Martita, I Remember You = Martita, te recuerdo

by Sandra Cisneros, Liliana Valenzuela (Translator)

A long-forgotten letter sets off a charged encounter with the past in this poignant and gorgeously told tale masterfully told by Sandra Cisneros, the celebrated bestselling author of The House on Mango Street, in a beautiful dual-language edition.

As a young woman, Corina leaves her Mexican family in Chicago to pursue her dream of becoming a writer in the cafes of Paris. Instead, she spends her brief time in the City of Light running out of money and lining up with other immigrants to call home from a broken pay phone. But her months of befriending panhandling artists in the subway, sleeping on crowded attic floors, and dancing the tango at underground parties are given a lasting glow by her intense friendships with Martita and Paola. Over the years the three women disperse to three continents, falling out of touch and out of mind--until a letter unearthed in a closet brings Corina's days in Paris back with breathtaking immediacy.

Told with intimacy and searing tenderness, this tribute to the life-changing power of youthful friendship is Cisneros at her vintage best, in a beautiful dual-language edition.

Genres: Fiction, Spanish Literature, Novella, Short Stories, Audiobook, Latinx, France

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 7, 2021

About the author

Sandra Cisneros is internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lannan Literary Award and the American Book Award, and of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation.

Cisneros is the author of two novels The House on Mango Street and Caramelo; a collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek; two books of poetry, My Wicked Ways and Loose Woman; and a children's book, Hairs/Pelitos.

She is the founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of writers united to serve underserved communities (www.macondofoundation.org), and is Writer in Residence at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.

Reviews

[Gelareh Askari]

افتضاح! ترجمه نامفهوم و زشت. این امرایی از بدترین مترجمان زمانه‌ست.

[Sarah-Hope]

Did I enjoy reading Sandra Cisneros' Martita, I Remember You? Yes.

Is it a book I'll read again and again, like Loose Woman or The House on Mango Street? No.

Cisneros knows how to tell a story, to pull readers along on a journey, offering enough scenery and commentary that they never feel bored, never feel that they've wasted a moment of reading time. But, there are the books you read once and the books you read again and again. For me, Martita, I Remember You was a one-read experience.

Martita is an epistolary novella. The central character, Carina (known to the particular friends whose letters she's reading as Puffina) has come across a small bundle of letters from two women she spent time with in Paris years ago, with whom she's lost touch. All three were young then, hoping to be writers, artists, to make or do something that would make them stand out in some way. They were dreaming big. Clearly, those dreams didn't pan out, but I think part of the point here is that smaller things, just keeping going, doing right by loved ones and one's self, is enough. Small isn't the opposite of big. Small is a kind of big that it takes time and maturity to recognize.

I was charmed by this group of young friends, but never really felt I'd gotten to know them. As a reader, I had to fill in parts of their stories myself to get the sort of resonance I was looking for. So, in a way, I felt like I was simultaneously reading Martita while also writing parts of it.

I very much appreciate the format of this novella, with text provided both in English and Spanish. It gives readers with some competence in both languages an opportunity to see how language can affect the feel of a piece of writing, what kinds of ideas come across most clearly in which language.

Martita, I Remember You is definitely worth seeking out and reading. The pleasure may be brief, but it's pleasure nonetheless.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

[Linda]

3.5
I don't call myself a writer anymore,but I console myself with reading. Before, it was all about how I looked to others. Now, I just want to look good to myself. That's just as important isn't it? If not more.

Sandra Cisneros, the Mexican American poet and novelist's recent novella, Martita, I Remember You is a nostalgic reminder of youthful dreams. Corina, thirtysomething and married with two children, finds letters from the two female friends she met in Paris while trying to live their dreams. The letters draw her back in time as she reflects on her younger self and the person she has become. Cisneros deftly combines epistolary and prose forms in this finely crafted novella. It is a short and beautifully written reflection on friendship and change.

[• Parinaz •]

مثل همیشه داشتم بین قفسه‌های کتاب می‌گشتم و می‌گشتم که چشمم افتاد به جلدش. بدون حتی یه لحظه فکر کردن برداشتمش.
هیچ‌وقت فکر نمی‌کردم این‌قدر به دلم بچسبه :)
شاید چون این روزها بیشتر از هر وقت دیگه‌ای فکرم درگیر رفتن، نرسیدن و ترس از نتونستنه، مارتیتا دقیقاً وقتی اومد سراغم که باید.
آدم‌های بازنده یه جور عجیبی قلبمو لمس می‌کنن؛ شاید چون یه تیکه از ترس‌ها و امیدهای خودمو توشون می‌بینم.
و پوفینا…
آخ پوفینا.
فکر کنم تا مدت‌ها برای تو گریه کنم.
منم همینطور پوفینا، منم همینطوررر.
شهریور۴۰۵|🫧

[Raven]

“I should’ve answered your letter. Some things that happened to me were wonderful, and some parts were only good because they passed. When things were bad, I kept thinking better was just around the corner, and by the time I had the energy to raise my head and take a look at my life, years and years had passed. Forgive me. I didn’t want to admit to myself this was all I had to tell you, this life of mine. At the time, it didn’t seem enough, not what I expected, not what I had ordered, not what I wanted to share. Do you understand?”

My heart is so warm after reading Martita, I Remember You. This novella is equal parts everything that lights me up when it comes to literature: it’s a novella (once again, I’m here for a good time, not for a long time), it’s an exploration of friendships that are transformative and life-sustaining, it's an exploration of memory and personal myth, and! though it’s prose, it reads like poetry.

This is a novella in three parts. First, Corina reminisces on her time as a young woman in Paris. She remembers waiting in line with other immigrants to use the payphone. She remembers being cold and broke. She remembers feeling like an interloper because she didn’t speak French very well … because she was a writer who didn’t write. But mostly she remembers her friends Martita and Paola, who loved her.

There’s one scene in particular where Corina tells Martita that she’s “… never made love.” And Martita replies:

“Never? Not once?

Ay, Puffina, it’s what religion is supposed to be. Like when the sun shines through the church window’s prettiest colored glass and you know God isn’t inside that building, he’s inside you.

…

And it’s as if your body isn’t an anchor or an iron bell anymore, it’s only your spirit, wide as a sky, as if a thousand sparrows opened their wings inside your heart, and oh, it’s lovely, lovely, Puffina. As if you’ll never feel alone again.”

The tenderness! The way that Cisneros makes it clear that to love someone, is to gently inform them about the things that you know they must know. I read those lines, and I will never stop thinking about them!

This book is so beautiful! Aside from friendship, it’s about growing up and growing apart from people you loved. It’s about how the love always persists. It’s about how you rarely become the person you planned on becoming in your youth. And how despite the disappointment of that, there is still so much joy to be found in wherever you’ve wound up. It’s about how the love that was cultivated in friendships that only lasted for a season is, in fact, perennial. And all in only fifty-two pages! I have to share this one last quote:

“Sometimes I think of you at odd moments, Marta. When I’m teaching the youngest how to brush her own hair or painting my toes on the back porch and painting my girls’ toes, too. I suspect it must be that way for you, too. Which is when we both must be thinking of the other, tugging and yanking like the tides.”

Sandra Cisneros never misses. All of the stars, all of the satellites, all of the neon signs, and anything else that shines.

[Kimiya]

«زیستن به مدت کوتاهی در کتاب، داستان، شعر. آدم می‌ماند شعر چگونه اینهمه مطلب را به زیبایی تمام بیان می‌کند. ریچارد خسته‌تر از آن بود که به این‌جور مسائل دقت کند و‌ من تنها شاهد آن شادمانی و اندوه بودم. عادت کرده‌ام به تنهایی از آن شادمانی‌ها لذت ببرم.»

[Reyhan]

مجموعه برج بابل نشر چشمه رو دوست دارم. اینجوری نیست که شاهکار باشن، فقط ساده و دلنشینن.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

"As a young woman, Corina leaves her Mexican family in Chicago to pursue her dream of becoming a writer in the cafés of Paris...."

Instead she confronts an expensive city she can't afford and she has to figure out how to stay there. One thing is to find two dear friends, and some of the memories come through in these letters.

This is in English and in Spanish, so as an audiobook it's 3.25 hours total but perhaps only if you speak both languages!

[Ava Kiarasi]

چی بگم؟
نه اینکه بد باشد اما حرفی که داشت در جاهای دیگر به مراتب جذاب‌تر بیان شده. شاید به نظر من بیشتر درد و دل دخترانه بود تا قصه ای ماجرادار از دخترهایی که دردهایی دارند.

[payam Mohammadi]

داستان درباره‌ی سه دوست از سه کشور متفاوت است که در پاریس در مقطعی با هم روزگار می‌گذرانند.
در این داستان سعی شده که بیشتر به واقعیات زندگی در شهر پاریس که عموما شهر آرزوهای خیلی از مردم جهان است بپردازد؛ که این شهر آنی نیست که خلق‌الله در ذهن خود تصور می‌کنند.
این داستان به زندگی سخت قشر متوسط به پایین پرداخته بود که تمام تلاش‌شان در این دنیا عموما به زنده ماندن و نه زندگی کردن معطوف است.
داستان ایده‌ی خوبی داشت اما به معنای واقعی کلمه آشغال بود. هیچ گونه انسجامی نداشت و سعی شده بود با پس و پیش کردن زمانی روایت داستان کمی جذابش کنه که خب به کاهدون زد؛ بیشتر به هذیان‌گویی می‌مانست تا داستان سرایی.
به باور من اگه کسی این کتاب رو نخونه چیزی رو از دست نداده و می‌تونه پول و وقتش رو صرف کتاب دیگه‌ای بکنه.

[Saba]

با خودم فکر میکنم اگه منم پام به پاریس برسه، همچنان همونم که هستم.
اما هنوز هم پاریس شهر رویا‌های منه.

«توی قلبم سوراخی است که آن طرفش پیداست، انگار یکی سیگاری برداشته و کرده تو و از آن ور بیرون آمده. چیزی که روزی قد سر سوزنی بوده حالا آن‌قدر جا باز کرده که انگشت از آن رد می‌شود.»

«منتظرم چیزی بزرگتر از حد من در زندگی اتفاق بیفتد. تمام عمرم منتظر بوده‌ام.»

[sophia]

Not my favorite Cisneros book, but still beautiful. My favorite part are the letters from Paola—the phrasing is so very Italian. “It is a long time I don’t have news from you”—è tanto tempo che non ho notizie da te. I think maybe I’ll understand it more when I’m older.

[Elizabeth Moore]

What a wonderful little book by the beloved Sandra Cisneros. More quietly reflective than magnificent, it's a joy to settle back into her style that I've come to know and love. From the perspective of Puffina to her long lost friend Martita, this book--told in letters and responses to letters--is about two (sometimes three, but mostly two) friends who lived together during their few but formative years trying to make it in Paris. From the bittersweet recollections of her past self to the acceptance of her current self who did not turn out the way she dreamed, we get a peek into Puffina's brief but astonishingly complete reflection on life. Tender and thoughtfully written, this short book can be read and savored in an afternoon, which I do recommend.

"This morning re-reading your letters and drinking my coffee in the kitchen and sitting under a little square of sunlight that comes through the lace curtain in a graceful pattern, just sitting here, and looking at the walls and not thinking anything special. Just to be able to sit, nice and warm in this lovely square of sunlight, and to not have to go to work today, and no one calling me, and the house very quiet for once, my Richard and our lovely girls all safe and snug at the library. And far away the sound of the expressway whooshing like the ocean, and to realize suddenly . . . happiness.

Sometimes when I look at trees in winter, how their bare branches give off a violet light. Or the scent of a baguette. Or the Moroccan design on an antique doorknob. Or how a window opens out instead of up. They remind me of those days I lived beside you, Martita. Though I don’t tell anyone, I think it. Without regret. We don’t write one another anymore, but I still think of you, Marta. Un recuerdo. A remembrance, a souvenir, a memory. Te recuerdo, Martita, I remember you."

[Boogi Lu]

-برام مملو ازغربت بود این کتاب، حس سفر کردن و تلاش برای موندن و حس دردناک اینکه آخرش که نمی‌تونی بمونی. پر از حس مهاجرت و یه کوه غم که حالا باید چی کار کنی.
-سبک نوشتاری این نوولا یه جوری هستش که یه عالمه کلمه اسپانیولی و ایتالیایی و فرانسوی قاطی متن می کنه انگار می‌خواد بگه بعضی حرف‌ها رو نمیشه ترجمه کرد و فقط تو زبان مادر می‌تونه باشن، شاید تمام معنیشون رو نشه کامل فهمید ولی بهتر می‌شه جانِ کلمه رو حس کرد.
-تجربه کوتاه خوبی بود.
۶ از ۱۰ *

[Joy]

2.5 stars
Very artistic, but also fairly uninteresting. This one seems to suffer from the same thing that haunts extremely autobiographical works: there is not enough connection for an outsider.

The biggest flaw for me is the epistolary structure. It is disjointed and just so trendy that I’ve had enough, regardless of how effective Cisneros may be with it. She has doubled down on minimalism and insinuation to a spot just before poetry with each entry. I would actually be happier with a book of poems. Instead, I am left with no narrative and no fully developed poetry.

This one will be a hit with trendy fans of creative nonfiction, as it echoes some of those patterns. Personally, I’m glad it was short. Thank you to Sandra Cisneros, Vintage Books, and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Morgan]

I am sorry but when I was reading this I just found I did not care about the story too much, the writing style is not for me. I found myself a little lost and confused during it and it did not hook me. I really wanted to read the other half in Spanish but I struggled enough with the English part so I only read that. However I have heard great things about Cisneros other works so please do not let this discourage you! I would still love to read "House on Mango" street! This particular work was just not for me.

[Keely]

When Corina rediscovers a stash of her old letters, it brings back vivid memories of Marta and Paola--the two young women she befriended, partied with, and crashed with, during a long-ago trip to Paris. Told through a mix of letters and impressionistic memories of incidents and conversations, Martita, I Remember You offers a snapshot of a charmed moment in life.

This very short novella contains flashes of Cisneros's signature poetic, emotion-laden imagery. However, for the most part, it seemed to merely skim the surface of a bigger, deeper story. Martita, I Remember You feels sketchy, undeveloped. I think it could have been stronger as a longer, more fleshed-out novel.

[Niloofar]

کتاب داستان سه زن را روایت می‌کند، زنانی با رویاهای بزرگ (یا حتا نه چندان بزرگ) ولی خاموش شده در برابر روزمرگی‌ها، مشکلات مالی و دیگر مشکلات شاید پیشِ پا افتاده‌ی زندگی.
آشنایی سه زن در پاریس رخ می‌دهد، شهر رویاها، جشنِ بی‌کرانی که برای بعضی فقط چند ساعت طول می‌کشد. هم‌چنان که ماجرای آشنایی این سه زن را می‌خوانیم با شخصیت هر یک آشنا می‌شویم.
کتاب با نامه‌ای از سال‌های دور شروع می‌شود و با نامه‌ها هم تمام می‌شود. نامه‌هایی که مارتیتا و پائولا برای کورینا (راوی قصه) نوشته‌اند.
در گوشه و کنار روایت، خرده نوشته‌هایی را داریم که هم‌زمان امید و ناامیدی را در دل خود دارند و انگار درس‌هایی برای زندگی‌اند. یا لااقل برداشت من چنین است.
داستان ساده و خوش‌خوان است. پیچیدگی عجیب غریبی ندارد و ترجمه‌اش هم خوب است. هم این که چندان بلند و دور و دراز نیست؛ همه‌ی این‌ها سبب می‌شود که کتاب مناسبی برای یک عصر گرم تابستانی باشد، وقتی شربت خنکی درست کرده‌ایم و زیر کولر لم داده‌ایم.

[Diego Alessandro Lopez Ramirez]

Saved by last 10 pages

[Judy]

I have read Caramelo by this author but not her most well-known novel, The House on Mango Street. I had some problems with the book I did read though it gave me insight I had not had before about the trials of a Mexican/American woman.

The joy of reading Martita, I Remember You was two fold. One, it is a novella/long short story so I read it in no time. Two, a woman is looking back on her youth when she lived in Paris with several friends. They were all desperately poor and it was always cold. Now the woman is reaching out to one of those friends in letters and pondering the choices she made later.

In the paperback edition I read, both the English and Spanish versions are combined. If you read from the front it is English. If you flip the book over and read from the back it is in Spanish. I, of course read the English.

The author is living in Chicago, trying to renovate her apartment. She digs out letters from Martita and falls into remembering the Paris adventure. It is so bittersweet, trying to reconnect with an earlier self and earlier friends. Who was that young woman so full of hope for an adventurous life? Who is this grown woman with a husband who is almost OK, with children and unfulfilled dreams? The difficulties of reigniting a connection with friends from another long-gone part of one’s life was so real to me.

The writing is fragmentary but evocative of that portion of life, of dreams, of stubbornness, of willing to go through almost anything to achieve a goal, of first sexual encounters (not love), and finally of the sweet confusion when facing what she has now. Very much a woman’s story.

[Lunacy]

فقط می‌تونم بگم که بسیار زیبا بود ✨

داستان درباره سه تا دختره که برای ساخت زندگیشون به پاریس، فرانسه می‌رند و همونجا باهم توی مهمونی آشنا میشن و دوستیشون شروع میشه. با اینکه پاریس براشون موفقیت چشمگیری به همراه نداشت، اما اونا تونستن که رابطه دوستی خوبی بسازن. حتی بعد از ترک پاریس و رفتن هریک از اونا به کشورهای جداگانه، اونا همچنان با نامه نگاری باهم در ارتباط بودن.

[Hanieh]

داستان از جایی شروع می‌شود که کورینا جعبه‌ای قدیمی را بعد از سال‌ها خاک خوردن در گوشه‌ی انباری، باز می‌کند و با دیدن نامه‌ای، خاطرات گذشته برایش تازه می‌شود. کورینا، پائولا و مارتیتا سه دوست و سه شخصیت اصلی داستان که روزگاری، هر یک به‌انگیزه‌ای و امید و آرزویی، به پاریس رفته بودند و همانجا باهم آشنا شدند. حال که سال‌ها از آن روزها گذشته و آن‌ها از هم جدا شده و هر یک به‌دنبال زندگی و سرنوشت خودرفته اند، دیدن نامه‌ها آغاز مرور خاطرات و بازگشت به روزهای زندگی در پاریس برای کورینا است.
داستان شور و ‌شوق‌های کمرنگ‌شده و آرزوهای برباد رفته در خلال روزمرگی و دوستی‌هایی که پیوند بینشان گسسته اما یادشان باقی مانده و با اندک جرقه‌ای دوباره زنده می‌شوند. مثل جایی از کتاب که کورینا می‌گوید: "مارتیتا، همه‌ی این‌ها مرا به یاد روزهایی می‌اندازد که کنار تو بودم. هرچند به کسی بروز نمی‌دهم، به آن فکر می‌کنم. ناراحت هم نیستم. ابایی هم ندارم. مارتا درست است که دیگر با هم مکاتبه نداریم، اما هنوز به تو فکر می‌کنم. مارتیتا، من از یادت نمی‌کاهم. مرا از یاد نبر..."

[Sarah Thomas]

Bittersweet and full of beautiful sentences. The story of three young immigrant women trying to support themselves and each other in Paris, confided years later as the narrator remembers her friends. The limits of race and class against the vast hope of "waiting for something to happen" made me sad. The poetry-like descriptions delighted me. The celebration of the small joys in life, mingled with the hardships that don't recede, rang true.

