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On Bullfighting
An Anchor Books Original
One day, on the brink of despair and contemplating her own mortality, novelist A. L. Kennedy is offered an assignment she can’t refuse–an opportunity to travel to Spain and cover a sport that represents the ultimate confrontation with bullfighting.
The result is this remarkable book, which takes Kennedy and her readers from the living room of her Glasgow flat to the plazas del toros of Spain and inside the mesmerizing, mystifying, brutal, and beautiful world of the bullfight. Here the sport is matadors (literally "killers") are men and, increasingly, women who, not unlike the Roman gladiators before them, provide a spectacle to the crowd, a dance in which their own death is as present as that of the bull. Wonderfully relaying the elements of the sport, from the breeding of the bulls and the training of the matadors to the intricate choreography of the bullfight and its strange connection to the Inquisition, Kennedy meditates on a culture that we may not countenance or fully understand but which is made riveting by the precision of her prose and the passion and humor of her narrative.
One day, on the brink of despair and contemplating her own mortality, novelist A. L. Kennedy is offered an assignment she can’t refuse–an opportunity to travel to Spain and cover a sport that represents the ultimate confrontation with bullfighting.
The result is this remarkable book, which takes Kennedy and her readers from the living room of her Glasgow flat to the plazas del toros of Spain and inside the mesmerizing, mystifying, brutal, and beautiful world of the bullfight. Here the sport is matadors (literally "killers") are men and, increasingly, women who, not unlike the Roman gladiators before them, provide a spectacle to the crowd, a dance in which their own death is as present as that of the bull. Wonderfully relaying the elements of the sport, from the breeding of the bulls and the training of the matadors to the intricate choreography of the bullfight and its strange connection to the Inquisition, Kennedy meditates on a culture that we may not countenance or fully understand but which is made riveting by the precision of her prose and the passion and humor of her narrative.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
8 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
A.L. Kennedy
85 books298 followersAlison Louise Kennedy is a Scottish writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. She is known for a characteristically dark tone, a blending of realism and fantasy, and for her serious approach to her work. She occasionally contributes columns and reviews to UK and European newspapers including the fictional diary of her pet parrot named Charlie.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 6, 2011
A.L. (Alison Louise) Kennedy is a big writer in Scotland, known for her serious-minded novels, her frequent hints at suicide, and her second career in stand-up comedy.
I find her a fascinating figure, and a hilarious stand-up, but haven’t been able to connect with her prose. There is something oblique and defensive about her books that makes them impossible to penetrate, although they're clearly soul-bearing and honest works.
This book is an awkward mash-up of confession and non-fiction. What the cool kids call creative non-fiction. Get hip, daddio. The story begins with an aborted suicide attempt. Kennedy’s reluctance to die to the strains of the dire Scottish folk song ‘Mhairi’s Wedding’ tells us she is too in love with the grotesque ironies of the world to end things. As an attempt to get writing again she accepts a commission to write a book on bullfighting. Hence this book, On Bullfighting.
So the work is as odd as this sounds. The focus is on toreros and bulls and the lusty carnage of the sport, stuffed with too much technical terminology and awkward reportage, interspersed with reports on Kennedy’s own state of mind. This is limited mainly to her banal discomforts and travelogue shtick, with the occasional personal memory. (One random scene shows her discussing her grandfather’s passing which proves oddly moving).
The tension lies in the title. A.L. Kennedy On Bullfighting. You get A.L. Kennedy, but not enough. You don’t get enough personal insight that makes us care about this trip. We don’t get enough explanation as to her motives for making the trek to Spain. She seems to write the book in a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. You get Bullfighting. But not enough. The information is accurate and written with flair. The bullfights are shown in their goring horror and attempts are made to explain the lust for death and suffering. But opinions aren’t formed. Stances aren’t taken. You could look this stuff up online.
The connections between Kennedy, the suffering author obsessed with pain and misery, and the toreros, those brave idiots dancing with death, are tenuous and the result is an uneven and frustrating work.
(N.B. This text is, apparently a creative non-fiction manual. It has an intricate and divine structure that pushes into the realm of technical mastery. No idea why.)
**
Update 6th Aug 2011: Attempted Original Bliss but no dice. Throwing in the towel on Alison's work.
I find her a fascinating figure, and a hilarious stand-up, but haven’t been able to connect with her prose. There is something oblique and defensive about her books that makes them impossible to penetrate, although they're clearly soul-bearing and honest works.
This book is an awkward mash-up of confession and non-fiction. What the cool kids call creative non-fiction. Get hip, daddio. The story begins with an aborted suicide attempt. Kennedy’s reluctance to die to the strains of the dire Scottish folk song ‘Mhairi’s Wedding’ tells us she is too in love with the grotesque ironies of the world to end things. As an attempt to get writing again she accepts a commission to write a book on bullfighting. Hence this book, On Bullfighting.
So the work is as odd as this sounds. The focus is on toreros and bulls and the lusty carnage of the sport, stuffed with too much technical terminology and awkward reportage, interspersed with reports on Kennedy’s own state of mind. This is limited mainly to her banal discomforts and travelogue shtick, with the occasional personal memory. (One random scene shows her discussing her grandfather’s passing which proves oddly moving).
The tension lies in the title. A.L. Kennedy On Bullfighting. You get A.L. Kennedy, but not enough. You don’t get enough personal insight that makes us care about this trip. We don’t get enough explanation as to her motives for making the trek to Spain. She seems to write the book in a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. You get Bullfighting. But not enough. The information is accurate and written with flair. The bullfights are shown in their goring horror and attempts are made to explain the lust for death and suffering. But opinions aren’t formed. Stances aren’t taken. You could look this stuff up online.
The connections between Kennedy, the suffering author obsessed with pain and misery, and the toreros, those brave idiots dancing with death, are tenuous and the result is an uneven and frustrating work.
(N.B. This text is, apparently a creative non-fiction manual. It has an intricate and divine structure that pushes into the realm of technical mastery. No idea why.)
**
Update 6th Aug 2011: Attempted Original Bliss but no dice. Throwing in the towel on Alison's work.
January 22, 2012
I get why people don't like this book--you either expect a straightforward book about bullfighting thanks to the title and suddenly you're facing the author's depression OR you're scouring the book for clues to Kennedy's illness but have to wade through page after page of bullfighting history. Neither seems good, right? A little too balanced, leading to a noncommittal to either narrative.
And yet the book works for me. Kennedy's death-obsession finds form and, oddly, life in the hazards of the corrida. This little book does much with an idea, a tradition, and ends on a satisfyingly unresolved note: when we have faced death and lived, how do we live?
And yet the book works for me. Kennedy's death-obsession finds form and, oddly, life in the hazards of the corrida. This little book does much with an idea, a tradition, and ends on a satisfyingly unresolved note: when we have faced death and lived, how do we live?
February 27, 2025
Of all the assigned readings for my sociology class this semester, I believe this will be the most interesting. I’m not one to normally read nonfiction but I am glad I had to. This book took me to an entirely different world that existed within the world I know. It’s not fantasy but reality.
The way Kennedy spoke to me through the entire book was beautiful. It felt as if she was reciting her experience to me.
Quite an interesting exploration into the world of bullfighting and the question of why bullfighting.
The way Kennedy spoke to me through the entire book was beautiful. It felt as if she was reciting her experience to me.
Quite an interesting exploration into the world of bullfighting and the question of why bullfighting.
October 16, 2022
I've had this on my to-read list for quite a while now. I can't remember exactly why I put it there - I probably came across it in passing and either wanted to remind myself to read it at some point, or to use it as an example of something, but I can't for the life of me remember what that was. In any event, this book was not at all what I thought it was going to be, and that was disappointing.
In short, I wasn't expecting it to revolve around the suicidal ideation of a disillusioned and clearly disturbed women who sees the assignment as a last-ditch attempt to "find herself." This book essentially recounts the experiences of an author of some talent but no great renown, a middle-aged Scottish woman in the throes of an impending suicide, because apparently her life isn't where she wants it to be, and she's finding her ho-hum existence unfulfilling and empty, after a series of similarly unfulfilling relationships. Instead of throwing herself out the window of her flat, which she decides would be better served by someone who might appreciate it in a way she doesn't, she changes her mind (or is it divine intervention?) last-minute because she can't stand the thought of killing herself to the tune of a folk melody she's despised since childhood.
Somehow this account was just too cliched to really be taken seriously, or as art, though I don't want to criticize someone for being suicidal and then writing about it. The response to this event, however, did leave something to be desired: rather than seek the help she desperately needs, the author decides to take an assignment to travel to Spain to write a piece on bullfighting, in a kind of last-ditch effort to "find yourself to give you a reason to keep on living" - the stereotypical response to a mid-life existential crisis you might find as the premise of a fictional novel of this type.
Interspersed into the rather descriptive, though somewhat excessively verbose musings on various aspects of bullfighting were odd statements regarding her own past experiences. Example: regarding her last failed relationship, "Because of that one night: the creaking in the hotel corridor and the heavy, small-hours air and the way he kissed me on both cheeks and said it would be all right because he'd be no good, that he would go and have sex with a woman that we neither of us knew, but it would be all right, because he'd be no good and he was sorry, although he didn't say for what." And this has what to do with bullfighting, precisely?
In fact, she's no great lover of sentimentality, either, it seems. I find one of her statements highly revealing: she states her disdain for a literary martyr of the Spanish Civil War, Lorca, executed by the fascists in 1936, namely that "I'm alternatively bored and frustrated by the standard model of the artist as a tortured soul too sentimental to live - or at least too sensitive to be lived with..." Interesting. My advice to her: try looking in the mirror.
I'm going to instead attempt to focus on what should have been the real premise of the book, which was why it garnered a two- instead of a one-star rating. I was most impressed by the capable if less-than-inspired, and, as noted previously, excessively florid discussion of the critical role bulls have played in European (and world) culture in general, a topic I would have liked to have seen explored in more depth. It's a safe argument to make: Europe, is, after all, named for Europa, abducted by Zeus in the guise of a bull, and Italy (Italia) is an ancient term for cattle or bulls. Many elements of ancient religion and culture incorporate cattle, from ancient Mesopotamia, to the Indus Valley and beyond. When the ancient Egyptians held a census, it was to count cattle, not people. Animal sacrifice and religious ritual frequently incorporated bull or cattle blood. Numerous bas- relief scenes uncovered in Rome and beyond depict the god Mithras, an Akkadian deity originally from Mesopotamia, slaying a bull, a seemingly seminal act of great significance, although the cult's actual practices are obscure.
Perhaps the most famous ritual involving bull sacrifice (taurobolium) in ancient times was that of the cult of Cybele, or magna mater, described by the fourth-century Christian author Prudentius, whereby a priest, adorned in a silk toga and golden crown, stood in a trench or pit covered by a type of grate, on which a bull was slaughtered, so that its blood rained through the grate onto the priest below, in a type of purification ritual. It seems that the spilling of bull blood has very ancient roots, and is, in a different manner, still performed today. Here, as well as the Roman games, lie the origins of modern and pre-modern bullfighting traditions, which the author rightly and capably notes fall far beyond mere spectacle, taking on an almost religious connotation. Despite all the controversy and protest, because it is so deeply entrenched in culture, bullfighting in some form seems unlikely to disappear any time soon.
This book, though insightful at times, unfortunately entailed more self-pitying than was palatable for me, and overall, despite the capable yet often schizophrenic exposition of the centrality of bullfighting in Spanish culture, just didn't resonate, despite the occasionally colorfully descriptive prose. As other reviewers have noted, its organization was very haphazard, essentially a bizarre account of someone clearly unraveling, but that part wasn't fiction, so it was more disturbing than enlightening or endearing.
Is the author herein trying to find something in herself by learning about the culture of death and appreciation of life by those closest to it? It reminded me quite a lot of Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon," which the author briefly references, but it contained none of his brilliant masculine bravado, love it or loathe it. This account, in contrast, just seemed like frequent interruptions of her clinical depression punctuated by some occasional insight into this admittedly fascinating, controversial culture. It's really a shame, actually, as this book was laden with potential, but due to the focus on herself, the author just wasn't really able to pull it together in a way that was appealing.
In short, I wasn't expecting it to revolve around the suicidal ideation of a disillusioned and clearly disturbed women who sees the assignment as a last-ditch attempt to "find herself." This book essentially recounts the experiences of an author of some talent but no great renown, a middle-aged Scottish woman in the throes of an impending suicide, because apparently her life isn't where she wants it to be, and she's finding her ho-hum existence unfulfilling and empty, after a series of similarly unfulfilling relationships. Instead of throwing herself out the window of her flat, which she decides would be better served by someone who might appreciate it in a way she doesn't, she changes her mind (or is it divine intervention?) last-minute because she can't stand the thought of killing herself to the tune of a folk melody she's despised since childhood.
