Tres novelitas burguesas

by José Donoso

Book by Donoso, Jose

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, 20th Century, Novella, Literature

274 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

From Wikipedia: José Manuel Donoso Yáñez (5 October 1924 – 7 December 1996), known as José Donoso, was a Chilean writer, journalist and professor. He lived most of his life in Chile, although he spent many years in self-imposed exile in Mexico, the United States and Spain. Although he had left his country in the sixties for personal reasons, after 1973 he said his exile was also a form of protest against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He returned to Chile in 1981 and lived there until his death.

Donoso is the author of a number of short stories and novels, which contributed greatly to the Latin American literary boom. His best known works include the novels Coronación (Coronation), El lugar sin límites (Hell Has No Limits) and El obsceno pájaro de la noche (The Obscene Bird of Night). His works deal with a number of themes, including sexuality, the duplicity of identity, psychology, and a sense of dark humor.

Reviews

[Liván · Rating 3 out of 5]

José Donoso meets David Lynch. Son cuentos entretenidos de leer, muy ligeros a decir verdad. Perfectos para el verano. Quedará ver cuán memorables son.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

José Donoso’s collection of three novellas (published in Spanish in 1973 and in English translation in 1977) satirizing the pretentious attitudes and aspirations of Barcelona’s hip young professional bourgeoisie is a classic of whimsical, self-conscious magic realism. In “Chattanooga Choo-Choo,” the aesthetically flawless surface of Ramón and Sylvia’s marriage is disturbed by a new friendship with another couple. This is a world where men control women, dismantle and manipulate them like dolls for their pleasure. But before the end of the tale, Sylvia and her new friend Magdalena have turned the tables on their husbands, broken free of the confining role that society has assigned them and asserted their independence. In “Green Atom Number Five,” well-off childless couple Roberto and Marta have achieved the pinnacle of material success by moving into the ideal apartment and filling it with their things. Once installed however, they find themselves frighteningly subservient to the possessions they have accumulated throughout their marriage, which begin to walk out the door while they stand by and watch, powerless to do anything about it. Blaming each other for what is happening, they set out in pursuit of what has gone missing, but instead lose their way altogether. And in “Gaspard de la Nuit,” Sylvia (a professional model) is bewildered and stymied by the odd behaviour of her teenage son Mauricio, who normally lives in Madrid with her ex-husband but who is staying with her in Barcelona for the summer. Sylvia approaches the boy with offers of gifts and food and trips to the beach, which he refuses. When she fawns over him, Mauricio slinks out of her reach. His sole obsession is the complex and melodically elusive Ravel piano piece from which the story gets its title. Mauricio, who confronts the world wrapped in an impenetrable cloak of sadness, prefers to spend his time alone, walking the unfamiliar Barcelona streets whistling and seeking connection with other pedestrians through Ravel’s music. His loneliness reaches its crescendo when he discovers his double (a homeless boy) in a public park, and the two connect in a way that changes the direction of both their lives. Sacred Families is an excellent introduction to the high-spirited and eccentric social and political comedy that emerged in Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s. By turns funny, shocking and perplexing, these novellas are loosely plotted and sometimes illogical, but also endlessly imaginative, deviously unpredictable, and delightfully subversive.

[Cristian1185 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tres breves novelas que componen un tríptico caracterizado por el uso de los recursos literarios asociados al realismo mágico, la presencia de una fuerte carga de crítica e ironía hacia la clase socioeconómica que representan las piezas correspondientes, y el vínculo interno que conecta personajes y escenas que aparecen en cada una de las historias que componen el libro Tres novelitas burguesas del escritor chileno José Donoso, publicado el año 1973 durante su estancia en España.

Historias marcadas por escenas que progresivamente sumergen a sus protagonistas en los límites entre lo real y lo mágico, frontera que ofrece posibilidades de explorar rincones oscuros y no dichos acerca de las manías y obsesiones de una paleta de personajes aparentemente desenfadados y a la moda de los tiempos que viven, desarticulados entre la apariencia y lo esencial.

Mujeres desarmables, hombres sintetizados, un cuarto vacío rodeado de estilo y la figura del doppelganger, son solo algunas señas de un libro que evoca a un escritor que no defrauda.

[Megan O'Hara · Rating 4 out of 5]

brain broke again oopsie but i finally finished this while it rained so hard on our tent that we couldn't hear each other talk 😩 it was funny especially the first two stories where he is skewering both the bourgeois and the heterosexual w no mercy. also how is it possible that we are the same (dumb) society for hundreds of years nothing really changes help! which is to say it feels very apt and, i guess, political in way that is in opposition to the hand waving that counts as politics in a lot of contemporary american fiction at least. which is crazy because all that's "political" about this in that it makes fun of the rich instead of adulating them.
this is a tangent but i have been so distracted and consumed with an ancient vice article of dubious credibility about the cia influencing the iowa writers workshop to make american fiction apolitical. it is coloring everything i have read since it's an intrusive thought at this point lol but this is in positive relief of that for once! i digress but sometimes this is my blog sorry 🫥 additionally i believe the vice article...are mfas ops sound off. i said nothing about this here book you are welcome

[Orfeo entre Letras · Rating 5 out of 5]

_Chatanooga Choochoo_ el drama se convierte en una danza macabra de manipulación y horror, donde la estética y el machismo se entrelazan como una serpiente que se devora a sí misma.

