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Hasta no verte, Jesús mío
Con Hasta no verte Jesús mío, Elena Poniatowska deja de lado su oficio de periodista para adentrarse en el campo de la novela y lo hace con un personaje apasionante, fuera de serie: Jesusa Palancares. Esta mujer que crece en Oaxaca combate en la revolución, llega a la capital y se emplea como obrera y como sirvienta, también habla con los muertos, cree haber tenido varias vidas y tiñe todo lo que ve de magia y misterio. Jesusa es una mujer del pueblo y, a la vez, una mujer independiente y única. Poniatowska recrea esta historia con una sensibilidad excepcional y también echa luz sobre momentos y costumbres cruciales de la sociedad mexicana y latinoamericana. Con esta novela -publicada originalmente en 1969- inicia una fructífera carrera que dará a luz libros de la importancia de De noche vienes, Gaby Brimmer, La noche de Tlatelolco, Tinísima y la biografía Octavio Paz.
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 4, 1969
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2866 people want to read
About the author
Elena Poniatowska
171 books819 followersHélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor was born on May 19, 1933, in Paris, France. Her father was French of Polish ancestry and her mother a Mexican who was raised in France. When she was nine Poniatowska's family moved to México City. She grew up speaking French and learned English in a private British school. However, her knowledge of Spanish came from talking with the maids, so her written Spanish was largely colloquial. Poniatowska developed ties with the Mexican lower class in her youth and thus gained a sense of belonging to and an understanding of the Mexican culture. She felt and thought of herself as completely Mexican and of Spanish as her native language. Her works include characters who belong to the underprivileged classes, and she often gave voice to the powerless of her country.
She started writing as a journalist in 1954 and interviewed many famous Mexican and international writers. Many of these interviews can be found in her Palabras Cruzadas (1961; Crossed Words) and later in her Todo México (1990; All of Mexico). Besides her famous interviews, she also wrote several novels, short stories, chronicles, plays, and poems.
Among her novels are Hasta no verte, Jesús mío (1969; Until I see You, My Jesus), which earned her the Mazatlan Prize; Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela (1978; Dear Diego, love Quiela); La "Flor de Lis" (1988; The "Flower of the Lily"); and Tinísima (1992; Tinisima). Other narratives include Lilus Kikus (1954; Lilus Kikus; later an expanded edition appeared as Los cuentos [The Accounts] de Lilus Kikus in 1967); De noche vienes (1979; You Come at Night); Ay vida no me mereces (1985; Life, You Don't Deserve Me); Domingo 7 (1982; Seventh Sunday); Gaby Brimmer (1979; Gaby Brimmer); Todo empezó el domingo (1963; Everything Started on Sunday); and El último guajolote (1982; The Last Turkey).
Her chronicle La noche de Tlatelolco (1971; Massacre in Mexico) earned her the Javier Villarrutia Prize. She refused to accept it because she did not want to identify herself with then-President Echeverría's political establishment. Other chronicles include Fuerte es el silencio (1980; Silence Is Strong), and Nada, nadie: las voces del temblor (1988; Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Earthquake).
In theater, her play Melés y Teleo (1956; Melés and Teleo) uses a word game in the title, meaning "you read to me and I read to you." Finally, her poetry can be found in the Spanish publications Rojo de vida y negro de muerte, Estaciones, and Abside.
Ponistowska's skill as a novelist was her ability to combine fact with fiction. She lent her voice to the voiceless, but at the same time she took a step back and let the victims come forward to express their needs and pain, letting the Mexican people speak through her. Her settings were mostly in Mexico, and her characters were either Mexicans or people such as Angelina Beloff (Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela) or Tina Modotti (Tinísima) who lived important passages of their lives in Mexico. Many of her female characters are at the mercy of men. Their lives are ruled by a world made up of double standards. They try to do the right thing, but in the end they lose the men they loved and for whom they sacrificed. It is clear then that these women are never really appreciated.
Poniatowska had a great affinity with women and liked to write about them. But she also was interested in the poor, the weak, the street children, and the powerless. Interviewing the common people of Mexico became her trademark. After her first publication (Lilus Kikus, 1954), her writings became more and more political. For example, in Querido Diego (1978) Quiela's story is completely personal. It focuses upon her and her lover, the famous painter Diego Rivera. By comparison, in Tinísima (1992) Poniatowska reveals not just Modotti's emotional life but also her professional and political life as a communist.
However, Poniatowska's style often made it difficult fo
She started writing as a journalist in 1954 and interviewed many famous Mexican and international writers. Many of these interviews can be found in her Palabras Cruzadas (1961; Crossed Words) and later in her Todo México (1990; All of Mexico). Besides her famous interviews, she also wrote several novels, short stories, chronicles, plays, and poems.
