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Old Rosa: A Novel in Two Stories
A terrifying and beautiful novel, Old Rosa is composed of two stories that converge on a single charged point in the lives of a Cuban mother and son. In the first, the mother finds her son in bed with another boy; in the second, the son is imprisoned in one of Castroâ s camps for homosexuals.
106 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
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About the author
Reinaldo Arenas
56 books362 followersArenas was born in the countryside, in the northern part of the Province of Oriente, Cuba, and later moved to the city of Holguín. In 1963, he moved to Havana to enroll in the School of Planification and, later, in the Faculty of Letters at the Universidad de La Habana, where he studied philosophy and literature without completing a degree. The following year, he began working at the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí. While there, his talent was noticed and he was awarded prizes at Cirilo Villaverde National Competition held by UNEAC (National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists). His Hallucinations was awarded "first Honorable Mention" in 1966 although, as the judges could find no better entry, no First Prize was awarded that year.
His writings and openly gay lifestyle were, by 1967, bringing him into conflict with the Communist government. He left the Biblioteca Nacional and became an editor for the Cuban Book Institute until 1968. From 1968 to 1974 he was a journalist and editor for the literary magazine La Gaceta de Cuba. In 1973, he was sent to prison after being charged and convicted of 'ideological deviation' and for publishing abroad without official consent.
He escaped from prison and tried to leave Cuba by launching himself from the shore on a tire inner tube. The attempt failed and he was rearrested near Lenin Park and imprisoned at the notorious El Morro Castle alongside murderers and rapists. He survived by helping the inmates to write letters to wives and lovers. He was able to collect enough paper this way to continue his writing. However, his attempts to smuggle his work out of prison were discovered and he was severely punished. Threatened with death, he was forced to renounce his work and was released in 1976. In 1980, as part of the Mariel Boatlift, he fled to the United States. He came on the boat San Lazaro captained by Cuban immigrant Roberto Aguero.
In 1987, Arenas was diagnosed with AIDS; he continued to write and speak out against the Cuban government. He mentored many Cuban exile writers, including John O'Donnell-Rosales. After battling AIDS, Arenas died of an intentional overdose of drugs and alcohol on December 7, 1990, in New York City. In a suicide letter written for publication, Arenas wrote: "Due to my delicate state of health and to the terrible depression that causes me not to be able to continue writing and struggling for the freedom of Cuba, I am ending my life... I want to encourage the Cuban people abroad as well as on the Island to continue fighting for freedom... Cuba will be free. I already am."
In 2012 Arenas was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and people
His writings and openly gay lifestyle were, by 1967, bringing him into conflict with the Communist government. He left the Biblioteca Nacional and became an editor for the Cuban Book Institute until 1968. From 1968 to 1974 he was a journalist and editor for the literary magazine La Gaceta de Cuba. In 1973, he was sent to prison after being charged and convicted of 'ideological deviation' and for publishing abroad without official consent.
He escaped from prison and tried to leave Cuba by launching himself from the shore on a tire inner tube. The attempt failed and he was rearrested near Lenin Park and imprisoned at the notorious El Morro Castle alongside murderers and rapists. He survived by helping the inmates to write letters to wives and lovers. He was able to collect enough paper this way to continue his writing. However, his attempts to smuggle his work out of prison were discovered and he was severely punished. Threatened with death, he was forced to renounce his work and was released in 1976. In 1980, as part of the Mariel Boatlift, he fled to the United States. He came on the boat San Lazaro captained by Cuban immigrant Roberto Aguero.
In 1987, Arenas was diagnosed with AIDS; he continued to write and speak out against the Cuban government. He mentored many Cuban exile writers, including John O'Donnell-Rosales. After battling AIDS, Arenas died of an intentional overdose of drugs and alcohol on December 7, 1990, in New York City. In a suicide letter written for publication, Arenas wrote: "Due to my delicate state of health and to the terrible depression that causes me not to be able to continue writing and struggling for the freedom of Cuba, I am ending my life... I want to encourage the Cuban people abroad as well as on the Island to continue fighting for freedom... Cuba will be free. I already am."
In 2012 Arenas was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display which celebrates LGBT history and people
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
May 11, 2020
Cements "Before Night Falls" writer's cred. Sure, Arenas wrote an outstanding before-the-gallows autobiography in his masterwork. This assures us his fiction was just as incredible. New, even, despite the popular theme of Latin American tyrannies.
Seek this out! The first part occurs all within one paragraph. The second: one paragraph & one period. This is innovation atop a heap of broken hearts.