_Átomo verde número cinco_ es un cuadro de absurdo existencialismo, donde la paranoia del materialismo se despliega como una telaraña que atrapa a sus personajes.

_Gaspard de la nuit_ es la pieza maestra de este laberinto, donde la cotidianidad y lo onírico se fusionan en un baile de sombras y luces.

La pluma de Donoso siempre termina reflejando aquellas sombras que nadie ve, un lugar donde la realidad y la fantasía se confunden. ✅📚✨

[Joey Shapiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely “eat the rich” satire in three connected short stories, but filtered through ultra wacky magical realist conceits that keep it from ever feeling trite. Every story deals with the uncanny in some way (a rich couple’s beautiful furniture starts vanishing whenever they look away, a boy meets and swaps lives with his homeless doppelgänger, a man has an affair with a woman who can be taken apart like a Mr. Potatohead) but the inherent creepiness is always covered up by just how funny it all is. Snobby pseudo-intellectuals and social climbers have been exactly the same for decades and Jose knows how fun it is to make them squirm and suffer!

[Gonzalo Zamora Galleguillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siento que estas novelitas se pueden entender como fuera del Canon de Donoso. Aquí no es tanto la desigualdad o la sexualidad exploradas como si es un análisis desde la burguesía misma de la alienación en la vida de clase alta. 3 historias de tres parejas de España que tienen problemas profundos escondidos tras problemas carnales. Diría que además Donoso aquí explora un poquito más con el realismo mágico también.

3/5 la primera.
4/5 la segunda.
5/5 la tercera.

[Pauli Vilchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy bueno, primera vez que donoso logra mantenerme atenta. Luego de haber leído estas tres novelitas burguesas entiendo por qué Donoso es llamado un grande

[Amaya Blas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de que me he topado con frases que apestan a misoginia en algunos escritos suyos y eso hace que me cueste leerlo, tengo que reconocer que este señor era muy bueno para escribir, muy ingenioso. Así que, separando eso: este libro es muuuuy bueno.

[Ana Dice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ay, los hombres y sus deseos.... El siglo XXI no termina de llegar para algunos, al parecer. Vaya tela.

[Antonio Parrilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chatachoonga Choochoo
Todo burguesía o wannabe, todo fiestas. Parece un mundo de hombres y mujeres objeto. A tanto llega que una de esas mujeres resulta ser desmontable y pintable: puedes pintarle la cara según la modelo del Vogue que prefieras. El marido de otra la viola y ésta, en misma tónica desmontable, le quita el pene.
Veinte páginas de movidas mentales de este hombre hasta que resulta que su mujer puede desmontarlo a él y meterlo en un maletín. Es justo en este momento que cambia a tercera persona. Las dos mujeres quedan con sus dos maletines y montan a sus maridos, vuelve la primera persona. Ahora es una novelita empoderante femenina.
Es gracioso pero ¿forzado?

Átomo verde número cinco
Un matrimonio también acomodado con un piso modernísimo de diseño clásico. Invitan a amigos que les roban muebles les roban cosas delante de ellos, y ellos no hacen nada.
Acaban matando a un taxista y peleándose entre ellos en una nave industrial.
Me hace gracia la imagen de amigos desvalijándoles el piso poco a poco, pero me pasa con Donoso que se recrea demasiado en espacios intermedios y tarda mucho en exponer el conflicto del relato, y para cuando lo expone muchas veces ya he perdido el interés y me cuesta retomarlo.
La tercera es gracioso que tenga personajes de las otros dos, pero mismo que antes.

[Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a set of three linked novellas written in 1973 by Chilean author Donoso.

The first is about two couples Ramon and Sylvia, and Magedelena and Dr Anselmo. Basically Anselmo and Sylvia have an affair but each finds they can dismantle and use vanishing cream to rub out each others body parts.

The second has couple dentist Roberto and Marta, who are friends with Ramon and share a common maid. They find that ordinary people just come and take their household belonging from their new apartment without challenge or reason.

The third has Sylvia’s teenage son Mauricio arrive from her ex-husband. He is completely maddening because of his unusual whistling of Ravel – but isn’t he just a normal teenager?

These are nice unusual tales and reasonably linked. They are quite thought provoking but it is clear these aren’t intended as ‘real’ but rather symbolistic of seventies family social life playing out surreal situations. I prefer the longer novel form and hence found Obscene Bird and Coronation better.

[Tait · Rating 4 out of 5]

While at first glance this series of three stories seems to be a satire of the interconnected lives of several bourgeoisie Mediterranean families, what comes eventually surfaces is the idea that even the most stalwart of people's lives can suddenly be plunged into frightening and marvelous surreality. Donoso is in rare form in these tales, continuing to develop the themes that haunted "The Obscene Bird of Night," really his obsessions: bodies being taken apart (particularly de-sexualized), objects and spaces disappearing from under one's gaze, and the ability of the self to become the other. Most enjoyable was the story of a teenager obsessed with whistling Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit in order to keep people from assigning him a real identity.

[Laurantonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5*
Chatanooga Choochoo 5 ★
Átomo verde número cinco 3 ★
Gaspard de la nuit 4 ★