What do you think?
Rate this book
Slum Virgin
The slums of Buenos Aires, the government, the mafia, the Virgin Mary, corrupt police, sex workers, thieves, drug dealers, and debauchery all combine in this sweeping novel deemed a ‘revelation for contemporary literature’ and ‘pure dynamite’ (Andrés Neuman, author of Traveller of the Century and Talking to Ourselves).
When the Virgin Mary appears to Cleopatra, she renounces sex work and takes charge of the shantytown she lives in, transforming it into a tiny utopia. Ambitious journalist Quity knows she’s found the story of the year when she hears about it, but her life is changed forever once she finds herself irrevocably seduced by the captivating subject of her article. Densely-packed, fast-paced prose, weaving slang and classical references, Slum Virgin refuses to whitewash the reality of the poor and downtrodden, and jumps deftly from tragedy to comedy in a way that has the reader laughing out loud.
Slum Virgin was shortlisted for the Silverio Cañada Memorial Prize at the Gijón Detective Week (Spain) and chosen as book of the year by Rolling Stone magazine (Argentina) in 2009.
When the Virgin Mary appears to Cleopatra, she renounces sex work and takes charge of the shantytown she lives in, transforming it into a tiny utopia. Ambitious journalist Quity knows she’s found the story of the year when she hears about it, but her life is changed forever once she finds herself irrevocably seduced by the captivating subject of her article. Densely-packed, fast-paced prose, weaving slang and classical references, Slum Virgin refuses to whitewash the reality of the poor and downtrodden, and jumps deftly from tragedy to comedy in a way that has the reader laughing out loud.
Slum Virgin was shortlisted for the Silverio Cañada Memorial Prize at the Gijón Detective Week (Spain) and chosen as book of the year by Rolling Stone magazine (Argentina) in 2009.
147 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
164 people are currently reading
3634 people want to read
About the author
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
30 books543 followersGabriela Cabezón Cámara (San Isidro, 4 de noviembre de 1968) es una escritora y periodista argentina. Es considerada una de las figuras más prominentes de la literatura latinoamericana contemporánea, además de ser una destacada intelectual y activista feminista y socioambientalista.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 354 reviews
February 23, 2023
Me costó conectar con este libro, tiene demasiados elementos, en general, tanto por personajes, por historia, por todo, me resulto muy barroco. Tiene algunos momentos lindos igual, pero me gustaría leer algo más de GC, a ver si la entiendo mejor.
April 23, 2018
No pude terminarla por la cantidad de lugares comunes (los pobres sucios, la villa y la basura) y los personajes estereotipados, ("trans" hipermaquillada e hipersexualizada, la mujer de clase media con su visión romántica hacia la villa, el policía corrupto, la "esclava sexual" paraguaya", entre otros).
No entendí si fue intencionado o no.
No entendí si fue intencionado o no.
August 28, 2020
El Poso was the kingdom of eternal youth: no one dies of old age, they die of curable diseases or unnecessary bullets.
Slum Virgin is the story of two women - Quity, a journalist who visits the poverty-stricken and violent neighborhood of El Poso in search of a story, and Cleopatro "Cleo", a trans sex worker who became the medium of the Virgin Mary after a horrific act of violence against her.
Many people begin to follow Cleo after her "miracles", and Quity soon begins to fall for the subject of her writing as well. The book is exceedingly violent and sad (there are several murders, rapes, and acts of violence), but then moments of humor and tenderness that are a stark juxtaposition to that. (Spoilerish) The scene where Cleo receives a message from the Virgin to start an aquaculture pond is particularly memorable: a small group of people sneak into Japanese garden grounds at night and steal koi fish from the ponds, bringing them back to the neighborhood to spawn and make a food source.
The ending was a bit disordered, but that didn't take away from story for me.
Slum Virgin is the story of two women - Quity, a journalist who visits the poverty-stricken and violent neighborhood of El Poso in search of a story, and Cleopatro "Cleo", a trans sex worker who became the medium of the Virgin Mary after a horrific act of violence against her.
Many people begin to follow Cleo after her "miracles", and Quity soon begins to fall for the subject of her writing as well. The book is exceedingly violent and sad (there are several murders, rapes, and acts of violence), but then moments of humor and tenderness that are a stark juxtaposition to that. (Spoilerish) The scene where Cleo receives a message from the Virgin to start an aquaculture pond is particularly memorable: a small group of people sneak into Japanese garden grounds at night and steal koi fish from the ponds, bringing them back to the neighborhood to spawn and make a food source.
The ending was a bit disordered, but that didn't take away from story for me.
December 28, 2021
Nop. No es para mí. Me copó la idea principal, pero hay cosas que no me cerraron. Un ejemplo es esa jerga totalmente forzada que resultaba bastante molesta. Lamento profundamente que no me haya gustado, ya que sé por experiencia que la autora escribe muy pero muy bien, pero este libro no era para mí.
February 2, 2013
Nada nuevo. Una novela sobre pobres editada por una editorial cheta que se burla de los clichés de los chetos con respecto a los pobres.
December 24, 2020
This isn't as wild a ride as The Adventures of China Iron, but it's close. The Slum Virgin is a mishapen cement statue of the Virgin Mary that speaks to Cleopatra, a trans prostitute, and guides her in transforming her shantytown. We hear Cleo's side of these conversations, which land somewhere between prayer and gossipy chitchat. This Virgin Mary isn't particularly prudish - El Poso gets a clean up, but the hard-partying carnality still flourishes. At least until it all crashes down. The author writes a kind of fabulist social realism, where the fantastic exists within a world of bloody violence and gross injustice. The harshness isn't downplayed, but it can take a technicolor turn. Comic and heartbreaking sit side by side. I hope in a few years my spanish will be good enough to read this in the original, but in the meantime I love the voice I hear in the translation.
February 23, 2020
Quizás un 2.5 sería mucho más adecuado, pero igual...
Qué obsesión con querer reproducir la forma de hablar de las clases bajas. Se ve que no usan signos de puntuación (?!), por suerte la que escribe, cuando habla de ella puntúa correctamente. Porque es cheta.
Me gustó mucho las cosas que decide contar y las que no, aquellas que rodean a la famosa Ópera, pero también a la Virgen. Algunos restos del fantástico argentino en el juego de dejar que el lector realmente decida si la Vigen Cabeza realmente habla o si hay que ir por una opción más realista.
Quizás, de hecho, ese trasfondo de la masacre, la villa y los bienes raíces sea lo más realista y, a la vez, lo mejor contado de toda la novela.
Me queda un sabor bastante amargo porque me parece que la historia que pretende contar está muy bien y es muy interesante, qué bueno que la Virgen se ponga al servicio de los pobres y deje de lado a las viejas coquetas que tienen que ir a buscarla ahí a dónde ni siquiera quieren poner sus ojos, pero la forma en la que está escrita deja bastante que desear.
Por suerte, leí antes Las aventuras de la China Iron que me parece una genialidad y sé que Cabezón Cámara puede escribir de otra manera, así que esto no me lleva a descartar completamente sus textos porque, evidentemente, no es un estilo de escritura que adopte permanentemente.
Qué obsesión con querer reproducir la forma de hablar de las clases bajas. Se ve que no usan signos de puntuación (?!), por suerte la que escribe, cuando habla de ella puntúa correctamente. Porque es cheta.
Me gustó mucho las cosas que decide contar y las que no, aquellas que rodean a la famosa Ópera, pero también a la Virgen. Algunos restos del fantástico argentino en el juego de dejar que el lector realmente decida si la Vigen Cabeza realmente habla o si hay que ir por una opción más realista.
Quizás, de hecho, ese trasfondo de la masacre, la villa y los bienes raíces sea lo más realista y, a la vez, lo mejor contado de toda la novela.
Me queda un sabor bastante amargo porque me parece que la historia que pretende contar está muy bien y es muy interesante, qué bueno que la Virgen se ponga al servicio de los pobres y deje de lado a las viejas coquetas que tienen que ir a buscarla ahí a dónde ni siquiera quieren poner sus ojos, pero la forma en la que está escrita deja bastante que desear.
Por suerte, leí antes Las aventuras de la China Iron que me parece una genialidad y sé que Cabezón Cámara puede escribir de otra manera, así que esto no me lleva a descartar completamente sus textos porque, evidentemente, no es un estilo de escritura que adopte permanentemente.
March 6, 2018
Charco Press is an exciting new, small UK publisher which “focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world” – this was one of their first set of novels, all by Argentinian novels, produced in 2017/early 2018 – all by Argentinian authors. The others being: Die, My Love – which I was, as a judge, delighted to shortlist for the 2017/18 Republic of Consciousness Prize for small presses; the deeply allegorical The President's Room; and the delightfully playful Fireflies.
“Slum Virgin” is a more flamboyant novel with a richer writing style than the other books (particularly the first two) – although still with a very strong sense of violence.
The book is mainly narrated by Quity, a journalist who together with an Intelligence officer Daniel (who set met covering crimes) visits a Buenos Aires slum, in search of a story that she hopes will win her a journalism award and enable her to quit and return to literary academia. The slum has gained a certain fame due to a transvestite Cleo. Cleo after a beating and gang rape at a police station, was saved by a visitation from the Virgin Mary – and continues to receive advice from her, becoming a leader for the slum, which she turns into a vibrant community (although one still shot through with violence, sex and drugs) including a project to farm carp stolen from the local Japanese gardens.
The book is narrated after the event by Quity, with occasional chapters interjected by Cleo when she feels that the full story is not being told, with the two of them living in Miami, now rich due to a cult opera they have produced about the slum. The slum itself was cleared in a violent attack by local armed police – with 100+ deaths including that of a young child that Quity had effectively adopted; Daniel takes revenge by murdering the crime boss that ordered the clearance; Quity and Cleo become lovers and then parents to a young girl.
The author herself was one of the collective of that founded Ni Una Menos – a feminist movement which campaigns against gender based violence.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni_un...
And such violence, particularly by crime gangs and officals such as the police, is a clear theme of the book – from Cleo’s rape and beating, to the slum clearance to an episode that Quity recounts where she comes across a prostitute being burnt alive as an example killing after she tried to escape the gang pimping her, and decides to cut short her terrible death by shooting her in the head.
The translation comes across as natural, despite its need to capture a range of voices and dialects (even Cleo seems to switch between slum slang and old fashioned religious statements) but it can be hard to judge this against a story which celebrates sexual diversity and transgressive behaviour by the most marginalised members of Argentinian society.
Overall I felt that there were perhaps too many barriers between me and a proper appreciation of the book. However I would urge Goodreaders to subscribe to all of Charco's publications to date and to their 2018 catalogue.
“Slum Virgin” is a more flamboyant novel with a richer writing style than the other books (particularly the first two) – although still with a very strong sense of violence.
The book is mainly narrated by Quity, a journalist who together with an Intelligence officer Daniel (who set met covering crimes) visits a Buenos Aires slum, in search of a story that she hopes will win her a journalism award and enable her to quit and return to literary academia. The slum has gained a certain fame due to a transvestite Cleo. Cleo after a beating and gang rape at a police station, was saved by a visitation from the Virgin Mary – and continues to receive advice from her, becoming a leader for the slum, which she turns into a vibrant community (although one still shot through with violence, sex and drugs) including a project to farm carp stolen from the local Japanese gardens.
The book is narrated after the event by Quity, with occasional chapters interjected by Cleo when she feels that the full story is not being told, with the two of them living in Miami, now rich due to a cult opera they have produced about the slum. The slum itself was cleared in a violent attack by local armed police – with 100+ deaths including that of a young child that Quity had effectively adopted; Daniel takes revenge by murdering the crime boss that ordered the clearance; Quity and Cleo become lovers and then parents to a young girl.
The author herself was one of the collective of that founded Ni Una Menos – a feminist movement which campaigns against gender based violence.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni_un...
And such violence, particularly by crime gangs and officals such as the police, is a clear theme of the book – from Cleo’s rape and beating, to the slum clearance to an episode that Quity recounts where she comes across a prostitute being burnt alive as an example killing after she tried to escape the gang pimping her, and decides to cut short her terrible death by shooting her in the head.
The translation comes across as natural, despite its need to capture a range of voices and dialects (even Cleo seems to switch between slum slang and old fashioned religious statements) but it can be hard to judge this against a story which celebrates sexual diversity and transgressive behaviour by the most marginalised members of Argentinian society.
Overall I felt that there were perhaps too many barriers between me and a proper appreciation of the book. However I would urge Goodreaders to subscribe to all of Charco's publications to date and to their 2018 catalogue.
April 17, 2018
Me gusta mucho cómo escribe GCC. Ya había leído Las aventuras de la China Iron que, confieso, me gustó un poco más. Tal vez en La virgen cabeza, su primera novela, todavía no había terminado de pulir ese estilo tan burdamente exquisito que tiene. Leí a algunos hablar de su barroquismo, y me parece una definición muy positiva. El barroco habla de extremos, de luces y oscuridades, de lo grotesco y lo etéreo, y así veo su escritura. En una misma novela conviven la belleza de la reflexión de Qüity mirando el río y las miserias humanas que se disputan el poder y las tierras: el lugar intermedio es el locus amoenus villero que armaron en el estanque. Infierno, Purgatorio y Paraíso mezclados y protegidos por la cabeza de la virgen cabeza.
October 8, 2018
Se esfuerza demasiado, y eso hace que el texto no fluya: las acrobacias lingüísticas de remedo del lenguaje villero mezclado con spanglish no terminan de funcionar, demasiado seguido suena más a un video de Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas que a una travesti villera y su gente. Aun cuando tuvo el buen tino de hacer que quien narra sea convenientemente una cheta. Desde lo ideológico no deja de haber un paternalismo medio molesto que atraviesa el relato también, que se mete por las rendijas, una humedad de cimientos que enfría las paredes y hiela un poco, problemático en un texto que pretende ser especialmente caliente.
De todas maneras el ritmo es ameno, y la historia tiene muchos hallazgos, sobre todo en el plano de las imágenes: es un texto tremendamente sensorial y eso se siente. Para ser, como es, una primera novela publicada está bastante bien, y sí, habiendo leído algo de lo que hizo Cabezón Cámara después, con otra madurez como escritora, sigue siendo una buena movida de apertura para una narradora que merece ser leída.
De todas maneras el ritmo es ameno, y la historia tiene muchos hallazgos, sobre todo en el plano de las imágenes: es un texto tremendamente sensorial y eso se siente. Para ser, como es, una primera novela publicada está bastante bien, y sí, habiendo leído algo de lo que hizo Cabezón Cámara después, con otra madurez como escritora, sigue siendo una buena movida de apertura para una narradora que merece ser leída.
May 21, 2024
The best I have read from Cámara so far. I liked The Adventures of China Iron but this was on another level. It follows a trans sex worker called Cleopatra who is visited by the Virgin Mary and decides to rebrand herself as a messiah-like figure of a slum in order to transform the area and it's people. A journalist travels to the area to cover the story but ends up becoming completely enamored by Cleo and falling in love with her.
The book is told with short chapters in an oral-like format where the two woman are telling the tale of their life together to a third party and discussing Cleo's role with-in the slum and her relationship to the space. I loved their relationship and the wittiness with which they spoke to each other, and it's also quite an interesting comment on both the Divine and how it can change the way we view the world, and classic Argentine legends and stories which make an appearance in a lot of Cámara's work.
Hope more of her stuff gets translated because her writing is so special, and as always Frances Riddle's translation is unparalleled in how addictive and compulsive her use of language is.
The book is told with short chapters in an oral-like format where the two woman are telling the tale of their life together to a third party and discussing Cleo's role with-in the slum and her relationship to the space. I loved their relationship and the wittiness with which they spoke to each other, and it's also quite an interesting comment on both the Divine and how it can change the way we view the world, and classic Argentine legends and stories which make an appearance in a lot of Cámara's work.
Hope more of her stuff gets translated because her writing is so special, and as always Frances Riddle's translation is unparalleled in how addictive and compulsive her use of language is.
February 10, 2019
Slum Virgin (2017) was translated by Frances Riddle from Gabriela Cabezón Cámara's La Virgen Cabeza (2009) and published by the wonderful Charco Press. Indeed this completes my reading of their entire list to date, and sets me up for my 2019 subscription, which includes another Gabriela Cabezón Cámara book.
Slum Virgin is one of the more unusual of their books and I'm a little at a loss what to make of it (not necessarily a bad thing).
It centres around the story of Cleo, who narrates part of the book. Her co-narrator, Quity, a female journalist (specialising in crime and drug stories) first encounters Cleo's story on TV and describes her as:
a transvestite who’d managed to organise the slum thanks to her communication with the Heavenly Mother, a dick-sucking daughter of Lourdes, a saintly whore with a cock to boot.
which rather sums it up. Cleo was a transvestite prostitute living in a slum who, after being beaten and raped by the police, had a vision of the Virgin Mary in her cell, who healed her injuries and bade her forgive her tormentors. Or as the character playing Cleo in the Andrew Lloyd-Jones like opera based on her story later tells it:
It all started with the cops
busting open my face
but the Holy Mother appeared
and healed me through her grace
and she told me I had to stop
spending my life sucking cock
so I quit my job as a trannie whore
and told the world it was She they should adore.
Post-conversion, she organises the slum, making them more self-sufficient, and gives up prostitution although her visions don't seem to extend to stopping sexual excess or drug taking for pleasure. The religious visions are played straight - Cleo seems genuinely to believe - although Quity, who becomes Cleo's lover - is rather more cynical, and the others in the slum seem to get caught up more in the mood than the theology: mystic, ecstatic or drunk, or whatever we were.
When Quity meets her she describes her as:
Teeth shining, she’s pure happiness, white and radiant and queer and devout and adoring and she speaks like she’s constantly singing a bolero about a bride on her way to the altar.
Comparisons to the look of Eva Perón (who also inspired a musical) and also Mary Magdalene (the Virgin tells Cleo that if it had been up to her, Jesus would’ve been a carpenter and married to Mary Magdalene. Even if she was a whore, it was better than being a messiah and marrying a cross and later even suggests Cleo should marry her son) are obvious and made explicitly in the novel.
The slum - and various of the inhabitants - meets a tragic end when the police and property developers move in:
They unleashed an entire army on us, I can only compare it to the Likud in Palestine. Machine guns, bulldozers and the order to advance at any cost. It cost us 183 lives. It cost them 47.
and the novel is narrated with Quity and Cleo now in Florida, Cleo basking in the fame from the opera, and the novel is narrated with snippets of the opera (such as the example above) followed by a chapter giving mostly Quity's side of the story - but with Cleo occassionally breaking in:
Yes, Quity, my love, I realise I’m only on TV because of the Virgin and because of everyone that died, and because you wrote almost all the lyrics of the cumbia opera that shot me into the stratosphere of worldwide Latin stardom. And now you’re writing this book and I imagine you selling it to Hollywood and some little Salvadoran boy playing me.
Any reader should be warned that there is a lot of sexual and physical violence, and the mixture of this, the religion (which as mentioned is played straight but at times rather near the knuckle) and the semi-comic tone makes for an unsettling mix at times, but certainly a strikingly different one.
Slum Virgin is one of the more unusual of their books and I'm a little at a loss what to make of it (not necessarily a bad thing).
It centres around the story of Cleo, who narrates part of the book. Her co-narrator, Quity, a female journalist (specialising in crime and drug stories) first encounters Cleo's story on TV and describes her as:
a transvestite who’d managed to organise the slum thanks to her communication with the Heavenly Mother, a dick-sucking daughter of Lourdes, a saintly whore with a cock to boot.
which rather sums it up. Cleo was a transvestite prostitute living in a slum who, after being beaten and raped by the police, had a vision of the Virgin Mary in her cell, who healed her injuries and bade her forgive her tormentors. Or as the character playing Cleo in the Andrew Lloyd-Jones like opera based on her story later tells it:
It all started with the cops
busting open my face
but the Holy Mother appeared
and healed me through her grace
and she told me I had to stop
spending my life sucking cock
so I quit my job as a trannie whore
and told the world it was She they should adore.
Post-conversion, she organises the slum, making them more self-sufficient, and gives up prostitution although her visions don't seem to extend to stopping sexual excess or drug taking for pleasure. The religious visions are played straight - Cleo seems genuinely to believe - although Quity, who becomes Cleo's lover - is rather more cynical, and the others in the slum seem to get caught up more in the mood than the theology: mystic, ecstatic or drunk, or whatever we were.
When Quity meets her she describes her as:
Teeth shining, she’s pure happiness, white and radiant and queer and devout and adoring and she speaks like she’s constantly singing a bolero about a bride on her way to the altar.
Comparisons to the look of Eva Perón (who also inspired a musical) and also Mary Magdalene (the Virgin tells Cleo that if it had been up to her, Jesus would’ve been a carpenter and married to Mary Magdalene. Even if she was a whore, it was better than being a messiah and marrying a cross and later even suggests Cleo should marry her son) are obvious and made explicitly in the novel.
The slum - and various of the inhabitants - meets a tragic end when the police and property developers move in:
They unleashed an entire army on us, I can only compare it to the Likud in Palestine. Machine guns, bulldozers and the order to advance at any cost. It cost us 183 lives. It cost them 47.
and the novel is narrated with Quity and Cleo now in Florida, Cleo basking in the fame from the opera, and the novel is narrated with snippets of the opera (such as the example above) followed by a chapter giving mostly Quity's side of the story - but with Cleo occassionally breaking in:
Yes, Quity, my love, I realise I’m only on TV because of the Virgin and because of everyone that died, and because you wrote almost all the lyrics of the cumbia opera that shot me into the stratosphere of worldwide Latin stardom. And now you’re writing this book and I imagine you selling it to Hollywood and some little Salvadoran boy playing me.
Any reader should be warned that there is a lot of sexual and physical violence, and the mixture of this, the religion (which as mentioned is played straight but at times rather near the knuckle) and the semi-comic tone makes for an unsettling mix at times, but certainly a strikingly different one.
January 11, 2022
Tengo sentimientos encontrados con este libro, empezando mi año super confundida sobre cómo acercar a otrxs a esta lectura. Tardé varias páginas en agarrar el hilo, el lenguaje no era el problema sino desde dónde comienza a contar la historia, una vez pasado eso no pude parar. ¿Es raro eso? Quizás sí, pero sentí que la autora logra representar muy bien el lenguaje villero ¿? en la historia. Me pesó por muchos momentos, pero esto como siempre por la manera en retratar la podredumbre, la miseria, la marginalidad y la violencia. El final me sacó de onda, no puedo decir si me gustó, sólo que fue raro en muchos aspectos, mi primera impresión es que lo sentí muy desproporcionado de lo que s venía contando. PERO, lo que me mantuvo atrapada fueron las dos voces que cuentan la historia, lo sentí como una historia que me contaban en voz alta en medio de una borrachera. Con todos sus dolores pero también con sus alegrías. Entonces, aunque me fue complicado arrancar, siento que es un libro que aporta mucho a lo que literariamente se está haciendo en Latinoamérica, mucho juego literario, mucha oralidad. No sé si de repente parece que romantiza a las personadas que salen de la norma o que son "disidentes" pero también creo que el texto es parte de su tiempo, quizás la autora hoy le cambiaría cosas, no sé. En conclusión: me gustó a secas y creo que lo volvería a leer para analizarlo a consciencia.
January 22, 2019
El problema es que lo saliente en esta novela es una variante estética rioplatense chic del ímpetu situacionista. O más atrás, algo estilo Baudelaire, maldito, pour épater le burgeois, pero argentino del siglo XXI. Por eso trata temas marginales, por eso utiliza el lenguaje coloquial de los sectores más lastimados de la Argentina. Por eso es novela barroca que mezcla y ambarra todo con premeditación. Se trata de un misticismo travesti relatado desde un periodismo poético novelado muy advertido sobre problemas insolubles en lo social, económico, cultural, sexual, histórico. Todo el combo político. Parece también una novela de hace una década, pero creo que eso no es un defecto porque el compendio de problemas que trata es el mismo ahora que hace una década, pero agravado. Si bien el tema y el uso del lenguaje son partes epocales de la novela, creo que en La Virgen Cabeza tiene más importancia lo poético de la prosa personal que se sale de los planes. Por momentos todo desaparece y queda flotando una especie de música hecha de palabras, una palabra tras otra palabra que suenan como sucesión de acordes. Esto ocurre pocas veces, pero se nota muy bien cuando ocurre. Irrumpe lo poético, eso me parece. Sería interesante ver qué pasa si Cabezón Cámara decide escribir sobre otros temas totalmente diferentes. Mi hipótesis, lo poético esporádico seguiría siendo el verdadero hilo rojo, no los temas y manierismos de La Virgen Cabeza que pueden ser bandera neobarroca para algunos y procacidad retro para otros.
August 26, 2021
Libros que te sacan de tu zona de confort y te sacuden bien la cabeza.
May 18, 2022
My bookclub selection: a transvestite prostitute communicates with the Virgin Mary through a cement statue headpiece and uses her wisdom to improve the lives of those living in the slums of Buenos Aires.
A journalist moves into a slum out of remorse for a merciful, yet illegal selfless act she committed. She chases the story about the visionary that has attracted throngs of followers, only to get involved in unexpected ways. There is a lot going on with the plot: forceful evictions, a crime syndicate, grieving, hoping, swindling, and a crackpot cast of characters.
Our bookclub had fairly similar views on this one for a change: it was an average read, average characters, good premises, lots of plot gaps/confusion/weird motives, I liked the debauchery although it wasn’t sensationalised, it was hard to fully invest in the journey as it was a little too matter-of-fact, some good questions raised re motives and sexuality.
I think I enjoyed this more in the moment, but upon discussion, realised some flaws that alluded me. I was fairly forgiving because the plot with its twists and turns was enough and I liked the assortment of characters. We wondered if there was a prequel to this due to the gaps in the timeline.
I’m glad I read it. It was different. It should be memorable. Probably not enough topics for a good bookclub discussion but would be an escape read. Nothing is taken too seriously.
Ratings: my 3.5, 3, 3, 2.5, average 3.
A journalist moves into a slum out of remorse for a merciful, yet illegal selfless act she committed. She chases the story about the visionary that has attracted throngs of followers, only to get involved in unexpected ways. There is a lot going on with the plot: forceful evictions, a crime syndicate, grieving, hoping, swindling, and a crackpot cast of characters.
Our bookclub had fairly similar views on this one for a change: it was an average read, average characters, good premises, lots of plot gaps/confusion/weird motives, I liked the debauchery although it wasn’t sensationalised, it was hard to fully invest in the journey as it was a little too matter-of-fact, some good questions raised re motives and sexuality.
I think I enjoyed this more in the moment, but upon discussion, realised some flaws that alluded me. I was fairly forgiving because the plot with its twists and turns was enough and I liked the assortment of characters. We wondered if there was a prequel to this due to the gaps in the timeline.
I’m glad I read it. It was different. It should be memorable. Probably not enough topics for a good bookclub discussion but would be an escape read. Nothing is taken too seriously.
Ratings: my 3.5, 3, 3, 2.5, average 3.
February 4, 2018
Me gustó mucho. La historia no me conectó tanto como el estilo, que fue lo que más me agradó.
Temía que las pequeñas crónicas de la vida cotidiana de la villa fueran lugares comunes o clichés, pero no me pareció que lo fueran.
Los versos/canciones en los inicios de los capítulos me divirtieron mucho.
En el barrio hay violencia naturalizada por todas partes. Están los pibes, que sólo quieren jugar y no siempre pueden. Y hay amor.
Temía que las pequeñas crónicas de la vida cotidiana de la villa fueran lugares comunes o clichés, pero no me pareció que lo fueran.
Los versos/canciones en los inicios de los capítulos me divirtieron mucho.
En el barrio hay violencia naturalizada por todas partes. Están los pibes, que sólo quieren jugar y no siempre pueden. Y hay amor.
August 16, 2020
"Náufraga me sentía, y creí haberme salvado de un naufragio. Ahora sé que de un naufragio no se salva nadie. Los que se hunden están muertos y los salvados viven ahogándose."
Un clásico moderno.
La virgen cabeza es la historia de Qüity, una periodista que busca historias para contar, y Cleopatra, una travesti de la villa que tiene contacto directo con la Virgen María. Es la historia de cómo y por qué Qüity y Cleopatra se enamoran y pasan de vivir en El Poso, la villa, a Miami. También es la historia de Kevin, Jonás, El Torito, Susana y cada persona que hizo de El Poso su hogar. Es una historia que pone en el centro las disputas del poder sobre las tierras y la vida y la impunidad de todo esto. Es una historia sobre muerte y miseria.
La historia la narra Qüity, con interrumpciones de Cleopatra que se mete sin pedir permiso para aclarar y contar las cosas como fueron. "Vos no estuvistes, Qüity. Estuve yo. Tengo que contarlo yo.", dice mientras le dicta a Qüity para que desgrabe "tal cual". Ambas protagonistas están muy bien delineadas, son necesarias, se construyen con mucha naturalidad y verosimilitud dentro del mundo que propone la autora, pero la voz de Cleopatra me pareció simplemente extraordinaria. Le otorga una tonalidad única a la historia, una profundidad que me dejó enamorada.
Este libro es incoparable a algo que haya leído antes. Me siento ante esta reseña con impotencia y sin saber cómo articular palabras que le hagan justicia. De Gabriela Cabezón Cámara ya leí Las aventuras de la China Iron, novela con la que me enamoré de sus personajes, y Beya: Le viste la cara a Dios, novela gráfica con la que me enamoré de sus historias. Con La virgen cabeza, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara se consagra como una de mis escritoras favoritas. La potencia de su prosa y la originalidad con la que narra logran desplazarme cada vez que leo uno de sus libros.
Recomiendo este libro con mucho vigor.
August 29, 2021
Whether you're swept along by the tidal wave of colorful, destitute characters, and harrowing and outrageous events in this novel, might depend largely on whether you're convinced by the voices of the narrators. I was, and was quickly drawn into the misadventures of Quilty and Cleo, as they navigated horrific times in the slum, their surprising and ribald relationships, and the bizarre concluding outcomes (cumbia opera? Cuban mission? what?), barely touched on and all the more intriguing.
I can't tell how "faithful" (whatever that means) the translation is to the original. But the language is consistently outrageous and inventive, and the translation is mostly smooth and idiomatic. An example:
And there's a "song" embedded in a poem:
(Ok, maybe the last line is a tad bumpy, but I really like all the others. How does Frances Riddle pull this off?)
Interesting decision to translate the original Spanish title (The Virgin Head?) to Slum Virgin. Obviously it calls attention to the strong social commentary in the novel, but I think I like the Spanish title better.
I can't tell how "faithful" (whatever that means) the translation is to the original. But the language is consistently outrageous and inventive, and the translation is mostly smooth and idiomatic. An example:
Cleopatra started to pray to the Virgin for forgiveness, 'because it's not good to steal, and it's even worse to suck off security guards.' Wan, who almost never had much to say, considered it necessary to clarify: 'Me, Jesus, Virgin, no believe,' and Cleo interrupted her communication with the Holy Mother to shoot him a furious glare.
And there's a "song" embedded in a poem:
'On my return at your request
I'll gift to you an elegant dress
of the very finest ilk
lined with the very reddest silk
And for your neck some crimson jewels
fit for a fine lady or lord
And you'll forever be adorned
by the necklace my sword draws'
(Ok, maybe the last line is a tad bumpy, but I really like all the others. How does Frances Riddle pull this off?)
Interesting decision to translate the original Spanish title (The Virgin Head?) to Slum Virgin. Obviously it calls attention to the strong social commentary in the novel, but I think I like the Spanish title better.
November 13, 2020
LGBTQ fiction has become increasingly prevalent in the last few years, and I have read a fair bit of it, but found far more misses than hits. In my memory, Elif Shafak's 10 minutes and 38 Seconds In This Strange World stands out, but now there's another..
Enviromental awareness has come to the slums of Buenos Aires, its inhabitants creat a system of canals filled with carp, grow their own vegetables, and are largely self-sufficient. The turn about coming due to messages received from a statue of the Virgin Mary (the 'Slum Virgin') through a medium, a transvestite prostitute called Cleopatra. Unsurprisingly this attracts the attention of the press, and ambitious journalist Quity arrives to chronicle procedings, unwittingly falling in love with Cleo.
Its no spoiler to reveal that the slum is heading for disaster and devastation, as Cámara drops hints from the outset; the narration from Cleo and Quity is from Cuba and Miami, looking back.
The story is told with humour and a frenetic pace weaving together the language of the shantytown with a set of colourful and memorable characters, with references to reggaeton, the classics and popular culture.
The regular tragedies, and the ultimate one, have a comedic tone to them which makes it so readable, and yet never deters from the barbarism and corruption of the authorities. It is an authentic insight into the realities of the destitute and downtrodden of a Third World slum.
Charco Press, from Edinburgh, are publishing some really good stuff. Last year Selva Almada's The Wind That Lays Waste was one of my best books of the year, and I expect this will be on my shortlist for this year also. I've enjoyed everything I have read from them so far, with the interesting exception of Cámara's later book, which I read first, The Adventures Of China Iron; this is so much better.
A couple of clips..
and
Enviromental awareness has come to the slums of Buenos Aires, its inhabitants creat a system of canals filled with carp, grow their own vegetables, and are largely self-sufficient. The turn about coming due to messages received from a statue of the Virgin Mary (the 'Slum Virgin') through a medium, a transvestite prostitute called Cleopatra. Unsurprisingly this attracts the attention of the press, and ambitious journalist Quity arrives to chronicle procedings, unwittingly falling in love with Cleo.
Its no spoiler to reveal that the slum is heading for disaster and devastation, as Cámara drops hints from the outset; the narration from Cleo and Quity is from Cuba and Miami, looking back.
The story is told with humour and a frenetic pace weaving together the language of the shantytown with a set of colourful and memorable characters, with references to reggaeton, the classics and popular culture.
The regular tragedies, and the ultimate one, have a comedic tone to them which makes it so readable, and yet never deters from the barbarism and corruption of the authorities. It is an authentic insight into the realities of the destitute and downtrodden of a Third World slum.
Charco Press, from Edinburgh, are publishing some really good stuff. Last year Selva Almada's The Wind That Lays Waste was one of my best books of the year, and I expect this will be on my shortlist for this year also. I've enjoyed everything I have read from them so far, with the interesting exception of Cámara's later book, which I read first, The Adventures Of China Iron; this is so much better.
A couple of clips..
(Cleopatra)I know I’m famous because I can talk to the virgin and not because of my tits, even thou they are pretty big. For someone who claims to be straight, I have to say you went pretty crazy for them, and when I got these huge nipples that you love so much and cost us a fortune to redo in Miami you made me feel like the wolf that nursed beoth Remus and Romulus.
and
(Quity about Cleopatra..) a transvestite who’d managed to organise the slum thanks to her communication with the Heavenly Mother, a dick-sucking daughter of Lourdes, a saintly whore with a cock to boot.
April 1, 2025
El uso de la palabra que tiene Gabriela Cabezón Cámara es algo extraordinario. Navega el río del lenguaje con una fluidez y naturalidad que hace parecer que no existen reglas en la lengua y que narrar es algo tan orgánico como respirar.
June 26, 2020
Me estoy yendo a Cuba a buscarla. No sé si tengo el corazón roto o si tengo una granada donde antes tenía el corazón.
October 2, 2021
Divertido, real, tragicómico, triste, exagerado, autóctono.
Increíble primer encuentro con esta autora a la que no dejare de leer.
Increíble primer encuentro con esta autora a la que no dejare de leer.
October 13, 2020
The 2 rating here means I didn’t feel like I wasted my time, but I wouldn’t read it again or recommend it.
In the beginning, I was rather disoriented by the way it jumped around. Clearly introducing the characters would have helped. (Maybe Quity could have chatted about each of them like you may introduce someone to someone else, when you don’t just say the name but a little bit about them. Having the name Cleo for two characters didn’t help.)
Overall, the writing was kind of rambling. I get that it was supposed to be like Quity’s (and Cleo’s) train of thought, but that made the book unneccessarily hard and confusing to read. Because of this, the descriptions of the slum, the sex and the violence didn’t impact me as much as I think they should have. And I just had too many questions such as: Why did they flee? And why the way they did? How did this hedonistic situation come about? People seemed to waste a lot of their time with sex instead of having real relationships. What would likely have happened if they’d gone peacefully? It seems like this is not the only slum in Argentina, so there must be some precedence for these kinds of situations, something that as a journalist you would have heard something about for sure.
So this novel seemed like a wasted opportunity to me.
In the beginning, I was rather disoriented by the way it jumped around. Clearly introducing the characters would have helped. (Maybe Quity could have chatted about each of them like you may introduce someone to someone else, when you don’t just say the name but a little bit about them. Having the name Cleo for two characters didn’t help.)
Overall, the writing was kind of rambling. I get that it was supposed to be like Quity’s (and Cleo’s) train of thought, but that made the book unneccessarily hard and confusing to read. Because of this, the descriptions of the slum, the sex and the violence didn’t impact me as much as I think they should have. And I just had too many questions such as: Why did they flee? And why the way they did? How did this hedonistic situation come about? People seemed to waste a lot of their time with sex instead of having real relationships. What would likely have happened if they’d gone peacefully? It seems like this is not the only slum in Argentina, so there must be some precedence for these kinds of situations, something that as a journalist you would have heard something about for sure.
So this novel seemed like a wasted opportunity to me.