Seek this out! The first part occurs all within one paragraph. The second: one paragraph & one period. This is innovation atop a heap of broken hearts.
June 14, 2022
PRIDE and some PREJUDICE in Revolution-era Cuba // #ReadCaribbean
• OLD ROSA: A Novel in Two Stories by Reinaldo Arenas, translated from the Spanish by Anna Tashi Slater and Andrew Hurley, 1981/1984
A thrumming urgency in these two linked short stories, forming a novella.
Told in a streaming narrative with no paragraphs or line breaks, it's a wall of text, but once you adjust, you're enveloped into the beautiful writing and style - very sensory and emotional writing/translation.
• "Old Rosa" was written in 1981, and translated by Slater in 1989.
A story about a shrewd landowning widow in the early days of Fidel Castro's rebellion, facing collectivization. The mother of 3 children, each child plays a part in breaking Rosa's hard façade - her eldest runs off to join Fidel, her daughter elopes with a Black man, and she walks in on her youngest son, her "brightest star", in bed with another man... Her deep prejudice and her pride/arrogance have caused deep rifts that lead to abandonment. She takes catastrophic measures from there.
• "The Brightest Star" was written in 1984 and translated by Hurley in 1989. In this story, Rosa's youngest son, Arturo, is sentenced to a prison camp for his homosexuality. Arturo's story is fractured and violent, re-living what happened to his mother and his family home, to his country in revolution, and the events within the concentration camp.
Both stories are tied together by these ethereal specters that both Rosa and Arturo hallucinate(?)...
Perhaps some events based on Arenas' own experience in the camps for his homosexuality, and his own initial verve and later disillusionment with the Revolution.
I've wanted to read Arenas for years and finally made space to do so this month for #ReadCaribbean and #Pride this June. Absolutely will read more of his work - this was fantastic and so much depth for only 106 pages.
• OLD ROSA: A Novel in Two Stories by Reinaldo Arenas, translated from the Spanish by Anna Tashi Slater and Andrew Hurley, 1981/1984
A thrumming urgency in these two linked short stories, forming a novella.
Told in a streaming narrative with no paragraphs or line breaks, it's a wall of text, but once you adjust, you're enveloped into the beautiful writing and style - very sensory and emotional writing/translation.
• "Old Rosa" was written in 1981, and translated by Slater in 1989.
A story about a shrewd landowning widow in the early days of Fidel Castro's rebellion, facing collectivization. The mother of 3 children, each child plays a part in breaking Rosa's hard façade - her eldest runs off to join Fidel, her daughter elopes with a Black man, and she walks in on her youngest son, her "brightest star", in bed with another man... Her deep prejudice and her pride/arrogance have caused deep rifts that lead to abandonment. She takes catastrophic measures from there.
• "The Brightest Star" was written in 1984 and translated by Hurley in 1989. In this story, Rosa's youngest son, Arturo, is sentenced to a prison camp for his homosexuality. Arturo's story is fractured and violent, re-living what happened to his mother and his family home, to his country in revolution, and the events within the concentration camp.
Both stories are tied together by these ethereal specters that both Rosa and Arturo hallucinate(?)...
Perhaps some events based on Arenas' own experience in the camps for his homosexuality, and his own initial verve and later disillusionment with the Revolution.
I've wanted to read Arenas for years and finally made space to do so this month for #ReadCaribbean and #Pride this June. Absolutely will read more of his work - this was fantastic and so much depth for only 106 pages.
February 13, 2021
This is a short book composed of two chapters which each work as a separate story. The format is a bit off-putting as there are no paragraphs, and the second story is actually a single sentence which runs over 56 pages, but the story line and the writing are engaging and moving.
Ratings:
Writing 4
Story line 4
Characters 3
Impact 4
Overall rating 3.75
Ratings:
Writing 4
Story line 4
Characters 3
Impact 4
Overall rating 3.75
October 16, 2024
I’m buying it for my friends.
March 30, 2021
Old Rosa is one novel told in two short stories. The first is about Rosa, her life as a farmer, her marriage, and her children including her eldest son who runs of to join Castro’s rebels and her youngest son who she catches in bed with another boy. The second story finds her youngest son Arturo in one of Castro’s camps for homosexuals where he’s forced to do mind-numbing manual labour and his only escape is his imagination.