Somehow this account was just too cliched to really be taken seriously, or as art, though I don't want to criticize someone for being suicidal and then writing about it. The response to this event, however, did leave something to be desired: rather than seek the help she desperately needs, the author decides to take an assignment to travel to Spain to write a piece on bullfighting, in a kind of last-ditch effort to "find yourself to give you a reason to keep on living" - the stereotypical response to a mid-life existential crisis you might find as the premise of a fictional novel of this type.
Interspersed into the rather descriptive, though somewhat excessively verbose musings on various aspects of bullfighting were odd statements regarding her own past experiences. Example: regarding her last failed relationship, "Because of that one night: the creaking in the hotel corridor and the heavy, small-hours air and the way he kissed me on both cheeks and said it would be all right because he'd be no good, that he would go and have sex with a woman that we neither of us knew, but it would be all right, because he'd be no good and he was sorry, although he didn't say for what." And this has what to do with bullfighting, precisely?
In fact, she's no great lover of sentimentality, either, it seems. I find one of her statements highly revealing: she states her disdain for a literary martyr of the Spanish Civil War, Lorca, executed by the fascists in 1936, namely that "I'm alternatively bored and frustrated by the standard model of the artist as a tortured soul too sentimental to live - or at least too sensitive to be lived with..." Interesting. My advice to her: try looking in the mirror.
I'm going to instead attempt to focus on what should have been the real premise of the book, which was why it garnered a two- instead of a one-star rating. I was most impressed by the capable if less-than-inspired, and, as noted previously, excessively florid discussion of the critical role bulls have played in European (and world) culture in general, a topic I would have liked to have seen explored in more depth. It's a safe argument to make: Europe, is, after all, named for Europa, abducted by Zeus in the guise of a bull, and Italy (Italia) is an ancient term for cattle or bulls. Many elements of ancient religion and culture incorporate cattle, from ancient Mesopotamia, to the Indus Valley and beyond. When the ancient Egyptians held a census, it was to count cattle, not people. Animal sacrifice and religious ritual frequently incorporated bull or cattle blood. Numerous bas- relief scenes uncovered in Rome and beyond depict the god Mithras, an Akkadian deity originally from Mesopotamia, slaying a bull, a seemingly seminal act of great significance, although the cult's actual practices are obscure.
Perhaps the most famous ritual involving bull sacrifice (taurobolium) in ancient times was that of the cult of Cybele, or magna mater, described by the fourth-century Christian author Prudentius, whereby a priest, adorned in a silk toga and golden crown, stood in a trench or pit covered by a type of grate, on which a bull was slaughtered, so that its blood rained through the grate onto the priest below, in a type of purification ritual. It seems that the spilling of bull blood has very ancient roots, and is, in a different manner, still performed today. Here, as well as the Roman games, lie the origins of modern and pre-modern bullfighting traditions, which the author rightly and capably notes fall far beyond mere spectacle, taking on an almost religious connotation. Despite all the controversy and protest, because it is so deeply entrenched in culture, bullfighting in some form seems unlikely to disappear any time soon.
This book, though insightful at times, unfortunately entailed more self-pitying than was palatable for me, and overall, despite the capable yet often schizophrenic exposition of the centrality of bullfighting in Spanish culture, just didn't resonate, despite the occasionally colorfully descriptive prose. As other reviewers have noted, its organization was very haphazard, essentially a bizarre account of someone clearly unraveling, but that part wasn't fiction, so it was more disturbing than enlightening or endearing.
Is the author herein trying to find something in herself by learning about the culture of death and appreciation of life by those closest to it? It reminded me quite a lot of Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon," which the author briefly references, but it contained none of his brilliant masculine bravado, love it or loathe it. This account, in contrast, just seemed like frequent interruptions of her clinical depression punctuated by some occasional insight into this admittedly fascinating, controversial culture. It's really a shame, actually, as this book was laden with potential, but due to the focus on herself, the author just wasn't really able to pull it together in a way that was appealing.
August 21, 2012
This book has saved me several times, in so many different ways.
September 29, 2025
Not a book I'd choose, but was given it as a present in audio- book form, by Spiracle, a non-Amazon audio book provider.
At first the author's voice annoyed me so much that I gave up a couple of times and couldn't get into it. But I persevered, as a Spanish friend who I couldn't imagine liking bull-fighting had given it to me.
I knew little about the topic (apart from that Hemmingway was an 'aficionado', and that whenever I had tried to read the reports of 'corridas' in El Pais when I lived in Catalunya I couldn't understand the extremely specific and massive vocabulary used) and I thought I didn't want to know any more about it than that.
However, I found I did want to know more. This short book is a fascinating and detailed introduction to the subject, from the ranches and breeders of bulls, to the costumes and traditions of matadors and other people in the ring, to aficionados such as Lorca, to the injuries, deaths and near escapes of the matadors (literally, 'killers') and to the awful deaths and incredibly rare (temporary, before the other slaughterhouse calls) of the bulls.
Kennedy has done her research very well, and even attends a few 'corridas' (a day of bull killing and ceremony in the ring), not shirking this part of the brief her publisher gave her.
She writes well and the descriptions of everything she sees and finds out are detailed, vivid convincing, at times horrifying. She doesn't overtly state her views 'On Bullfighting', but you can tell what they are.
The only minor quibble I have is that the book is partly a memoir of a very difficult time in Kennedy's life, indeed it starts with an abandoned suicide attempt, but then this personal aspect all but vanishes apart from quite a few complaints about the pain she's in from a slipped disc. These moments don't gel well with the whole, (and seem tagged on) which is more like investigative reportage.
Although banned in some areas of Spain, like Catalunya, apparently bullfighting is having a resurgence and fits into the far right nationalist playbook of parties like Vox whereby men are men, Spain is for the Spanish, foreigners must leave so that blood is pure, bulls are for killing and the traditions of 'España profunda' must be upheld, renewed and celebrated as part of their drive against foreigners, liberal ideas and woke notions about animal cruelty.
Reading this book could provide some insights into all this, and Kennedy's research reveals everything isn't as straightforward as it seems, as many a young man (and nowadays, a very few women) had found his way out of poverty through the ring, and if he survived and was successful could retire comfortably and support his extended family. A lot to think about here.
At first the author's voice annoyed me so much that I gave up a couple of times and couldn't get into it. But I persevered, as a Spanish friend who I couldn't imagine liking bull-fighting had given it to me.
I knew little about the topic (apart from that Hemmingway was an 'aficionado', and that whenever I had tried to read the reports of 'corridas' in El Pais when I lived in Catalunya I couldn't understand the extremely specific and massive vocabulary used) and I thought I didn't want to know any more about it than that.
However, I found I did want to know more. This short book is a fascinating and detailed introduction to the subject, from the ranches and breeders of bulls, to the costumes and traditions of matadors and other people in the ring, to aficionados such as Lorca, to the injuries, deaths and near escapes of the matadors (literally, 'killers') and to the awful deaths and incredibly rare (temporary, before the other slaughterhouse calls) of the bulls.
Kennedy has done her research very well, and even attends a few 'corridas' (a day of bull killing and ceremony in the ring), not shirking this part of the brief her publisher gave her.
She writes well and the descriptions of everything she sees and finds out are detailed, vivid convincing, at times horrifying. She doesn't overtly state her views 'On Bullfighting', but you can tell what they are.
The only minor quibble I have is that the book is partly a memoir of a very difficult time in Kennedy's life, indeed it starts with an abandoned suicide attempt, but then this personal aspect all but vanishes apart from quite a few complaints about the pain she's in from a slipped disc. These moments don't gel well with the whole, (and seem tagged on) which is more like investigative reportage.
Although banned in some areas of Spain, like Catalunya, apparently bullfighting is having a resurgence and fits into the far right nationalist playbook of parties like Vox whereby men are men, Spain is for the Spanish, foreigners must leave so that blood is pure, bulls are for killing and the traditions of 'España profunda' must be upheld, renewed and celebrated as part of their drive against foreigners, liberal ideas and woke notions about animal cruelty.
Reading this book could provide some insights into all this, and Kennedy's research reveals everything isn't as straightforward as it seems, as many a young man (and nowadays, a very few women) had found his way out of poverty through the ring, and if he survived and was successful could retire comfortably and support his extended family. A lot to think about here.