Among her novels are Hasta no verte, Jesús mío (1969; Until I see You, My Jesus), which earned her the Mazatlan Prize; Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela (1978; Dear Diego, love Quiela); La "Flor de Lis" (1988; The "Flower of the Lily"); and Tinísima (1992; Tinisima). Other narratives include Lilus Kikus (1954; Lilus Kikus; later an expanded edition appeared as Los cuentos [The Accounts] de Lilus Kikus in 1967); De noche vienes (1979; You Come at Night); Ay vida no me mereces (1985; Life, You Don't Deserve Me); Domingo 7 (1982; Seventh Sunday); Gaby Brimmer (1979; Gaby Brimmer); Todo empezó el domingo (1963; Everything Started on Sunday); and El último guajolote (1982; The Last Turkey).
Her chronicle La noche de Tlatelolco (1971; Massacre in Mexico) earned her the Javier Villarrutia Prize. She refused to accept it because she did not want to identify herself with then-President Echeverría's political establishment. Other chronicles include Fuerte es el silencio (1980; Silence Is Strong), and Nada, nadie: las voces del temblor (1988; Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Earthquake).
In theater, her play Melés y Teleo (1956; Melés and Teleo) uses a word game in the title, meaning "you read to me and I read to you." Finally, her poetry can be found in the Spanish publications Rojo de vida y negro de muerte, Estaciones, and Abside.
Ponistowska's skill as a novelist was her ability to combine fact with fiction. She lent her voice to the voiceless, but at the same time she took a step back and let the victims come forward to express their needs and pain, letting the Mexican people speak through her. Her settings were mostly in Mexico, and her characters were either Mexicans or people such as Angelina Beloff (Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela) or Tina Modotti (Tinísima) who lived important passages of their lives in Mexico. Many of her female characters are at the mercy of men. Their lives are ruled by a world made up of double standards. They try to do the right thing, but in the end they lose the men they loved and for whom they sacrificed. It is clear then that these women are never really appreciated.
Poniatowska had a great affinity with women and liked to write about them. But she also was interested in the poor, the weak, the street children, and the powerless. Interviewing the common people of Mexico became her trademark. After her first publication (Lilus Kikus, 1954), her writings became more and more political. For example, in Querido Diego (1978) Quiela's story is completely personal. It focuses upon her and her lover, the famous painter Diego Rivera. By comparison, in Tinísima (1992) Poniatowska reveals not just Modotti's emotional life but also her professional and political life as a communist.
However, Poniatowska's style often made it difficult fo
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
March 3, 2014
Esperaba algo completamente diferente.Rebasó mis expectativas, sin duda es una de las memorias más apasionantes de la literatura mexicana. El contexto en el que la vida de Jesusa se desarrolla, es un entorno falocrático, sin embargo, eso no es impedimento para que ella haga de las suyas con los hombres,con los "machitos". Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Texas, San Luis Potosí, Cuernavaca, Acapulco, Puebla, El "Defe", son testigos de los acontecimientos vividos por Jesusa durante la época revolucionaria. Usa un lenguaje tan propio del mexicano, lo que torna el relato aún más palpitante.
Cautivadoras las hazañas de Jesusa desde la pluma de Poniatowska.
Cautivadoras las hazañas de Jesusa desde la pluma de Poniatowska.
August 20, 2022
en mi libro no son 320, son 408 páginas.
no me canso de amar las historias que me hacen sentir que mi bisabuelita me cuenta fragmentos de su vida.
pura cosa fea, machismo interiorizado hasta donde no, feminicidios sin voz, prosa de rancho y anécdotas que muchas mujeres, muchas personas han vivido.
ya que soy consciente de toda la mierda que hay en el mundo, si me baso en la fealdad, pondría cero estrellas; pero son fealdades reales, acciones que se normalizan en las entrañas.
le doy cinco estrellas porque leer las páginas de elena era igual a sentarme con mi abuela pachis a que me platicara cualquier cosa.
jesusa, la prota del libro, te platica desde que nace hasta que muere, y sin spoilers, necesito escribir las últimas palabras:
“ahora ya no chingue. váyase. déjeme dormir.”
coraje acumulado, lagrimillas pensando en lo chiquita y abrazada que debía (y aún es) la mujer, y jesusa se agarraba los ovarios y se ponía a descalabrar hombres.
lo volveré a leer en algún punto. anécdotas así se quedan para siempre y te hacen meterte en carnes ajenas como si fuesen las tuyas.
no me canso de amar las historias que me hacen sentir que mi bisabuelita me cuenta fragmentos de su vida.
pura cosa fea, machismo interiorizado hasta donde no, feminicidios sin voz, prosa de rancho y anécdotas que muchas mujeres, muchas personas han vivido.
ya que soy consciente de toda la mierda que hay en el mundo, si me baso en la fealdad, pondría cero estrellas; pero son fealdades reales, acciones que se normalizan en las entrañas.
le doy cinco estrellas porque leer las páginas de elena era igual a sentarme con mi abuela pachis a que me platicara cualquier cosa.
jesusa, la prota del libro, te platica desde que nace hasta que muere, y sin spoilers, necesito escribir las últimas palabras:
“ahora ya no chingue. váyase. déjeme dormir.”
coraje acumulado, lagrimillas pensando en lo chiquita y abrazada que debía (y aún es) la mujer, y jesusa se agarraba los ovarios y se ponía a descalabrar hombres.
lo volveré a leer en algún punto. anécdotas así se quedan para siempre y te hacen meterte en carnes ajenas como si fuesen las tuyas.