Rosa is a strong, proud and shrewd woman who works hard and expects everyone around her to do the same. She is very set in her ways and as her life goes on you see how that can be detrimental to her well-being. She doesn’t believe in what her eldest son Armando is doing by joining the rebels, she thinks it all nonsense and just focusses on her farm. She’s an interesting character as she’s not always likable but she is sympathetic as she’s often a victim of her own pride and prejudice.
Arturo writes and dreams to survive the labour camp. His mind is all over the place as he cuts down sugar cane and learns to live with the other prisoners. They all make a life for themselves, often being over the top and embracing the insults the guards throw at them. Arturo doesn’t want to be like the “queens” who wear short skirts made from palm fronds but he finds he’s a target if he tries to keep himself separate. His writing and imagination is what he clings to in the camp.
Old Rosa has a very different writing style to anything I’ve read before. Both stories have long, run on sentences with lots of commas and there’s no paragraph breaks or anything like that as well. It is the second story that really sticks out in the way it’s written, it’s 60 pages long and it’s one complete sentence. That might sound crazy but it’s true. The whole story is like Arturo’s chaotic train of thought, bouncing from one idea to another with no rest at all. This writing style made Old Rosa simultaneously quick to read as you get pulled along with the character’s thoughts, but if you needed to put the book down for whatever reason, it made it difficult to find an acceptable place to stop.
Old Rosa is a unique yet often unsettling story. Both Rosa and Arturo go through such pain and hardships and both of their imaginations are so vivid that as the reader you’re not always sure what’s real. The dreamlike state both characters find themselves in gives an unusual perspective on the Cuban Revolution and how things changed after Castro came into power.
Rosa is a strong, proud and shrewd woman who works hard and expects everyone around her to do the same. She is very set in her ways and as her life goes on you see how that can be detrimental to her well-being. She doesn’t believe in what her eldest son Armando is doing by joining the rebels, she thinks it all nonsense and just focusses on her farm. She’s an interesting character as she’s not always likable but she is sympathetic as she’s often a victim of her own pride and prejudice.
Arturo writes and dreams to survive the labour camp. His mind is all over the place as he cuts down sugar cane and learns to live with the other prisoners. They all make a life for themselves, often being over the top and embracing the insults the guards throw at them. Arturo doesn’t want to be like the “queens” who wear short skirts made from palm fronds but he finds he’s a target if he tries to keep himself separate. His writing and imagination is what he clings to in the camp.
Old Rosa has a very different writing style to anything I’ve read before. Both stories have long, run on sentences with lots of commas and there’s no paragraph breaks or anything like that as well. It is the second story that really sticks out in the way it’s written, it’s 60 pages long and it’s one complete sentence. That might sound crazy but it’s true. The whole story is like Arturo’s chaotic train of thought, bouncing from one idea to another with no rest at all. This writing style made Old Rosa simultaneously quick to read as you get pulled along with the character’s thoughts, but if you needed to put the book down for whatever reason, it made it difficult to find an acceptable place to stop.
Old Rosa is a unique yet often unsettling story. Both Rosa and Arturo go through such pain and hardships and both of their imaginations are so vivid that as the reader you’re not always sure what’s real. The dreamlike state both characters find themselves in gives an unusual perspective on the Cuban Revolution and how things changed after Castro came into power.
May 25, 2020
“Old Rosa” begins with a conflagration of an old woman’s home. Through an elegant and gradual flashback, readers learn of young Rosa’s past, the husband she sends away after he’s given her three children. The story is set just as the Cuban Revolution is getting underway. The eldest brother joins up, and, in fact is responsible for helping the State “purchase” Rosa’s farm from her. Her daughter, as well, signs up and marries another soldier in the fight. The youngest child, Arturo, is a dreamer. He is always playing his transistor radio up in his room unless Rosa makes him work cutting cane in the fields. Near the end of the story, she discovers a naked teenage Arturo with another boy together and, in a rage, chases them off the property. In the end, readers return to the fire that they saw in the beginning, Old Rosa meeting her end.
In “The Brightest Star,” Arturo is arrested an interned in a prison for homosexuals. At first he attempts to distance himself from the hordes of “feminine” queens who seem to camp it up 24/7. But because of their harassment, he finally joints them in their behavior and outdoes them at times. There is a gorgeous extended scene in which Arturo, attempting to flee his captors (for a while and uselessly), dreams of the fabulous dwelling he would build, the beautiful landscaping he would grace the property with. He meets his end amid this setting he has dreamed up.
Arenas’s portrayal of this mother and son is both lyrical and starkly real.
In “The Brightest Star,” Arturo is arrested an interned in a prison for homosexuals. At first he attempts to distance himself from the hordes of “feminine” queens who seem to camp it up 24/7. But because of their harassment, he finally joints them in their behavior and outdoes them at times. There is a gorgeous extended scene in which Arturo, attempting to flee his captors (for a while and uselessly), dreams of the fabulous dwelling he would build, the beautiful landscaping he would grace the property with. He meets his end amid this setting he has dreamed up.
Arenas’s portrayal of this mother and son is both lyrical and starkly real.
November 2, 2018
This has two linked stories in one book; the first is the life story of Old Rosa and the second is about her son. Old Rosa is a conservative, very religious woman who works hard to build her farm over the course of her life and maintain her prosperity but is dogged by misfortune and sees her her life's work crumble away under the new Communist government in Cuba post-revolution (although this is not the cause of all her problems). In the second, we follow her younger son, trying to survive in a prison camp for homosexuals and slowly being ground down by the experience.
For me, the first is too short and fast-paced to really feel too strongly either way. It is not bad but there isn't enough for me to say it was too good, either. I think the second is more interesting but is not as accessible, being written as a stream of increasingly unstable consciousness which is always difficult for me to engage with. As I found this by chance in a random book sale, I don't feel too disappointed but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.
For me, the first is too short and fast-paced to really feel too strongly either way. It is not bad but there isn't enough for me to say it was too good, either. I think the second is more interesting but is not as accessible, being written as a stream of increasingly unstable consciousness which is always difficult for me to engage with. As I found this by chance in a random book sale, I don't feel too disappointed but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to anyone.
February 14, 2015
A riveting portrayal of the brutality of totalitarian regimes. I'm a leftist and celebrate the thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations, but let's not forget how Castro tortured and murdered gays (and others). More broadly, let's not forget how homosexuality used to be defined as inherently counter-revolutionary by the macho-identified political left.
June 29, 2021
Two linked novellas; heart-rending, ecstatic prose.
Described as "1 novel in 2 stories", but effectively two novellas with a single overlapping character. Published in Spanish in 1980 and 1984 and in English translation in 1989 (paperback in 1994). This post-dates Arenas' escape to the US in 1980 following his imprisonment as a persecuted homosexual during 1974-76.
Old Rosa (1980)
Old Rosa describes the life of a Cuban woman--her marriage, birth of two sons, and eventual death. Rosa is perhaps symbolic of the nation of Cuba. Her married life is undermined by a prudish aversion to sex hinting at the psychic damage of Catholicism. Her successful drive to expand the family farm using hired labor reflects pre-revolutionary Cuban capitalism and, like the latter, is undercut by Castro's socialism. Rosa's two sons draw on aspects of Arenas' background--one is initially supportive of the revolution while the other is covertly homosexual. Old Rosa's hysterical reaction on discovering the latter's homosexuality parallels the machismo persecution of gays under Cuban communism.
Old Rosa is written in a richly poetic style and while the story starts with her death and then tracks back over her life, it is relatively straightforward to read.
The Brightest Star (1984)
The second novella picks up the story of Arturo, Rosa's gay son, who is now in one of Castro's homosexual prison camps (a "Military Unit for the Aid of Production"). For the most part it can be read as a stand-alone story, though Old Rosa provides the "origin story" for Arturo, and he recalls his mother, Old Rosa, towards the end of the novella.
The literary style is heavily poetic and more breathlessly ecstatic than Old Rosa. Arturo, who is based on the Cuban author Nelson Leyva, has a rich imaginative life which he tries to nurture while in the prison camp. This proves almost impossible due to constant harassment by prison guards and the insistence of fellow prisoners that Arturo share their "camp" mannerisms, their way of refusing to bend under persecution. Gritty scenes of the horrors of life in Cuba's homosexual prison camps is interspersed by poetic flights of fancy as Arturo escapes into his imagination. Inevitably, Arturo finds that he can pursue his highly individualistic vision only by fleeing the camp. The novella is modernist in style, portraying Arturo's fevered efforts to construct a highly ornate, imaginary private world, one in which he can find refuge with a heavenly partner:
"...now there were deep expanses of blue, vast and mysterious expanses, motionless undulating expanses solemnly crisscrossed by high supple bridges, ships with sails of scarlet and royal purple, bellied out like a giant's roseblooms, and great rocky breakwaters radiating out from the castle--for it was a castle, rising above it all, that he had to erect, at the exact center of the grand esplanade, a solid, magisterial bulk, with towers and posterns and cloisters, crowning and commanding the whole, that was what he had to construct so that the exquisite youth would appear..."
Described as "1 novel in 2 stories", but effectively two novellas with a single overlapping character. Published in Spanish in 1980 and 1984 and in English translation in 1989 (paperback in 1994). This post-dates Arenas' escape to the US in 1980 following his imprisonment as a persecuted homosexual during 1974-76.
Old Rosa (1980)
Old Rosa describes the life of a Cuban woman--her marriage, birth of two sons, and eventual death. Rosa is perhaps symbolic of the nation of Cuba. Her married life is undermined by a prudish aversion to sex hinting at the psychic damage of Catholicism. Her successful drive to expand the family farm using hired labor reflects pre-revolutionary Cuban capitalism and, like the latter, is undercut by Castro's socialism. Rosa's two sons draw on aspects of Arenas' background--one is initially supportive of the revolution while the other is covertly homosexual. Old Rosa's hysterical reaction on discovering the latter's homosexuality parallels the machismo persecution of gays under Cuban communism.
Old Rosa is written in a richly poetic style and while the story starts with her death and then tracks back over her life, it is relatively straightforward to read.
The Brightest Star (1984)
The second novella picks up the story of Arturo, Rosa's gay son, who is now in one of Castro's homosexual prison camps (a "Military Unit for the Aid of Production"). For the most part it can be read as a stand-alone story, though Old Rosa provides the "origin story" for Arturo, and he recalls his mother, Old Rosa, towards the end of the novella.
The literary style is heavily poetic and more breathlessly ecstatic than Old Rosa. Arturo, who is based on the Cuban author Nelson Leyva, has a rich imaginative life which he tries to nurture while in the prison camp. This proves almost impossible due to constant harassment by prison guards and the insistence of fellow prisoners that Arturo share their "camp" mannerisms, their way of refusing to bend under persecution. Gritty scenes of the horrors of life in Cuba's homosexual prison camps is interspersed by poetic flights of fancy as Arturo escapes into his imagination. Inevitably, Arturo finds that he can pursue his highly individualistic vision only by fleeing the camp. The novella is modernist in style, portraying Arturo's fevered efforts to construct a highly ornate, imaginary private world, one in which he can find refuge with a heavenly partner:
"...now there were deep expanses of blue, vast and mysterious expanses, motionless undulating expanses solemnly crisscrossed by high supple bridges, ships with sails of scarlet and royal purple, bellied out like a giant's roseblooms, and great rocky breakwaters radiating out from the castle--for it was a castle, rising above it all, that he had to erect, at the exact center of the grand esplanade, a solid, magisterial bulk, with towers and posterns and cloisters, crowning and commanding the whole, that was what he had to construct so that the exquisite youth would appear..."
October 9, 2020
Old Rosa is a powerful novella which is divided into 2 stories revolving around the same character.
The first story titled Old Rosa chronicles the life of Rosa, her marriage, family life and the hardships that she endures in her life at the farm. It becomes even more difficult when her eldest son joins the Castro's rebels and when she discovers her youngest son to be a homosexual. It also talks about the advent of Cuban revolution and the impact that it had on farmers.
The second story titled The Brightest Star chronicles the life of Rosa's youngest son in a Castro Camp for homosexuals. He is subjected to immense torture and brutal labour. He manages to find solace through to express his fantastical thoughts. He manages to escape into another world which consists of magnificent castles, beautiful gardens and recurring images of his mother Old Rosa.
The writing style in both the stories have a continuous flow without any structure or paragraphs. In the first story, there are shorter sentences with full stops and reflects the dominant voice of the character Rosa. She is not always a likeable character with her staunch beliefs and harsh stance towards her children. Yet one can't help but empathise at times with her emotional attachment towards her farm.
In the second story, the writing style is like a continuous chain of thoughts separated by a comma. There is no full stop or paragraphs which makes it exhausting for the reader. It gives them the feeling of living inside the character's head who appears clearly shattered and his thoughts are all over the place. One aspect that strikes a chord is his ability to find an outlet through writing.
Themes of family, pain and loss are touched upon here. Old Rosa is a read that is one of a kind. It envelops your mind like the flames of the fire and dissolves into your system like ash. Such is the writing-powerful, disturbing and evocative.
March 24, 2021
Read this for school and didn’t necessarily hate or love it all that much. Definitely enjoyed the language used and the format was unique, and Old Rosa was a formidable character (to say the least).
The Arturo section was really hard to read for some reason, and I wasn’t able to get through it without skimming. Maybe at a later date I can go back and figure out what is going on there.
Overall, not bad.
3/5 stars
The Arturo section was really hard to read for some reason, and I wasn’t able to get through it without skimming. Maybe at a later date I can go back and figure out what is going on there.
Overall, not bad.
3/5 stars
October 28, 2021
Five stars for the amazing form. Two related short stories. Two paragraphs in this hundred page book. One long sentence for the second story. The reader is solely inside the mind of Rosa, the mother, who we meet as her yard envelopes in flames. And then Arturo, her youngest son, as he escapes into his own fantasies while interred in a brutal work camp for gay men in Cuba. A difficult read and I have to admit I didn't read every word, but still amazing.
May 29, 2023
Mais um ótimo livro de Reinaldo Arenas com a psicodelia característica de O Mundo Alucinante, mas muito mais frenético.
Fico me perguntando se Arenas (ou seria Arturo?), enquanto escrevia seu livro, poderia antever que, quase 60 anos depois, estaria um leitor correndo com o texto antes de chegar a seu destino no metrô de São Paulo procurando um ponto de mudança no assunto para retomar sua leitura após o trabalho.
Fico me perguntando se Arenas (ou seria Arturo?), enquanto escrevia seu livro, poderia antever que, quase 60 anos depois, estaria um leitor correndo com o texto antes de chegar a seu destino no metrô de São Paulo procurando um ponto de mudança no assunto para retomar sua leitura após o trabalho.
April 15, 2021
3.5 stars— has this guy ever heard of a freakin' paragraph break?!
Title story was great, love the gothic imagery and folk tale style, really puts you in the time period of the revolution. "The Brightest Star" was innovative, definitely an important story to tell, but the whole one sentence for 60 pages turned into a bit of a slog.
Title story was great, love the gothic imagery and folk tale style, really puts you in the time period of the revolution. "The Brightest Star" was innovative, definitely an important story to tell, but the whole one sentence for 60 pages turned into a bit of a slog.
October 19, 2021
Really should be more than four stars, but I’m trying to be more conservative with my ratings. Super amazing book: especially how the two parts are so different in style but work together so well. I’ve never read anything like it before.
December 26, 2016
Old Rosa was a great book that I used to write my Women's and Gender Studies thesis paper! I love the work of Arenas and how he continues, through his literature, to resist the Cuban Revolution.
March 21, 2021
for school! preferred the first half of this book to the second
June 30, 2024
Be mindful there are no periods or paragraph breaks in part two of this book, so it may not read quickly. It reminded me of Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age.
October 27, 2024
my lily white eyes felt dirtened by all that poverty sorry to say
November 12, 2025
Old rosa beautiful beautiful terrifying insane wonderful 5/5, The brightest star was insane but lost me sometimes but still so intense so wow 4/5
February 17, 2024
haunting
July 18, 2009
In two short stories, each containing a paragraph that doesn't end until the last page of the story, Reinaldo Arenas uses independent clauses most often separated by commas to make the action in the story more immediate.
This style works best for the first short story, Old Rosa, than it does for the second, The Brightest Star. Told by a young Cuban boy observing the relationship his mother has with each of the men in his family, Old Rosa reads like a sheet of musical notes. It is an ode from the storyteller who also disappoints his mother.
This style works best for the first short story, Old Rosa, than it does for the second, The Brightest Star. Told by a young Cuban boy observing the relationship his mother has with each of the men in his family, Old Rosa reads like a sheet of musical notes. It is an ode from the storyteller who also disappoints his mother.
September 7, 2010
Arenas had already found his way into my heart and onto my list of greats, but Old Rosa confirms this placement. This slim but powerful book could easily fit into his great Pentagonia (the structure reminded me of Farewell to the Sea). Essential for fans of Cuban literature and good reading regardless of national origin.
Read
July 27, 2013Oh boy, this is a hard one to rate... I'll need to read this again someday. I picked this up thinking it would be a quick and fast read, but I felt stuck in a poem that wouldn't end, letting my mind wander for most of the page, and missing quite a bit
September 23, 2007
Pure poetry in prose.
December 8, 2007
A fever dream of a book, best read in as few sittings as possible. The second part is one of the best fictional depictions of dedicating ones life to art I've read.
Read
November 5, 2015A story from two different perspectives. Steeped in that lovely Latin American magical realism.
Read
September 23, 2008Impressive, specially Old Rosa
November 9, 2008
Lindo.
November 24, 2008
It was a different type of book. It wasn't my favorite read. The last half on the book was one sentence put together by commas.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews