Bedside Manners

by Luisa Valenzuela, Margaret Jull Costa (Translator)

An unnamed woman finds herself immobilized in her room at a country club as democracy returns to her Latin American country and a right-wing army major plots a coup outside her window

Genres: Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Luisa Valenzuela is a post-'Boom' novelist and short story writer. Her writing is characterized by an experimental, avant-garde style which questions hierarchical social structures from a feminist perspective. She is best known for her work written in response to the dictatorship of the 1970s in Argentina. Works such as Como en la guerra (1977), Cambio de armas (1982) and Cola de lagartija (1983) combine a powerful critique of dictatorship with an examination of patriarchal forms of social organization and the power structures which inhere in human sexuality and gender relationships.

Reviews

[Sentimental Surrealist · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to believe Valenzuela does her best work in as few pages as possible. The iridescent bursts of consciousness that form Strange Things Happen Here: Twenty-Six Short Stories and a Novel, Symmetries, and the back half of Clara: Thirteen Short Stories and a Novel make up my favorite of her work, while the long-by-her-standards novel The Lizard's Tail starts off promisingly enough but soon follows its villain protagonist down a nigh-incomprehensible well of mysticism... if the idea was to parallel his confused mindset, I'd say Valenzuela achieved her mission a little too well. So it makes sense that my favorite Valenzuela novel is this, one of the shorter ones. Like with her microfiction, she's economical without being lifeless. To the contrary, this is the most pure fun book in her catalogue.

So what's the deal with this one, anyway? A Latina returns from New York to her home country, trying to reconnect with her roots, stays at a comfortable but kinda creepy resort (where she very insistently is not supposed to open the window), and finds herself surrounded with pompous soldiers, a horndog doctor who moonlights as a horndog cabbie, and a maid whose services aren't quite what she asked for. It's both an allegory and a farce, and if you ask me a good allegory ought to have some farcical elements as well. Neither genre is exactly subtle, so why don't we have a little fun while we're commenting on a nation's decline into militarism, poverty, and willful ignorance? Valenzuela indeed crams these brief chapters with gags - skyrocketing prices, hands that pop out from under the bed (a left hand-right hand gag goes where you might expect if you're thinking politically, but it's still pretty funny), soldiers lose their uniforms in the most embarrassing fashions, and above all people try to ignore the chaos around them because hey, it's a resort, you're supposed to forget the pressures of the outside world. In a way, maybe because I read it recently, the whole thing reminds me of The Magic Mountain, but slimmer and without the extensive philosophical debating.

Flaws? Oh, sure. It's not like the characters are particularly deep (although duh, farce), nor is the resort where everyone goes to ignore reality particularly an original conceit for a satire. Yet it's so well-turned, consistently pretty funny, and with the sinister undercurrent Valenzuela always brings - all the hidden people, the rising inflation, the disguises, the fucking ending, which rocks. Kept me entertained the whole way through, also got me thinking about the connections between complacency and decline. I'll keep saying it until she gets her big revival: Valenzuela is the most slept-on Latin American author in the United States.

[Pasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encanta este libro

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird little novella. I think it would have worked better as a play maybe? I picked it up in part because of a project (novel? novella? we’ll see!) I’m working on that takes place mostly in one room/bed and i’ve been looking for other texts that explore interiority within this specific limitation. so it was interesting to me from that angle although i prob wouldn’t recommend it broadly

[Airácula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fua. Para ser la peor cuentista que leí en mi vida, Valenzuela sure knows how to write una cosa graciosa y buena, jugosa y graciosa; graciosamente trágica y trágicamente jugosa. Se entiende, me gustó bastante.

[Vicky Morinigo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Detesto todo lo que escribe esta mujer

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

The most ridiculous book I have ever had the displeasure of reading.

[Sofía · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pero qué buena novela de la señora Valenzuela.

[Viet · Rating 4 out of 5]

from Bedside Manners by Luisa Valenzuela (translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa):

"You're tired, I'll leave you, it's late," says María, perhaps taking pity on her or perhaps lulling her into sleep, so that she will go to sleep again and go on sleeping, since she doesn't play tennis and because, far off, the powerful floodlights are being swtiched on above the courts and the military manoeuvres are no longer shadows, you can see them clear as day through the French windows which, with the light shining through them from outside, have lost their mirror-like quality. They're changing the guard, María watches out of the corner of her eye, while she arranges the Señora's packages neatly on the bed and tucks her in or, rather, smooths the quilt a little, as well as she can without disturbing the pile of food. She talks to her quietly and the Señora whispers: To think that... and María interrupts her: Don't think. She says it softly, in a very low voice. Thinking's bad for you, don't think, she repeats, and when the Señora has closed her eyes tight shut María imitates the marching troops outside the window and goosesteps over to the door.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this novel twice now and still can't seem to figure out how I feel about it. Valenzuela's writing is tight and evocative; the magic-realism-esque aesthetic makes for an enjoyable read; the politics of the novel are provocative and fairly easy to digest. But for some reason, it just won't stick with me. Her essays "Dirty Words" and "Dangerous Words" are absolutely wonderful, and I adore her collection of short stories, "Symmetries," but I can't make up my mind on "Bedside Manners." I think it might be the kind of book that's fun to discuss in class, but that I would otherwise find forgettable, if I hadn't read it with a specific purpose in mind. So if you're interested in Valenzuela, I say look to those essays and the stories--this is worthwhile, too, but not as memorable for me. Need to check out "The Lizard's Tail," though.

[Andrea Dowd · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book on my shelf and realized I couldn't remember a thing about it after having read it in college. So I thought I'd pick it up again and speed my way through it since it is so short.

I remembered why I didn't remember "Bedside Manners". It would have made a much more effective play than novel/novella. Basically a woman comes back to her home country after fleeing a dictatorship and finds herself listless and unconcerned. The whole story takes place in a country club bungalow that happens to be the military camp that is planning a take over. The story is about power both political and sexual and general apathy in both these realms. It's an interesting read and definiately not for those who are looking for a tangible story in their novels.

Read this if you're interested in comparative literature, sexual politics, or international writers.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

m'eh

[Tuya Shagdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives wake up calls for women.

[Pam]

12/03 purchased from serpent's tail