommended.
First of all, I loved loved loved this book. It's part of this year's resolution to limit my reading of big publisher novels and read more smaller press offerings, and so far, I've been extremely lucky in my choices. Second, it's definitely not a novel that everyone will like; it certainly will appeal much more to readers who know a bit about Argentina's 20th-century history. Things will make much more sense, especially in terms of the Peronists, still active and still a big, ongoing part of the political scene today.
more here at my reading journal.
The novel begins when Ernesto Marroné, the "financial manager of the most powerful construction and real estate conglomerate in Argentina," returns home from an afternoon of playing golf and discovers a poster of Che Guevara hanging on his son's bedroom wall. As he "unknotted the laces of his Jack Nicklaus golf shoes," he realizes that it may be time to reveal his own "guerrilla past" to his son. After all, "there's no escaping the past" --
"No matter how far you run, sooner or later it catches up with you -- with all of us. Because far from being an exception, Marroné's story was emblematic of a whole generation -- a generation now striving to erase the traces of a shameful past with the same diligence it had once devoted to building a utopian future."
He makes up his mind to tell his story the next day; and that night he laid back, unable to sleep, watching "the film of his rebellious past from beginning to end..." The novel consists of Ernesto's look back -- it is all at once a wicked satire on politics and history, a look at the mythology of Eva Perón, and a story about one man's personal journey.
After I finished this book, a saying of Marx's popped into my head, something along the lines of history repeating itself first as tragedy then as farce, and there may be something to that here in this most excellent novel. I can't possibly describe everything here; it's a book a person must absolutely experience on his or her own. Aside from its silliness, it is a story with an incredible amount of depth, it's highly intelligent, and one I hated putting down for any reason. Most highly recommended.
November 8, 2015
It's a strange book. An executive recites passages from self help books by the likes of Carnegie. An entrepreneur is kidnapped and the ransom demand is 92 busts of the iconic Argentine lady. The executive gets involved in the occupation of a factory and finds his inner Peronist. The slums of Buenos Aires are frighteningly depicted. There's a surreal visit to a brothel in which all the whores are Evita lookalikes.
The story wilts under the weight of barely suppressed laughter. This is black humour at its darkest. One fears for the soul of such a corrupted country as Argentina. Yet despite all that in the gloom the iconic figure of Evita looms large over this desperate landscape offering hope to the oppressed. The protagonist becomes almost obsessed with his mission to find the true spirit of Evita. In some measure he is like a mirror to the soul of his compatriots as they fight against the demons of their collective national psyche. In places it stretches belief and borders on magical realism until you realise that the author has taken us all inside the mind of the executive on his mission to discover his true nature. At times kinky and subversive at others cliched. It's impressive in places but not quite in the same league as other recent Latin novelists such as say Vila Matas or Rivas.
November 24, 2015
Well, I really wanted to write a good review of this since I like it so much, but it has to go back to the library.
A wonderful satire; I recommend it highly. It does bog down a little toward the end, and the first chapter might put you off, but keep going; the bulk of the novel which takes place at the factory is terrific.
A wonderful satire; I recommend it highly. It does bog down a little toward the end, and the first chapter might put you off, but keep going; the bulk of the novel which takes place at the factory is terrific.
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September 11, 2015"In a novel that is at once amusing and depressing, Carlos Gamerro addresses the people and the politics of his home country with The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón. Like most examples of the picaresque, The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Perón serves as both a rousing human story and a critique of an irrevocably flawed society."- Arthur Dixon, University of Oklahoma
This book was reviewed in the September 2015 issue of World Literature Today. Read the full review by visiting our website: http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...
This book was reviewed in the September 2015 issue of World Literature Today. Read the full review by visiting our website: http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...
December 26, 2024
A brilliantly funny and satirical novel which I enjoyed immensely when I bought it, and read it, during the COVID lock down in the UK. Just in case anyone is wondering if there is a tangential relationship or resemblance to the Evita of Andrew Lloyd Webber then the answer is no. This is Evita is dead but is the heroine of marxist/anarchist/maoist guerillas (I can't remember but these are 1970s revolutionaries so they in the tradition of the 'Barbudos' and even if many of them are female you can take it they aren't into 'Brazilians') and the rebels are forcing an industrialist to install busts of Evita in all his offices and factories. When he is not kowtowing to guerillas he is sodomising his employees - though, apparently, there is nothing queer about it (remember sodomy is at the heart of Argentina's great classic novel all school children read 'The Slaughter Yard' by the Esteban Echeverría) this is about the phallus as an instrument of power (OK I don't buy it, haven't we all, late at night in a bar or at party, encountered the 'confirmed' heterosexual who imagines everyone finds his wonderful phallus irresistible?! and if no woman can be found surely a queer will be no problem?!).
I wasn't able to review this novel three years ago but on the strength of it I am buying the authors 'The Islands'.
I wasn't able to review this novel three years ago but on the strength of it I am buying the authors 'The Islands'.
July 5, 2020
Hermoso libro. Con una escritura fácil, aquellos que seguimos la historia argentina del siglo XX encontramos en este libro muchos signos de lo que fueron los años de la guerrilla.
Los destellos de humor son excelentes. La historia, aunque sencilla de seguir, es interesante. Ficción histórica en los años 70, todos los condimentos incluidos.
Los destellos de humor son excelentes. La historia, aunque sencilla de seguir, es interesante. Ficción histórica en los años 70, todos los condimentos incluidos.
August 25, 2017
Es una historia entretenida sobre un empresario pelotudo. Tiene ese aire de las novelas que terminan siendo adaptadas para cine y se convierten en alguna película mediocre.
August 11, 2023
Por algún motivo, había leído Un yuppie en la columna del Che Guevara hace unos años sin saber que era la secuela de una novela anterior. Gamerro es uno de los mejores autores de comedia de la narrativa argentina contemporánea. No recuerdo haber leído libros tan graciosos como estos. La parodia de la militancia de los 70 es al mismo tiempo irreverente y respetuosa: conoce los límites (hay una ética casi melbrooksiana: un enfrentamiento entre montoneros y canas en 1973 puede ser gracioso, pero una escena de tortura policial no entra en el registro).
Sin embargo, habiendo leído Las islas, debo decir que hay una cierta superficialidad en esta obra que no estaba presente en aquella; falta algo del riesgo, la experimentación con el absurdo. De todos modos, recomendable.
Sin embargo, habiendo leído Las islas, debo decir que hay una cierta superficialidad en esta obra que no estaba presente en aquella; falta algo del riesgo, la experimentación con el absurdo. De todos modos, recomendable.
February 15, 2019
I enjoyed reading this book, albeit a little mucky in places. I found it whilst looking for literature about Eva Perón because I´m about to do a philatelic exhibition of her material. (In 2014, a Private Issue stamp appeared in Spain showing a Bust of Evita.)
Anyway, back to the book. It took a while to grasp the 21st century language transferred to 1975 but it wasn't a big deal. It was a great satirical romp around the times, and I guess the cider must have been been laced with LSD.
Very well written with plenty of psychology and philosophy intertwined in the story. I will read it again sometime.
p.s. I wonder what Evita would make of it!
Anyway, back to the book. It took a while to grasp the 21st century language transferred to 1975 but it wasn't a big deal. It was a great satirical romp around the times, and I guess the cider must have been been laced with LSD.
Very well written with plenty of psychology and philosophy intertwined in the story. I will read it again sometime.
p.s. I wonder what Evita would make of it!
February 21, 2024
Buen libro para conocer un poco de la historia del siglo XX en Argentina. Conocer de cerca el peronismo, las revoluciones, y personajes emblemáticos y poderosos como Evita Peron.
"Yo no valgo por lo que hice, yo no valgo por lo que he renunciado; yo no valgo ni por lo que soy ni por lo que tengo. Yo tengo una sola cosa que vale, la tengo en mi corazón y me quema en el alma. Es el amor por este pueblo y por Perón"
"Yo no valgo por lo que hice, yo no valgo por lo que he renunciado; yo no valgo ni por lo que soy ni por lo que tengo. Yo tengo una sola cosa que vale, la tengo en mi corazón y me quema en el alma. Es el amor por este pueblo y por Perón"
April 14, 2024
Vaya sorpresa me llevé con este libro. El comienzo y el texto de la contraportada engañan, porque pensé que iba a toparme con una historia cliché que se las tiraba de graciosa y caía en los mismos lugares comunes a la hora de hablar del mundo empresarial. Pero no: encontré una historia que me conmovió por momentos, que me hizo reflexionar y entretenerme a más no poder. Detesté con mucha fuerza al mundo laboral capitalista y me pareció bello el mundo peronista/socialista presentado en la obra, si bien yo no comparto esa ideología, y mucho menos apoyo al capitalismo. Y lo más importante de todo: se sintió como una verdadera historia de aventuras de corte policial.
La intriga está muy bien construida, y el humor absurdo también está bien puesto. Insisto en que no logro salir del asombro después de leer una novela tan genial e inesperada en tantos meses sin leer novelas contemporáneas. Eso sí, el comienzo no me gustó, se me hizo muy pesado. Demasiada descripción de cuestiones empresariales. El protagonista también es detestable y carente de personalidad. La magia la tienen las historias alrededor suyo y la narración. Pero la recomiendo mucho, claro que sí. Y sentí que le hizo falta algo. Supongo que eso se descubrirá al leer la continuación de este libro, la de "Un yuppie en las filas del Che Guevara". Quizá la lea algún día, y espero que sea igual de buena que esta novela.
La intriga está muy bien construida, y el humor absurdo también está bien puesto. Insisto en que no logro salir del asombro después de leer una novela tan genial e inesperada en tantos meses sin leer novelas contemporáneas. Eso sí, el comienzo no me gustó, se me hizo muy pesado. Demasiada descripción de cuestiones empresariales. El protagonista también es detestable y carente de personalidad. La magia la tienen las historias alrededor suyo y la narración. Pero la recomiendo mucho, claro que sí. Y sentí que le hizo falta algo. Supongo que eso se descubrirá al leer la continuación de este libro, la de "Un yuppie en las filas del Che Guevara". Quizá la lea algún día, y espero que sea igual de buena que esta novela.
January 16, 2019
"Christ melted like mozzarella over his mother's knees, who contemplated him more in disgust than in sorrow. 'Who could confuse this miscarriage with Michelangelo's original? We try to be like them and this is what we come up with,' he said tossing it back on the mound. "This mountain of ruins, of tack and broken replicas, is a monument to the borrowed culture we have tried to assemble out of our masters' leftovers." pg 127
February 3, 2019
Quite hard going until about half way through when the pace picked up.
February 15, 2023
Like Evita but without Madonna singing crap songs
July 28, 2015
A hilarious political satire. More successful than The Islands.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews