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La materia del deseo
Pedro returns to Bolivia from the United States to escape the amorous attentions of his former student, Ashley, and to investigate the life of his father, a leftist leader who was killed by the Bolivian government.
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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August 4, 2010If you like self absorbed middle aged angst of academics that will bore you to tears, this book is for you. Suffice to say, I did not like it. And it is not what I would consider a political thriller. A meandering, predictable political mystery involving people you are not even interested in enough to despise, maybe. But to call it a thriller would imply that there's something engaging about the book, which is not the case in the slightest.
January 9, 2009
BOOOOORRRRINNNNNNG. Really. Blah blah and more verbal random stuff. I LOVE books about Latin America. Forget it. I finished it hoping to figure out what the point of the book was....sigh. I need to stop picking books by the region the author is from. :)
February 23, 2013
Le iría mejor si se limita a una trama. A su estilo le falta pesó.
March 2, 2014
Uno empieza a leer a Paz Soldán por puro espíritu nacionalista. Pero rápidamente lo lee por que es simplemente excelente. Lo seguí en algunos casos a través de sus cuentos (que no son mis favoritos, aunque Dochera me gustó bastante) pero sobre todo a través de sus novelas. El Delirio de Turing, Palacio Quemado y otros me gustaron mucho, por su prolija armazón, el estilo trabajado pero no pretencioso, y los personajes, más cercanos a nuestra experiencia. La Materia del Deseo, que de hecho es más antiguo, me gustó aún más, por varias razones.
La experiencia académica, de estudiante o joven profesor, que relata nostálgicamente el protagonista, hace eco en vivencias propias del lector. El ambiente de desafío intelectual, aún tomando un café o comiendo un sandwich, el descubrimiento de tantas cosas nuevas (mas aún, si la experiencia es aún más ajena, en otro país), la aventura en fin. Y, a veces, inevitablemente, la obsesión del amor.
Pero lo que te atrae y enreda, como quien ni lo nota, es la buena dinámica, la sapiencia técnica y la maestría en los coups de théatre de la historia en sí. Un típico camino de autodescubrimiento, de retorno, pero también de decepciones y frustraciones. De nunca ya terminar de regresar, puesto que ya te fuiste alguna vez. La sorpresa, repetida, pero aún así sorpresa, de saberse un poquito ajeno a todas las realidades en que vives, puesto que siempre está la otra. Y el mayor misterio, que es el de tu propio pasado, de tu familia íntima y cercana, de tu padre, que no conociste. Un héroe ante una de nuestras muchas dictaduras, pero un héroe con sombras que descubres, a veces incluso a tu pesar.
Una buena novela, en que a veces me parece notar el hilito académico que estructura quizá demasiado visiblemente el sólido armazón de la obra. No es la primera vez que tengo esa impresión de Paz Soldán. Como un esfuerzo visible entre bambalinas que en ocasiones el lector vislumbra, un poco a su pesar, pues nota la argucia. Y eso disminuye la potencia de la sorpresa y de la espontaneidad. Es cierto que ninguna obra es espontánea. De hecho, debes pulirla mucho para que de esa impresión.
La experiencia académica, de estudiante o joven profesor, que relata nostálgicamente el protagonista, hace eco en vivencias propias del lector. El ambiente de desafío intelectual, aún tomando un café o comiendo un sandwich, el descubrimiento de tantas cosas nuevas (mas aún, si la experiencia es aún más ajena, en otro país), la aventura en fin. Y, a veces, inevitablemente, la obsesión del amor.
Pero lo que te atrae y enreda, como quien ni lo nota, es la buena dinámica, la sapiencia técnica y la maestría en los coups de théatre de la historia en sí. Un típico camino de autodescubrimiento, de retorno, pero también de decepciones y frustraciones. De nunca ya terminar de regresar, puesto que ya te fuiste alguna vez. La sorpresa, repetida, pero aún así sorpresa, de saberse un poquito ajeno a todas las realidades en que vives, puesto que siempre está la otra. Y el mayor misterio, que es el de tu propio pasado, de tu familia íntima y cercana, de tu padre, que no conociste. Un héroe ante una de nuestras muchas dictaduras, pero un héroe con sombras que descubres, a veces incluso a tu pesar.
Una buena novela, en que a veces me parece notar el hilito académico que estructura quizá demasiado visiblemente el sólido armazón de la obra. No es la primera vez que tengo esa impresión de Paz Soldán. Como un esfuerzo visible entre bambalinas que en ocasiones el lector vislumbra, un poco a su pesar, pues nota la argucia. Y eso disminuye la potencia de la sorpresa y de la espontaneidad. Es cierto que ninguna obra es espontánea. De hecho, debes pulirla mucho para que de esa impresión.
June 16, 2017
I thought this would be a boring novel. A bolivian academic teaching in the USA, back in Bolivia running away from a complicated love relationship, not my kind of plot. But Paz Soldan has written some books (that I have not read) with interesting titles (Digital Dreams, Turing's delirium), one of his latest novels (Iris) is even listed as Science Fiction, so I decided to give his previous work a chance and see how he writes.
First pages weren't so exciting, but some of the subjects started to catch me, someone that doesn't know where he belongs, the informality and day-by-day reality of a southamerican country, the puzzles, the crosswords. There were other subjects that didn't call me, such as the life in US universities, the love affair with the gringa, but I didn't disliked them either.
So, I ended being caught by the story. And Paz Soldan writes in a not boring style, I finished it in just 3 days. The ending is ambiguous but surprising. It is not a perfect work, but not bad at all. I recomended to all who likes latinamerican literature, or just good literature.
First pages weren't so exciting, but some of the subjects started to catch me, someone that doesn't know where he belongs, the informality and day-by-day reality of a southamerican country, the puzzles, the crosswords. There were other subjects that didn't call me, such as the life in US universities, the love affair with the gringa, but I didn't disliked them either.
So, I ended being caught by the story. And Paz Soldan writes in a not boring style, I finished it in just 3 days. The ending is ambiguous but surprising. It is not a perfect work, but not bad at all. I recomended to all who likes latinamerican literature, or just good literature.
November 11, 2015
The story takes place in part in a university in up-state New York that looks very much like Cornell where Paz Soldán is teaching and in part in Rio Fugitivo a fictive city in Bolivia.
Pedro, a young professor in political sciences specialized in Latin America takes a sabbatical from his north-American university. The timing is opportune as it allows him fleeing from a complicated and professionally dangerous affair with Ashley, one of his American student. More officially, he also travels back to Rio Fugitivo to do research on his father, Pedro Reissig, a heroic figure from the leftist revolutionary struggle in Bolivia in the 60s, killed with his group during a trap organized by the security services.
To read more:
http://www.travelreadings.org/2015/11...
Pedro, a young professor in political sciences specialized in Latin America takes a sabbatical from his north-American university. The timing is opportune as it allows him fleeing from a complicated and professionally dangerous affair with Ashley, one of his American student. More officially, he also travels back to Rio Fugitivo to do research on his father, Pedro Reissig, a heroic figure from the leftist revolutionary struggle in Bolivia in the 60s, killed with his group during a trap organized by the security services.
To read more:
http://www.travelreadings.org/2015/11...
June 7, 2025
Recensione originale: https://sonnenbarke.wordpress.com/202...
Pedro è un giovane professore all’università di Madison, negli Stati Uniti, dove ha una relazione con una studentessa, Ashley. Lei però è fidanzata con Patrick, stanno per sposarsi, e Pedro decide di scappare da questa situazione chiedendo un semestre sabbatico e tornando per qualche mese nella natia Bolivia. Qui è ospitato da suo zio David, che di mestiere crea cruciverba. Il padre di Pedro è morto quando lui era piccolo, era un dissidente politico e qualcuno ha tradito lui e la sua cellula, perciò sono stati quasi tutti uccisi in una retata. Quasi tutti, perché lo zio David si è salvato per un pelo, pur perdendo un occhio, mentre un altro membro del gruppo non si era presentato alla riunione, perciò tutti pensano che sia stato lui a tradire. Il padre di Pedro ha scritto un romanzo, Berkeley, complicatissimo e multisfaccettato. Pedro cerca di interpretarne tutti i molteplici livelli di significato e, con la scusa di scrivere un libro, cerca di saperne di più su quel padre che praticamente non ha mai conosciuto.
Questa è la storia in estrema sintesi. Oltre alla trama in sé, però, riveste una grande importanza il carattere dei personaggi, particolarmente di Pedro (che è odioso), ma anche i cruciverba di zio David e il libro del padre di Pedro. In un certo senso il libro, Berkeley, è anch’esso un protagonista del romanzo, quindi potremmo anche dire che sia un romanzo piuttosto metaletterario. Sicuramente la scrittura, la struttura e la trama fanno pensare a tanti romanzi americani postmoderni. La storia della Bolivia resta solo sullo sfondo: è vero che Pedro se ne occupa sia come professore che come opinionista per varie testate statunitensi, ma la politica non prende mai davvero il sopravvento in questo libro, nonostante il padre fosse un sovversivo contrario al regime.
Non è un brutto romanzo, tutt’altro, ma è forse un po’ noioso, inoltre i personaggi, in particolare il protagonista, sono così odiosi che è davvero difficile sentire il desiderio di trascorrere un po’ di tempo tra le pagine che li raccontano. Personalmente l’ho gradito, ma non mi ha entusiasmato. Non so se gli altri romanzi di Paz Soldán siano più interessanti, magari un giorno leggerò qualcos’altro di suo, ma non a breve.
Pedro è un giovane professore all’università di Madison, negli Stati Uniti, dove ha una relazione con una studentessa, Ashley. Lei però è fidanzata con Patrick, stanno per sposarsi, e Pedro decide di scappare da questa situazione chiedendo un semestre sabbatico e tornando per qualche mese nella natia Bolivia. Qui è ospitato da suo zio David, che di mestiere crea cruciverba. Il padre di Pedro è morto quando lui era piccolo, era un dissidente politico e qualcuno ha tradito lui e la sua cellula, perciò sono stati quasi tutti uccisi in una retata. Quasi tutti, perché lo zio David si è salvato per un pelo, pur perdendo un occhio, mentre un altro membro del gruppo non si era presentato alla riunione, perciò tutti pensano che sia stato lui a tradire. Il padre di Pedro ha scritto un romanzo, Berkeley, complicatissimo e multisfaccettato. Pedro cerca di interpretarne tutti i molteplici livelli di significato e, con la scusa di scrivere un libro, cerca di saperne di più su quel padre che praticamente non ha mai conosciuto.
Questa è la storia in estrema sintesi. Oltre alla trama in sé, però, riveste una grande importanza il carattere dei personaggi, particolarmente di Pedro (che è odioso), ma anche i cruciverba di zio David e il libro del padre di Pedro. In un certo senso il libro, Berkeley, è anch’esso un protagonista del romanzo, quindi potremmo anche dire che sia un romanzo piuttosto metaletterario. Sicuramente la scrittura, la struttura e la trama fanno pensare a tanti romanzi americani postmoderni. La storia della Bolivia resta solo sullo sfondo: è vero che Pedro se ne occupa sia come professore che come opinionista per varie testate statunitensi, ma la politica non prende mai davvero il sopravvento in questo libro, nonostante il padre fosse un sovversivo contrario al regime.
Non è un brutto romanzo, tutt’altro, ma è forse un po’ noioso, inoltre i personaggi, in particolare il protagonista, sono così odiosi che è davvero difficile sentire il desiderio di trascorrere un po’ di tempo tra le pagine che li raccontano. Personalmente l’ho gradito, ma non mi ha entusiasmato. Non so se gli altri romanzi di Paz Soldán siano più interessanti, magari un giorno leggerò qualcos’altro di suo, ma non a breve.
December 16, 2021
Es un libro bueno y entretenido pero no memorable.
April 11, 2022
Cudowna zagadka logiczna... or is it?
June 13, 2023
letto per l'esame di letteratura ispanoamericana
April 14, 2024
Why am I crying over the affair of a university professor with his married student?
May 17, 2024
El libro se puede decir que es interesante pero lastimosamente el final arruina todo, específicamente no tiene un final. Es como un libro a la mitad a pesar de tener más de 300 páginas.
July 23, 2025
“This isn't my city anymore. I'm a stranger, a foreigner here. It escaped my grasp and left me behind, moved on without me toward its splendorous and unfortunate future.”
August 1, 2025
Demasiado McOndiana, lo cual, en pleno 2025, resulta irónicamente envejecida. Formulaica, también.
March 30, 2021
The Matter of Desire starts with Pedro arriving in Bolivia and in the present he is reconnecting with old friends, living with his Uncle David, and trying to learn more about his father; a political activist who was assassinated when Pedro was a child. The story also jumps back in time every now and then to show how Pedro met Ashley and the progression of their relationship.
Pedro isn’t a particularly likeable character. He is the epitome of the self-absorbed academic character and it gets old and annoying very quickly. Instead of focusing on academic work and research which are more challenging (and is what his university expects him to do), he has made a name of himself by being the go to academic for news sources to quote on any events or issues concerning Latin America, something that doesn’t require as much thought or attention. He even admits to using other academic works as templates for his own, copying their style and then overlooking figures and research that don’t support his claims. He just doesn’t seem like the sort of person who should be teaching, never mind the fact he got in a relationship with a student.
Pedro is also obsessed with finding out more about his father. It’s understandable as he was a child when his dad was killed, and his dad has become an almost legendary hero to the people of Bolivia as he was fighting against a supposed corrupt and totalitarian government. Pedro’s father wrote a book before he was killed, and Pedro is desperate to find hidden meanings in it and believes the book, like his father, is great. While the book also has a kind of cult status, it’s not generally seen as such a great achievement as Pedro thinks it is.
Admittedly I found the politics aspect a bit confusing. I know nothing about Bolivia’s political history and was confused when googling the names mentioned as some of them were real people, while others weren’t. The author may have been using a pseudonym that Bolivian’s or people who are familiar with Bolivia would know who was meant, but someone like me was left confused. Also, I’m pretty sure Pedro’s dad was a fictious figure, as was the city where this was all taking place.
The fact that naturally a lot of the books I read for the Read the World Project are translated doesn’t really register for me a lot of the time. I’m someone who looks for an enjoyable or interesting story first rather than how well a book is written. I would be interested in seeing The Matter of Desire in its original language though, as there’s parts of the book, often dialogue between a native Spanish speaker and someone who’s learnt the language, where there’s the odd word, phrase or sentence in Spanish dropped into the conversation. I think this is a prime example of Spanglish. A lot of the time based on context, you can easily pick out the meaning of the Spanish word or phrase based on the rest of the conversation that’s in English. I’d be interested to see if in the original Spanish version, the phrases that are in Spanish in the translated version, were in English in the original.
The first half of The Matter of Desire was very slow to get into. It’s difficult to become attached to a self-centred character and one who fails to communicate with a lot of people in his life including friends, family, and Ashley who he is supposed to love a lot. The second half of the 214-page book (which sometimes felt a lot longer) was a bit more interesting as Pedro was learning more about his father. Perhaps it’s cruel but I think I enjoyed that part more as the things he was finding out about his dad weren’t all good and it was taking the shine off the idolised version of him that Pedro had. Pedro was so obsessed with the fact that his father was a great man, that seeing him have to deal with the fact that may not have been the entire story was kind of enjoyable.
All in all, I did find The Matter of Desire a struggle to get through. I didn’t really care about Pedro and towards the end as more secrets and lies are uncovered, things seemed to get pretty complicated very quickly and without much of a clear explanation.
Pedro isn’t a particularly likeable character. He is the epitome of the self-absorbed academic character and it gets old and annoying very quickly. Instead of focusing on academic work and research which are more challenging (and is what his university expects him to do), he has made a name of himself by being the go to academic for news sources to quote on any events or issues concerning Latin America, something that doesn’t require as much thought or attention. He even admits to using other academic works as templates for his own, copying their style and then overlooking figures and research that don’t support his claims. He just doesn’t seem like the sort of person who should be teaching, never mind the fact he got in a relationship with a student.
Pedro is also obsessed with finding out more about his father. It’s understandable as he was a child when his dad was killed, and his dad has become an almost legendary hero to the people of Bolivia as he was fighting against a supposed corrupt and totalitarian government. Pedro’s father wrote a book before he was killed, and Pedro is desperate to find hidden meanings in it and believes the book, like his father, is great. While the book also has a kind of cult status, it’s not generally seen as such a great achievement as Pedro thinks it is.
Admittedly I found the politics aspect a bit confusing. I know nothing about Bolivia’s political history and was confused when googling the names mentioned as some of them were real people, while others weren’t. The author may have been using a pseudonym that Bolivian’s or people who are familiar with Bolivia would know who was meant, but someone like me was left confused. Also, I’m pretty sure Pedro’s dad was a fictious figure, as was the city where this was all taking place.
The fact that naturally a lot of the books I read for the Read the World Project are translated doesn’t really register for me a lot of the time. I’m someone who looks for an enjoyable or interesting story first rather than how well a book is written. I would be interested in seeing The Matter of Desire in its original language though, as there’s parts of the book, often dialogue between a native Spanish speaker and someone who’s learnt the language, where there’s the odd word, phrase or sentence in Spanish dropped into the conversation. I think this is a prime example of Spanglish. A lot of the time based on context, you can easily pick out the meaning of the Spanish word or phrase based on the rest of the conversation that’s in English. I’d be interested to see if in the original Spanish version, the phrases that are in Spanish in the translated version, were in English in the original.
The first half of The Matter of Desire was very slow to get into. It’s difficult to become attached to a self-centred character and one who fails to communicate with a lot of people in his life including friends, family, and Ashley who he is supposed to love a lot. The second half of the 214-page book (which sometimes felt a lot longer) was a bit more interesting as Pedro was learning more about his father. Perhaps it’s cruel but I think I enjoyed that part more as the things he was finding out about his dad weren’t all good and it was taking the shine off the idolised version of him that Pedro had. Pedro was so obsessed with the fact that his father was a great man, that seeing him have to deal with the fact that may not have been the entire story was kind of enjoyable.
All in all, I did find The Matter of Desire a struggle to get through. I didn’t really care about Pedro and towards the end as more secrets and lies are uncovered, things seemed to get pretty complicated very quickly and without much of a clear explanation.
July 25, 2013
This is the longest 214 page book I've ever read. There is a twist at the end which made no sense to me in view of what came before. And don't even attempt this book unless you speak Spanish or want to Google translate a lot. I understand the narrator is from Latin America and many of the characters are involved in college programs in which Spanish is spoken but switching back and forth mid-sentence doesn't come across as smooth, natural, or worldly; it seems precious. A novel entitled "Berkley" is mentioned numerous times in this novel and at least that many times I wished that was the book I was reading. Still, the jacket says the author has written six novels and this is the first to be translated into English so maybe what I need to do is learn a whole lot of Spanish and give one of them a try (or wait to see if I like the translated edition of one of them better than I did this one.)
January 5, 2014
I think if I knew more about the history of Bolivia I might have enjoyed this more, but the major love interest of the main character just never got developed enough for me to get invested in her... maybe that was the point, and she was only there to reflect the history of the love interests of the father and uncle... I also have the feeling I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it in Spanish rather than the translation. The use of language was strange. They would lapse into Spanish phrases for very common words... was this English in the original?
April 3, 2009
Wow, there are few books I just can't get through, but this was one of them. Boring and indulgent, its plot, character and dialogue are all sacrificed for a political manifesto. Zzzzzzz.
July 27, 2009
I read this in Spanish first and then in English, and liked it in Spanish better. It is a quick read and is entertaining.
March 29, 2010
painful!
April 13, 2014
Wonderfully written, but sadly the character of the narrator and his modern love interest never became very fleshed out. Would have been much improved focusing on the past storyline of the father.
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