September 13, 2018
This is Elena Poniatoswska at her best. This fictional memoir opens a window into the turbulent times that precede the Mexican Revolution, following Jesusa (an orphan woman) through the entire country as the riots become a full blown war. A world of cruelty but also a world of hope all seen through Jesusa's eyes, which makes it all the more real. A true master piece of Mexican literature.
January 12, 2021
Lo empecé porque quería leer otro libro de Elena Poniatowska. Dure dos años leyéndolo nomas porque no me anime nunca a abandonarlo. No recomiendo.
June 6, 2017
Debo reconocer que yo albergaba una opinión distinta de la autora, irresponsablemente, sin haberla leído primero. Para mí, su obra más relevante, famosa o mencionada es “La Noche de Tlatelolco” y en alguna ocasión por televisión o radio tuve oportunidad de escuchar grabaciones de ese acontecimiento en voz de ella (una vez más, sin leer el libro). Al leer este libro me he dado cuenta del amor que la autora profesa por México; su manera de rescatar un lenguaje ahora inexistente (creo, o al menos ya no tan florido como el que ella nos presenta) y de darle vida a personajes (en este caso principalmente mujeres) que por lo regular son ignorados. Además de esto la descripción, por demás interesante, de calles y barrios de la Ciudad de México no dejan de producir nostalgia en aquellos viajeros que hemos estado cerca de ahí. Cometí el error y prejuicio de considerar a la autora solo como proveniente de una clase privilegiada (aunque creo que efectivamente lo es, desde su nacimiento en Europa y sus relaciones de sangre con casas reales); sin embargo supo plasmar claramente el alma del personaje. Esto último puede ser el objetivo de cualquier escritor; no obstante en ocasiones solo se logra conocer un detalle o el rasgo de personalidad más importante (v. Gr. Un gran remordimiento, amor apasionado, miedo, esperanza, deseos de venganza). La forma como Poniatowska nos la presenta nos hace conocer a Jesusa Palancares a lo largo de toda su vida, todas sus inquietudes y deseos, su manera de ver el mundo y de vivirlo a su manera. En otras reseñas pude leer que consideran el rasgo fundamental de Jesusa el ser una oprimida, una traicionada por el sistema y por la revolución; sin dejar esto de ser cierto, creo que lo que caracteriza a la protagonista es su bondad y su falta de egoísmo así como su ingenio. Cabe mencionar que me recordó a las mujeres bondadosas, generosas e ingeniosas (con un poco de picardía) de mi propia familia. Totalmente recomendable. Una de las obras que guardará siempre un lugar especial en mi memoria.
January 1, 2015
"Algún día que venga ya no me va a encontrar; se topará nomas con el puro viento. Llegará ese día y cuando llegue jo habrá ni quien le de una razón. Y pensara que todo ha sido mentira... si ya jo le sirvo para nada, ¿que carajos va a extranar?...
November 9, 2014
The angst of a poor and illiterate but tough Mexican fighter and rebel during the 1930's. The mother of Jesusa Palancares died when she was a little girl and her father remarried. The women in his father life maltreated her so he left the house, joined the rebel forces and had her series of failed relationships. Although she was poor all throughout the story, she never self-pitied herself as her life experiences taught her to be independent and self-supporting. She never depended on anyone except herself.
The story opens with Jesusa at her old age. She is so poor she sometimes has to sleep with hungry stomach. She reasons that if God (she is a practicing Catholic yet she is far from being saint for so many reasons) does not give her money to buy food, God wants her to starve. So, Jesusa becomes thin and thin until she dies. However, in the end, you will not feel sorry for her because the author Elena Poniatoska made it clear at the very start of the novel that Jesusa is a strong woman of high principles even if she is poor and illiterate. I am not a writer but I totally understand Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street in the book's back cover: "When I read Elena Poniatowska, I'm reminded why she's my hero, why I write, what kind of writer I aspire to be." For Poniatowska writes with guts and punk that Isabel Allende cannot hold candles for her. They maybe both good Latin American authors but Poniatowska is like Salinger to Allende's Lois Lowry. I hope you get the obvious comparison.
My list of exceptional Latin American author is becoming longer and longer.
The story opens with Jesusa at her old age. She is so poor she sometimes has to sleep with hungry stomach. She reasons that if God (she is a practicing Catholic yet she is far from being saint for so many reasons) does not give her money to buy food, God wants her to starve. So, Jesusa becomes thin and thin until she dies. However, in the end, you will not feel sorry for her because the author Elena Poniatoska made it clear at the very start of the novel that Jesusa is a strong woman of high principles even if she is poor and illiterate. I am not a writer but I totally understand Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street in the book's back cover: "When I read Elena Poniatowska, I'm reminded why she's my hero, why I write, what kind of writer I aspire to be." For Poniatowska writes with guts and punk that Isabel Allende cannot hold candles for her. They maybe both good Latin American authors but Poniatowska is like Salinger to Allende's Lois Lowry. I hope you get the obvious comparison.
My list of exceptional Latin American author is becoming longer and longer.
August 8, 2023
Esta es la tercera vez que regreso a la tierra, pero nunca había sufrido tanto como en esta reencarnación ya que en la anterior fui reina. [...] No sé cuántas veces ni cómo iré a reencarnar, pero yo le pido a Dios que ya no me mande a la tierra para que pueda estar una temporada larga en el espacio, descansando; pero falta que Dios cumpla antojos y enderece jorobados. Allá solo Él tiene apuntado lo que debo. Y no es poco, porque en esta última reencarnación he sido muy perra, pegalona y borracha. Muy de todo. No puedo decir que he sido buena. Nada puedo decir.
Jesusa Palancares es tan pero tan de verdad que leer este libro ha sido como escucharla contándome su historia al oído. Creo que no hay ninguna página sin al menos una expresión que me haya hecho sorprenderme o sonreírme. Qué talento el de Poniatowska para captar así el habla, para darle todo ese cuerpo al lenguaje. Una novela picaresca de las buenas, aunque sin apenas afán de medro, que Jesusa lo único que quiere es descansar un ratito flotando en el espacio.
June 11, 2024
“No hay bueno ni buenas. Todos somos malos sobre el haz de la tierra”
February 6, 2024
En esta novela la autora ofrece una crónica de las condiciones sociales y políticas de México en la década de 1960, explorando temas como la pobreza, la injusticia y la lucha por la supervivencia. El libro es conocido por su estilo narrativo innovador y su profunda empatía hacia los personajes marginados, presenta varios elementos de intercambio cultural a lo largo de la historia.
Nos encontramos a Jesusa, una mujer que luchó por sus derechos y la justicia social en México. La novela sigue la vida de Jesusa, desde su infancia hasta su participación en movimientos sociales y políticos en la Ciudad de México. A través de la historia de Jesusa, la autora aborda temas como la lucha de clases, la opresión de género y la búsqueda de identidad.
La novela retrata la migración de Jesusa desde su pueblo natal en el campo hasta la Ciudad de México, donde se enfrenta a un entorno urbano y culturalmente diferente. A medida que Jesusa se adapta a su nueva vida en la ciudad, se encuentra con personas de diversas clases sociales y trasfondos culturales, lo que le permite experimentar y aprender de sus diferentes perspectivas y formas de vida, dicho intercambio cultural es fundamental para el desarrollo de la trama y para la exploración de temas como la identidad, la discriminación y la solidaridad entre comunidades diversas.
📚 Libro: Hasta no verte Jesús mío.
✍️ Autor: Elena Poniatowska.
🗒️ Páginas: 432
🌼 Puntaje: 4⭐️
Castelobruxo. Libro en el que tenga lugar un intercambio cultural
PSRC 2024. 35. Un libro sobre realismo mágico
Nos encontramos a Jesusa, una mujer que luchó por sus derechos y la justicia social en México. La novela sigue la vida de Jesusa, desde su infancia hasta su participación en movimientos sociales y políticos en la Ciudad de México. A través de la historia de Jesusa, la autora aborda temas como la lucha de clases, la opresión de género y la búsqueda de identidad.
La novela retrata la migración de Jesusa desde su pueblo natal en el campo hasta la Ciudad de México, donde se enfrenta a un entorno urbano y culturalmente diferente. A medida que Jesusa se adapta a su nueva vida en la ciudad, se encuentra con personas de diversas clases sociales y trasfondos culturales, lo que le permite experimentar y aprender de sus diferentes perspectivas y formas de vida, dicho intercambio cultural es fundamental para el desarrollo de la trama y para la exploración de temas como la identidad, la discriminación y la solidaridad entre comunidades diversas.
📚 Libro: Hasta no verte Jesús mío.
✍️ Autor: Elena Poniatowska.
🗒️ Páginas: 432
🌼 Puntaje: 4⭐️
Castelobruxo. Libro en el que tenga lugar un intercambio cultural
PSRC 2024. 35. Un libro sobre realismo mágico
July 11, 2016
Oh Jesusa, tercera resurección. Fuiste bien maldita y buena para los golpes. Eso si, con quienes se lo ganaban. Lástima que te tocaran tragos tan amargos. Pero así es cuando se tiene un corazón tan dulce.
Gracias a Elena y a Jesusa me siento bien con lo que hay. Ya no presiono. La vida como se me da me será pedida de vuelta. Y si hay mucha gente en mi funeral, bien. Sino, también. Que la soledad no me duele y una buena compañía mucho menos. Dinero a veces habrá y otras faltará. Amantes van y vienen. Incluso los hijos se empluman y se van a vivir y luego ya no se acuerdan de la paloma que los crió. La vida es de uno y para uno vivimos. Ya si llega alguien que quiera compartir días junto a uno, felicidades. Pero prisa por eso no debemos tener... Gracias Elena, gracias Jesusa.
Elena escribió una gran historia de toda una vida, con los altibajos de un México en revolución. No les miento, es fácil perderse entre la cantidad de personajes y situaciones que cambian de un renglón a otro. Pero bien la mayoría de las veces no te pierdes por lo entretenido de las situaciones. Te encariñas con los personajes, a otras hasta coraje les agarras. Pero aprendes junto con Jesusa, que lo bueno y lo turbio de la vida se disfruta.
"Ahora ya no chingue. Váyase. Déjeme dormir" .-Jesusa
Gracias a Elena y a Jesusa me siento bien con lo que hay. Ya no presiono. La vida como se me da me será pedida de vuelta. Y si hay mucha gente en mi funeral, bien. Sino, también. Que la soledad no me duele y una buena compañía mucho menos. Dinero a veces habrá y otras faltará. Amantes van y vienen. Incluso los hijos se empluman y se van a vivir y luego ya no se acuerdan de la paloma que los crió. La vida es de uno y para uno vivimos. Ya si llega alguien que quiera compartir días junto a uno, felicidades. Pero prisa por eso no debemos tener... Gracias Elena, gracias Jesusa.
Elena escribió una gran historia de toda una vida, con los altibajos de un México en revolución. No les miento, es fácil perderse entre la cantidad de personajes y situaciones que cambian de un renglón a otro. Pero bien la mayoría de las veces no te pierdes por lo entretenido de las situaciones. Te encariñas con los personajes, a otras hasta coraje les agarras. Pero aprendes junto con Jesusa, que lo bueno y lo turbio de la vida se disfruta.
"Ahora ya no chingue. Váyase. Déjeme dormir" .-Jesusa
October 12, 2007
Poniatowska was upset by this translation, and I've not read the original, but this good is still delightful. The blending of nonfiction and fiction is fascinating.
Read
December 1, 2023In the end, I liked this book (I did, toward the end, skip large sections of the chapters).The eponymous Jesusa is a Mexican woman recounting her life during the Mexican Revolution. I had to do a bit of web research to familiarize myself with the many politicians and fighters she mentions. She travels to battles with her husband, and as a combatant when her husband dies. Her diction is coarse; she doesn’t withhold opinions; She shares her deep spiritual beliefs, including sightings of the devil and how she avoided being overtaken by evil.
The author, Elena Poniatowska, dutifully records her account. The introduction explains the effort by Poniatowska to win the elderly Jesusa’s trust and their frequent conversations.
After writing out these quotes, I began to think Jesusa is kind of like a “Dirtbag, Mexico”. Maybe it’s the distant, historical and cultural setting, maybe because she’s a woman, perhaps because Jesusa’s story is biography, drawn out of her, not offered up ostentatiously, I find her experience interesting and vital to understanding human events, how the “average” person can be drawn into extraordinary situations that then test their capacity.
“I used to swim at five in the morning or at five in the evening, never in the heat of the day. We’d let the waves splash over us and wash the dirt off… I don’t know how people swim now, because it’s been years since I’ve been to the beach. They say people get in and swim out into the water. I’d rather bathe here in a puddle, where the water doesn’t move, than do something silly like that.”
“—I’ll have a glass of nada, nothing.
Nada was a tall glass with every kind of liquor in it. They’d fill it with a shot from each bottle: wine, cognac, tequila, whiskey, vermouth—they put everything in until the glass was full…I’d drink it down and then suck a lemon right away as a chaser…Idon’t drink by the glass…For me to drink it had to be a whole bottle and they had to bet me. I’d outdrink three or four drunks and still be fresh as a daisy because before chugging the bottle I’d suck one or two lemons and a short time later I could bet again and it wouldn’t go to my head. I never threw up either.”
“”I don’t know if the town was close by or far away, but the peasants came on burros to sell us provisions. We paid them with colored bills like the peso notes they use now. The goverment made the money in the capital. For money the Villistas had thin white tissue than looked like spiderwebs. I don’t know who made the sheets for Villa, but they weren’t worth the paper they were printed on and they had to force people to take their money. Everyone carried their own paper…They were all fake.”
“The combat started at three in the morning…I rode next to Pedro carrying the Mauser for him. The troops had dispersed and we kept going, taking out those thieves like it was nothing. I was handing him the loaded Mauser, and when he didn’t take it, I turned around to see what was wrong and Pedro wasn’t on his horse. At about four in the afternoon my husband was shot in the chest and that’s when I realized he and I were out there all alone.”
“It was the major’s duty to hand over the troops. But since he hadn’t wanted to take charge of the retreat because he was weak, or scared or who knows what, when we got to Mexico, General Espinosa y Córdoba saw that I was in charge and he said: You stay in command of he deceased Captain Aguilar’s troops… The soldiers explained that you led them when your husband was killed and the major stepped aside…”
“Oaxaca is farmland. I wouldn’t say it’s any big deal…I don’t particularly care for it, even though they say it’s a pretty city. People who don’t know any better will be impressed by anything. But I’ve been around, so I can tell the difference, and to me it’s just a hill with houses perched on top of it, like goats clinging on so they don’t fall off…
Who knows what it looks like now. I haven’t been there since 1926, but it probably isn’t any better, because the cities in Mexico always get worse.”
“I don’t think people are good. Truthfully, I don’t. Only Jesus Christ was, and I didn’t meet Him. And my father, but I never really knew if he loved me or not. How can you really think the people here on Earth are good.
Now fuck off! Go away and let me sleep.”
The author, Elena Poniatowska, dutifully records her account. The introduction explains the effort by Poniatowska to win the elderly Jesusa’s trust and their frequent conversations.
After writing out these quotes, I began to think Jesusa is kind of like a “Dirtbag, Mexico”. Maybe it’s the distant, historical and cultural setting, maybe because she’s a woman, perhaps because Jesusa’s story is biography, drawn out of her, not offered up ostentatiously, I find her experience interesting and vital to understanding human events, how the “average” person can be drawn into extraordinary situations that then test their capacity.
“I used to swim at five in the morning or at five in the evening, never in the heat of the day. We’d let the waves splash over us and wash the dirt off… I don’t know how people swim now, because it’s been years since I’ve been to the beach. They say people get in and swim out into the water. I’d rather bathe here in a puddle, where the water doesn’t move, than do something silly like that.”
“—I’ll have a glass of nada, nothing.
Nada was a tall glass with every kind of liquor in it. They’d fill it with a shot from each bottle: wine, cognac, tequila, whiskey, vermouth—they put everything in until the glass was full…I’d drink it down and then suck a lemon right away as a chaser…Idon’t drink by the glass…For me to drink it had to be a whole bottle and they had to bet me. I’d outdrink three or four drunks and still be fresh as a daisy because before chugging the bottle I’d suck one or two lemons and a short time later I could bet again and it wouldn’t go to my head. I never threw up either.”
“”I don’t know if the town was close by or far away, but the peasants came on burros to sell us provisions. We paid them with colored bills like the peso notes they use now. The goverment made the money in the capital. For money the Villistas had thin white tissue than looked like spiderwebs. I don’t know who made the sheets for Villa, but they weren’t worth the paper they were printed on and they had to force people to take their money. Everyone carried their own paper…They were all fake.”
“The combat started at three in the morning…I rode next to Pedro carrying the Mauser for him. The troops had dispersed and we kept going, taking out those thieves like it was nothing. I was handing him the loaded Mauser, and when he didn’t take it, I turned around to see what was wrong and Pedro wasn’t on his horse. At about four in the afternoon my husband was shot in the chest and that’s when I realized he and I were out there all alone.”
“It was the major’s duty to hand over the troops. But since he hadn’t wanted to take charge of the retreat because he was weak, or scared or who knows what, when we got to Mexico, General Espinosa y Córdoba saw that I was in charge and he said: You stay in command of he deceased Captain Aguilar’s troops… The soldiers explained that you led them when your husband was killed and the major stepped aside…”
“Oaxaca is farmland. I wouldn’t say it’s any big deal…I don’t particularly care for it, even though they say it’s a pretty city. People who don’t know any better will be impressed by anything. But I’ve been around, so I can tell the difference, and to me it’s just a hill with houses perched on top of it, like goats clinging on so they don’t fall off…
Who knows what it looks like now. I haven’t been there since 1926, but it probably isn’t any better, because the cities in Mexico always get worse.”
“I don’t think people are good. Truthfully, I don’t. Only Jesus Christ was, and I didn’t meet Him. And my father, but I never really knew if he loved me or not. How can you really think the people here on Earth are good.
Now fuck off! Go away and let me sleep.”
November 27, 2023
An interesting novel based on a real person that the author interviewed over a long period of time when the person was in her 80s.
Jesusa is a tough, fiery, independent, strong, working class Mexican woman, an orphan. She was forced to marry Perico, a young man, when she was a teenager. Perico was later killed in the Mexican Revolution. Jesusa joins a cavalry unit during the Mexican revolution.
Jesusa did many menial jobs over her life. Jesusa was harshly dealt with on many occasions due to being poor, uneducated and a woman. Jesusa, whilst accepting poor living and working conditions, stood up for herself whenever someone mistreated her. For example, there are a number of instances where Jesusa had her hair pulled. On each occasion she fought the instigator ferociously, landing her in prison due to the injuries she inflicted. Jesusa is a complex character. She could be very supportive. She helped in raising a number of young children. She believed in reincarnation and that each individual must look out for themselves. She was very weary of any help being offered as her past experiences taught her that people always had a selfish motive with their offers of help.
A thought provoking account of the life of a working class Mexican woman in the first half of the 1900s.
This book was first published in 1969.
Jesusa is a tough, fiery, independent, strong, working class Mexican woman, an orphan. She was forced to marry Perico, a young man, when she was a teenager. Perico was later killed in the Mexican Revolution. Jesusa joins a cavalry unit during the Mexican revolution.
Jesusa did many menial jobs over her life. Jesusa was harshly dealt with on many occasions due to being poor, uneducated and a woman. Jesusa, whilst accepting poor living and working conditions, stood up for herself whenever someone mistreated her. For example, there are a number of instances where Jesusa had her hair pulled. On each occasion she fought the instigator ferociously, landing her in prison due to the injuries she inflicted. Jesusa is a complex character. She could be very supportive. She helped in raising a number of young children. She believed in reincarnation and that each individual must look out for themselves. She was very weary of any help being offered as her past experiences taught her that people always had a selfish motive with their offers of help.
A thought provoking account of the life of a working class Mexican woman in the first half of the 1900s.
This book was first published in 1969.
October 28, 2022
La vida de Jesusa consigue atraparte sin un hilo conductor claro pero con numerosas anécdotas y episodios estrafalarios y traumáticos. Gracias a estas memorias conocemos a una mujer sin igual, única y poderosa. La autora mezcla la cruel realidad mexicana con episodios mágicos que nos adentran aun más en el universo de Jesusa. Para mi todo un descubrimiento.
October 2, 2021
Lest på norsk. Det er som om man hører stemmen til Jesusa når man leser. Et fyrverkeri av et liv. Så befriende å lese om et ekte menneske i romanform, i stedet for en utleverende roman om mennesker med høye tanker om seg selv😜
September 6, 2024
Helt fantastisk. Jesusa er litt av ei dame. På ingen måte feilfri, men hun snakker rett fra levra, er seig som fy og overlever det meste av motgang. Fortalt på en underholdende og god måte, og gir et interessant innblikk i et liv ganske ulikt mitt eget, i et land ganske ulikt Norge. Koste meg!
May 28, 2021
Elenita nunca decepciona, Jesusa Palancares una mujer aguerrida de armas tomar
December 15, 2023
essential read
April 2, 2024
"Así que yo fui mártir. Ora no, ora ya no soy mártir. Sufro como todo el mundo pero no en comparación de lo que sufrí cuando tenía marido".
January 16, 2025
Inte min typ av genre/skrivsätt. Inte riktigt någon plot och en osympatisk huvudperson.
January 27, 2025
DNF. The introduction was wonderful and set me up to love this book. But this is another book loosely based on a real woman’s story and written in her simplistic voice. While perhaps realistic, it’s missing a key aspect of storytelling, and I’ve learned just isn’t for me.
June 9, 2024
La mejor manera de empezar a leer a Elena. Un personaje fuerte y entrañable que reconoce el papel que le toca jugar en la vida y solo hace lo que entiende bien, es decir seguir andando.
October 6, 2018
Una historia muy parecida a la nuestra. Jesusa es uno de los personajes más entrañables que recordaré y haciendo un recorrido de todas las guerras, revoluciones y conflictos políticos que ha tenido México ella estuvo presente viendo como a veces la gente llega a ser tan importante que hasta cuando nos tratan mal nos quedamos ahí.
De carácter fuerte, nuestro personaje representa una fortaleza indestructible... Al final del día ella basta y sobra.
Recomiendo el libro.
De carácter fuerte, nuestro personaje representa una fortaleza indestructible... Al final del día ella basta y sobra.
Recomiendo el libro.
February 3, 2024
¿Es perfecto? No. Pero es maravilloso. Sorprendente y luminoso como Jesusa misma, terrible como su vida.
Read
February 11, 2017A "testimonial novel": blending documentary with fiction/storytelling. Supposedly it was groundbreaking at the time (1969). I don't doubt it. In the introduction, we learn that the author, Elena Poniatowksa spent years visiting and interviewing Josefina Borequez, a working-class woman: stubborn, self-defeating, and desperately poor most of her life, which spanned nearly the whole of the 20th century. The "chapters" read like short stories, loosely arranged around her age: young, middle, and more sparingly, old. But there is no real chronology: Jesusa will discover spiritualism and a life dedicated to it, then in the next "chapter" she's back out dancing. She swears she has no friends, never has, then there are many many close friends -- too many even to keep track of. She says she doesn't go with men, yet ends up with 4th stage syphilis.
I suppose, one could say this narrative style mimics the contradictions of life. My linear mind just couldn't accept it.
Still, Jesusa's story is compelling and heartbreaking; and despite being so mule-headed you'd like to shake her, Jesusa is a sympathetic heroine. I was surprised to find that I quite liked her by the end.
This is also a telling narrative of the life of Mexico's poor at this time: how they lived, worked, fought, drank, partied and buried their dead. It also provides an interesting into Mexico's "other" religion: spiritualism.
A bit frustrating, but worth the read.
I suppose, one could say this narrative style mimics the contradictions of life. My linear mind just couldn't accept it.
Still, Jesusa's story is compelling and heartbreaking; and despite being so mule-headed you'd like to shake her, Jesusa is a sympathetic heroine. I was surprised to find that I quite liked her by the end.
This is also a telling narrative of the life of Mexico's poor at this time: how they lived, worked, fought, drank, partied and buried their dead. It also provides an interesting into Mexico's "other" religion: spiritualism.
A bit frustrating, but worth the read.
December 21, 2009
Here's To You, Jesusa! chronicles the life of Jesusa, a tough, argumentative, spirited, and pragmatic Mexican women who was a young adult during the Revolution. The book is in her voice, and she goes from one ordeal to the other, always managing to come out on top, no matter how challenging. She is very poor and doesn't settle down anywhere for long, so the book skips around quite a bit. This made it hard to read-- it didn't hold together very well for me, and I skimmed through some of it, and eventually stopped reading with 70 pages left.
I understand that Poniatowska was trying to capture an authentic poor Mexican woman's voice, but I would have like a bit more self examination into how all these events shaped the woman Jesusa was. (For example, the death of her mother when she was young, her father inability to stay in one place for long, an abusive step-mother.) It's all descriptive, but not much more.
The book starts out with a forward by the middle class woman who supposedly finds Jesusa somehow and then spends years interviewing her and learning her story, and who then writes a book about her life. I loved this part and would have liked to see more interplay between the "author" voice and Jesusa.
I understand that Poniatowska was trying to capture an authentic poor Mexican woman's voice, but I would have like a bit more self examination into how all these events shaped the woman Jesusa was. (For example, the death of her mother when she was young, her father inability to stay in one place for long, an abusive step-mother.) It's all descriptive, but not much more.
The book starts out with a forward by the middle class woman who supposedly finds Jesusa somehow and then spends years interviewing her and learning her story, and who then writes a book about her life. I loved this part and would have liked to see more interplay between the "author" voice and Jesusa.
September 28, 2023
"Yo no se que es la tristeza. Nunca he tenido tristeza. Me habla en chino por que yo no entiendo de tristeza. ¡Ah, el llorar es uno, pero la tristeza es otra! Es mala, no sirve, a nadie le importa más que a uno mismo. Yo lloro cuando tengo coraje, pero nunca he sido triste" -Jesusa-
Que hermoso fue conversar con Jesusa Palancares, tomando un café mientras ella me platicaba como vivio una mujer en la época donde había que defenderse o morir. Una mujer recia, álgida, llena de orgullo y soledad, nos lleva por muchos lugares y personas en pleno inicio del siglo XX.
Disfrute plenamente esta conversación, ame adentrarme en un pasado que es el pasado de muchos de nuestro abuelos y bisabuelos del pasado Mexicano.
Más que un libro es una conversación con nuestro pasado, sin duda merece todas las estrellas que pueda obtener.
Gracias Jesusa, por tu historia, y por mostrar con apertura tu vida
Gracias Elena Poniatowsca, por hacer esto posible.
Que hermoso fue conversar con Jesusa Palancares, tomando un café mientras ella me platicaba como vivio una mujer en la época donde había que defenderse o morir. Una mujer recia, álgida, llena de orgullo y soledad, nos lleva por muchos lugares y personas en pleno inicio del siglo XX.
Disfrute plenamente esta conversación, ame adentrarme en un pasado que es el pasado de muchos de nuestro abuelos y bisabuelos del pasado Mexicano.
Más que un libro es una conversación con nuestro pasado, sin duda merece todas las estrellas que pueda obtener.
Gracias Jesusa, por tu historia, y por mostrar con apertura tu vida
Gracias Elena Poniatowsca, por hacer esto posible.
June 26, 2015
"Tenía ganas de leer a Poniatowska de nuevo, luego de un “documental” ya reseñado aquí, quería ver sus novelas, esas que tanta fama le han ganado, sin mencionar el prestigio y reconocimiento en todos los ámbitos. Me llevo un buen sabor de boca, aunque me deja la impresión de no serlo mejor de ella. Una excelente excusa para seguirla leyendo, porque eso sí, vale mucho la pena sus letras.
Y Jesusa, cabrona. Lo que no daría por una mujer como tú, difícil de enamorar pero peleona en el querer, aunque no lo quieras ver mija, mi jija de la chingada."
Reseña completa en: http://contraelpromediomexicano.com/2...
Y Jesusa, cabrona. Lo que no daría por una mujer como tú, difícil de enamorar pero peleona en el querer, aunque no lo quieras ver mija, mi jija de la chingada."
Reseña completa en: http://contraelpromediomexicano.com/2...
August 4, 2024
Buen libro, muy bien escrito por la autora. Increíble que habiendo nacido en París haya penetrado de esa manera en la idiosincracia de la mujer rural mexicana, muy pobre.
La historia de Jesusa es impresionante: increíblemente emprendedora, con una enorme capacidad de adaptación, es la verdadera milusos trabajando en todo, super trabajadora. Impresiona su desapego tanto a personas como a animales y objetos materiales. Sólo trabaja para sobrevivir día a día. Y sin embargo, se declara feliz, muy feliz. Obvio que jamás transmite esa felicidad. Toda la parte espiritual es muy interesante.
La historia de Jesusa es impresionante: increíblemente emprendedora, con una enorme capacidad de adaptación, es la verdadera milusos trabajando en todo, super trabajadora. Impresiona su desapego tanto a personas como a animales y objetos materiales. Sólo trabaja para sobrevivir día a día. Y sin embargo, se declara feliz, muy feliz. Obvio que jamás transmite esa felicidad. Toda la parte espiritual es muy interesante.
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