March 24, 2018
Not for the squeamish: this novel will push at the boundaries of your discomfort, with graphic descriptions of sex and violence, including a lot of rapes and murders. But it's set in Buenos Aires's slums, so the intent is more to reflect what life and death really are like there, rather than for gratuitous shock value. The translator did a splendid job, moving with agility between dozens of different registers and genres, from coarse street-speak to pretentious high literary references to folk opera to prophetic visions. Overall, however, my feelings I mixed and my thoughts somewhat tangled--I'd like to read it again in the near future.
May 23, 2018
La virgen cabeza no es el estilo de narrativa que más disfruto, no me gustó demasiado la estructura y tampoco me convenció el argumento, hay algunos pasajes y capítulos que si disfruté, pero no el conjunto de la novela. Igualmente voy a seguir leyendo a la autora a ver qué tal.
January 7, 2022
Apparently, living in an argentinian slum is one big orgy of sex, drugs, koi carp gluttony and violence. And of course, there is the virgin mary's prophecy.
November 4, 2025
“Para ellos, los más fuertes, su deseo está hecho de naturaleza, tiene el mismo peso que la ley de gravedad”
Me gustó mucho la historia, pero siento que no terminas de conocer bien a los protagonistas de la misma. Llegas a conocer más o menos la esencia de cada uno, pero siento que no termino de entenderlos, como que me podrían decir cualquier cosa y no sabría decir bien si es propio del personaje o no.
Siento que de alguna forma es un libro muy on brand para mí, por lo que me gustó bastante, pero si entiendo que le falta refinar algunas cosas y podría no ser para todo el mundo.
Es mi primer lectura de Gabriela Cabezón Camara, y siempre me dijeron que eran medio difíciles de entender sus libros, asique estoy bastante contenta con que no me costó este. Tengo ganas de leer más cosas suyas.
Me gustó mucho la historia, pero siento que no terminas de conocer bien a los protagonistas de la misma. Llegas a conocer más o menos la esencia de cada uno, pero siento que no termino de entenderlos, como que me podrían decir cualquier cosa y no sabría decir bien si es propio del personaje o no.
Siento que de alguna forma es un libro muy on brand para mí, por lo que me gustó bastante, pero si entiendo que le falta refinar algunas cosas y podría no ser para todo el mundo.
Es mi primer lectura de Gabriela Cabezón Camara, y siempre me dijeron que eran medio difíciles de entender sus libros, asique estoy bastante contenta con que no me costó este. Tengo ganas de leer más cosas suyas.
June 21, 2022
"La Virgen Cabeza" es un libro que te sacude del tarro de realidad en el que vivís para arrojarte a un mundo sin fin oculto tras las paredes construidas por parte de la sociedad.
Leerlo es embarcarte a una experiencia singular por la villa El Poso en Buenos Aires, con su mundillo de travesties creyentes, cumbieros, canas arrepentidos y nenes que juegan con un muñeco de cocinerito pelado.
Antes creía que en las letras de los autores de los siglos XVIII y XIX se encontraba la belleza pero Gabriela Cabezón Cámara me enseñó que la prosa de un barrio bajo puede convertirse en poesía.
Deconstruye, critica, politiza, venga y besa a millones de vidas. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.
Leerlo es embarcarte a una experiencia singular por la villa El Poso en Buenos Aires, con su mundillo de travesties creyentes, cumbieros, canas arrepentidos y nenes que juegan con un muñeco de cocinerito pelado.
Antes creía que en las letras de los autores de los siglos XVIII y XIX se encontraba la belleza pero Gabriela Cabezón Cámara me enseñó que la prosa de un barrio bajo puede convertirse en poesía.
Deconstruye, critica, politiza, venga y besa a millones de vidas. Lo recomiendo ampliamente.
October 11, 2021
Hace rato quería leer algo de Gab Cab Cam, pero me parecía una falta de respeto empezar por su última obra, Las aventuras de la China Iron, sin haber leído a conciencia el Martín Fierro. Por ende, su primera novela me parecía punto de partida excelente.
La Virgen Cabeza es una novela urbana y villera, que va y viene en el tiempo con las protagonistas rememorando cómo se conocieron y a título de qué están en un camino al exilio miamiense. Qüity y Cleopatra entonces narran las vivencias de una comunidad enlazada por los milagros y la palabra de una virgen que los ayuda a subsistir a todos aquellos que no tienen nada. Violenta y desbocada, exuda sexo por todos sus poros de papel, y hasta cierto punto romantiza la pobreza de una manera que se pasa de la línea del homenaje.
Lo que más me llamó la atención es su prosa, un popurrí de sabores y mañierismos, mezcolanza de idiomas, registros y géneros que si uno te lo cuenta no funciona, pero en papel queda impecable. Me dan muchas ganas de seguir leyendo a Gabi, pese a que su primera novela termina abruptamente, tanto que te deja con gusto a poco.
La Virgen Cabeza es una novela urbana y villera, que va y viene en el tiempo con las protagonistas rememorando cómo se conocieron y a título de qué están en un camino al exilio miamiense. Qüity y Cleopatra entonces narran las vivencias de una comunidad enlazada por los milagros y la palabra de una virgen que los ayuda a subsistir a todos aquellos que no tienen nada. Violenta y desbocada, exuda sexo por todos sus poros de papel, y hasta cierto punto romantiza la pobreza de una manera que se pasa de la línea del homenaje.
Lo que más me llamó la atención es su prosa, un popurrí de sabores y mañierismos, mezcolanza de idiomas, registros y géneros que si uno te lo cuenta no funciona, pero en papel queda impecable. Me dan muchas ganas de seguir leyendo a Gabi, pese a que su primera novela termina abruptamente, tanto que te deja con gusto a poco.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 354 reviews