[Flybyreader]

“Tener a la persona a quien amas viva y sana, viviendo en el planeta al mismo tiempo que tú, pero eligiendo no estar contigo. Eso es peor que la muerte, creo yo.”

Cisneros does it again, creating a powerful short novel written in epistolary form, ripping my heart apart. She has a unique way with words, unveiling a myriad of emotions using simplest of words. This magnetic bilingual short story is about three girls trying to survive in Paris full of hopes and dreams for the future:

“I’m waiting for something to happen. Something always happens in Paris. Paris, with its chandeliers and palaces. Paris, of champagne and moon. I’m waiting for something bigger than my life.”

With letters exchanged between the three, we read about this transition period, their beautiful friendship, their growth and change. Cisnero’s eloquence and poignant style creates wonders and I wished it were longer. The book consists of two parts each in a different language. I really enjoyed reading the story in both languages, comparing the small nuances. Definitely recommended!

(I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

[Kowsar Bagheri]

زنانگی، خواهرانگی، فرودستی، هجرت، خانه‌به‌دوشی، زیر پوست شهر، فروپاشی رؤیاها، بزرگسالی، پاریسی که بی‌رحمانه پیروز شد و هر سه زن را به «خانه» فرستاد، بزرگسالی، کار رندوم از سر ناچاری، پذیرش واقعیت و نمردن.

+این کتاب امتیازهای پایینی در گودریدز گرفت اما من دوستش داشتم. شاید به‌خاطر همذات‌پنداری‌ست. تقریباً تمام این‌ها را من هم زیسته‌ام. با این تفاوت که شما به‌جای پاریس بگذار تهران. و این‌که جنگ من و زندگی هنوز تمام نشده.

[Masih Reyhani]

این کتاب یا عنوان «من از یادت نمی‌کاهم، مارتیتا» از مجموعه‌ی برج بابل توسط نشر چشمه منتشر شده است.

کتاب در مورد دختران جوانی است که به پاریس آمده‌اند تا رویاهاشان را زیست کنند اما با حقیقت تلخ زندگی و سختی‌های مهاجرت و مسائلی از این دست روبرو می‌شوند.

[Cristina]

I don't remember House on Mango Street, but I have respect for this Chicana author who forged her way back in the 80s and 90s when I was first reading women of color and discovering feminism in a context of authors like Cisneros. I watched her chat with the also amazing Joy Harjo last night at the first Santa Fe Literary Festival and loved her even more. This tiny book, about 50 pages in English, and 50 in Spanish translation that I hope I'll try to read, is a snapshot of a character not unlike Cisneros who went to Europe (France mainly) to "become a writer". She struggles to find other writers, but finds street artists and friends from South America and Italy who she shares her daily adventures with. It's nostalgic and sweet and resonated with me because of the my travels and the various characters I met while abroad and searching for more.

[Aura]

Doubly delightful short story in English and in Spanish. When I was in high school taking French class, I had a dream that I would move to France and become fluent in the beautiful French language. French always came easy to me because it resembles Spanish so much and I love it so much. This short story is a lovely snippet in time when friends live in Paris just out of high school. The friendship, the hopes and the dreams. Oh my dream passed me by! Lovely lovely short read that reminded me of why we should not let dreams just pass us by.

[Megan Augustiny]

Having just returned home from a couple weeks traveling, it was nice to read such a beautifully written account of an American living abroad. Cisneros captured all those particularities that make travel so exhilarating: the giddy anticipation of sitting down for a drink at a local dive, the quandary that is figuring out street and transit signage, the tight bonds formed almost instantaneously with your fellow travel companions as you cling to one another in a foreign landscape. Cisneros always makes even the most mundane aspects of live seem a romantic adventure, and, with this short piece, she made me eager to hop on a plane (or train) as soon as possible and explore some new corner of the world.

[Selena]

This was a lovely read. It gave me wanderlust for Europe and made me want to read and write in a cute Parisian cafe. It really enjoyed the fact it had both languages, many Spanish is "not so good-looking" ( *if you know, you know*) and it was good practice because this book is not as complex as 'The House of the Spirits' or '100 years of solitude.'