April 4, 2018
This is an extraordinarily oblique book as it operates between the authors descriptions of her depressed personal moods and reflections about her own life’s circumstances and difficulties through to a history of bullfighting, and you often wonder where the two concerns match and are related to each other. Consequently, I found it eccentrically wonderful as both a description of a person’s angst about their own world as portrayed within a history of the most terrible entertainment imaginable (Bullfighting), and the depictions of its vanity in pretending it is a sport in circumstances where the bull never wins (even if he kills or injures the matador), and the pampered and contrived aesthetics of theatrical regalia and meanderingly artificial performances related to the publicly performed mass murder of animals, as though there was a beautiful purpose to such slaughter. A great book, and often a hard read. I recommend it to everyone.
September 6, 2025
First, Kennedy’s story telling is well organized and she makes some great points regarding the corrida and its symbolism.
Second, she at times writes like a high school goth kid trying to be edgy. Hints at illness, suicide, and constantly taking pills distracts the reader from the supposed actual topic of the book. She even states it “doesn’t interest her”. However, when she does choose to discuss bullfighting, it’s at times a great read.
Second, she at times writes like a high school goth kid trying to be edgy. Hints at illness, suicide, and constantly taking pills distracts the reader from the supposed actual topic of the book. She even states it “doesn’t interest her”. However, when she does choose to discuss bullfighting, it’s at times a great read.
December 27, 2019
An interesting insight into bullfighting but narrative and human interest light and heavy in technical detail that I struggled to follow. The sparse insights into the psychological state of the author were left under developed and left unresolved at the end of the book.
September 1, 2017
Great opening and ending. Struggle with my lack of interest in bullfighting.
February 7, 2020
Really enjoyed this personal narrative in which the author looks to understand the cultural history and significance of bullfighting in Spain
July 17, 2020
Interestingly-written and informative. Makes me certain that I could never attend a bullfight in person.
April 28, 2021
A good antidote to Hemingway's masculine and ecstatic 'Death in the Afternoon'. Read both, watch a few Youtube videos, and you will know what you think about bullfighting.
April 19, 2023
The account of her attempted suicide is very well done. It’s more of a travelogue, a work commissioned for her, so it maintains that distance. But her writing is always sharp.
March 29, 2022
Interestingly written - from the authors own skewered life/personal/painful viewpoint. Strangely fascinating on such a repulsive subject.
September 4, 2012
Pulled this from my library to read as research for a new assignment I'm working on for the League Against Cruel Sports. Can't say I'm looking forward to it. Thumbed it so far. Useful glossary in the back. Going to be somewhat interesting to read if not enjoyable. Anyway, what's a respected author like A L Kennedy (who I've not read before) writing about bullfighting? Moreover, why is Jeanette Winterson blurbing that it's 'One of the best books of the year'?
Having now finished this book I can say that I'm pleased that I read it; however, it was generally disappointing, as it appears to be more like an extended magazine article than anything else. The mixing of the author's personal circumstances with her description of bullfighting is tenuous and opportunistic, ultimately lacking any real meaning. The descriptions of bullfighting and the accounts she describes of what she witnesses in the bullring are good. The work is generally informative. The glossary is useful.
Having now finished this book I can say that I'm pleased that I read it; however, it was generally disappointing, as it appears to be more like an extended magazine article than anything else. The mixing of the author's personal circumstances with her description of bullfighting is tenuous and opportunistic, ultimately lacking any real meaning. The descriptions of bullfighting and the accounts she describes of what she witnesses in the bullring are good. The work is generally informative. The glossary is useful.
January 23, 2024
I've had a bit of a thing about AL Kennedy since I read and loved So I Am Glad in the 90s. Which I think is probably still her best book. Anyway, most of us consider bullfighting loathsome, but there's all this great writing about it (Hemingway, Lorca, etc) So I thought a woman writing about it would be interesting and clarifyng. You'll come away from this book as conflicted as the writer though. She's obsessed with death (mainly the possibility of her own) & has no particular interest in bullfighting other than to see if makes her feel anything. So she is is surprised that (being death obsessed) she responds emotionally to it as a sort of awful ritual rather than as a blood sport. And that's why it's an interesting book - but its more about the writer than than about bullfighting so reading this short book isn't going to change whatever view you may already have about the apparent subject of it.
October 18, 2011
The best passages in the book are about the history and current state of bullfighting; Kennedy has researched the subject thoroughly and has a gift of observation. She captures both the sanctity and the luridness of bullfighting in equal measure. Contextualizing bullfighting within the religious, political and class upheavals in Spain also provides great insight into the longevity of this ritual. That Kennedy couches her travels to Spain and her research into bullfighting with her personal travails is far less successful and, for me, distracting and irritating. Other authors have managed this convention better, seamlessly weaving the personal with the topic at hand. For many reasons (including her pointless diatribes against Hemingway, a well-known aficionado), I don't find her a sympathetic character in this work of non-fiction.
August 23, 2013
Not quite the tour de force of Hemingway's 'Death in the Afternoon' but it is an update and does give an alternative glance at the subject.
The concluding pages may not be to everyone's satisfaction but this work was in fact the work that brought the writer back from the brink of suicide and for that it is a unique reading experience which is woven into the text.
If you are daunted by reading Ernest's tome on the subject, which may go into excessive detail and often reads like a history of the subject, then the much more manageable book by Kennedy, a Scottish writer, may be exactly what you are seeking on the topic.
The concluding pages may not be to everyone's satisfaction but this work was in fact the work that brought the writer back from the brink of suicide and for that it is a unique reading experience which is woven into the text.
If you are daunted by reading Ernest's tome on the subject, which may go into excessive detail and often reads like a history of the subject, then the much more manageable book by Kennedy, a Scottish writer, may be exactly what you are seeking on the topic.
June 12, 2008
This would have been four stars for the great information and insights on bullfighting, but it lost one star because of the totally unnecessary portion of the book - the author's annoying whining about her physical condition. I bought the book because I was interested in learning more about the corrida, not the aches and pains and travails of a writer. Still, the parts that actually deal with the corrida are well done and help to bring greater understanding of an unfairly-maligned grand Spanish tradition.
December 16, 2009
More of a self examination than an exploration of bullfighting, it gives enough about bullfighting to keep it interesting and limits the self examination enough to keep it from getting too dull. Some humor, dark humor, but funny—and some pathos. Short enough, too. Much longer and I'd never have picked it up. It is sympathetic enough to bullfighting that I might grudgingly give the activity some respect, but still think it idiocy. The writing is a little uneven.
May 3, 2025
This is so beautifully written, but I wasn't engaged in the topic at all. The author's words, however are breathtaking. Here are some words I connected with
-too many empty hotel rooms can cause depression - if you still count a room is empty with me inside it, which, of course, I do. So the more bulls, the merrier - bring them all in
-even after all this time, I still look for company in words, I still want to believe in the possibilities of inspiration.
-
-too many empty hotel rooms can cause depression - if you still count a room is empty with me inside it, which, of course, I do. So the more bulls, the merrier - bring them all in
-even after all this time, I still look for company in words, I still want to believe in the possibilities of inspiration.
-
June 2, 2008
I chose this from a list of books I could read for a Spanish class (oddly, it's in English). At the start, I was somewhat disinterested--it was just another book I had to read. But when I started reading it, it really drew me in. The bullfighting world is fascinating. Violent, yes. But fascinating. It's got so many rituals.
August 13, 2009
I never thought anyone could write a boring book about the exciting art of bullfighting but A.L. Kennedy managed it what with her constant talk about her depressions and ailments. She only seemed to remember that this was a book about bullfighting towards the last few chapters. She also got the names of some bullfighters wrong.
May 9, 2013
This is a very interesting book. This book is as much about bullfighting as it is about the author. She faces the good, the bad, and the ugly in bullfighting while struggling with illness, failed relationships, and writer's block. While not a handbook on bullfighting, Kennedy weaves the history of bullfighting and its arcane rituals throughout the book.
September 25, 2015
Well, it was interesting at times, and slightly boring at times. I read it in bits and pieces, a chapter or two at a time. I realize now I knew nothing about bullfighting. I thought it was just a matador waving a cape at a bull and then sticking it with a sword. It's much much more than that, and I am now even more abhorrent of the whole "sport" than I was before.
September 16, 2016
A bit of an unnecessary depression drama from the author's personal life, but luckily ends up bringing the passion from Las Ventas and gives a lot of historical facts about bullfighting I didn't know about. As a truly fan of corridas I recommend it to those who want to know what corridas are all about.
June 6, 2008
Essays on the spanish bullfight intermingle with physical and emotional turmoil. By the end, one is given a special visitor's pass to the deeper meaning and drama of this very controversial state treasure.
March 9, 2012
I'm only reviewing this pile of old tosh because I don't want other readers to believe it's actually 'on bullfighting'. It's not, and is woefully inconclusive on the subject as well as ill-informed. It's basically a long unfulfilled suicide note from a sad lady.
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