What do you think?
Rate this book
Los minutos negros
Librarian note: This ISBN might not belong to this title. Further information is welcome.
Habia una vez una prostituta llamada Maria. Como un cuento de hadas contando para adultos, asi comienza la novela que conmovio al mundo. Me costo mucho aprender que el encuentro carnal de dos cuerpos es mas que una simple respuesta a estimulos fisicos o al instinto de perpetuacion de la especie. En verdad, lleva consigo toda la carga cultural del hombre y de la humanidad. Once minutos no pretende ser un manual o un tratado sobre el hombre y la mujer frente al mundo aun desconocido de la relacion sexual. Es un analisis de mi propio recorrido, sin pretender, en ningun momento, juzgar aquello que vivi; buscaba descubrir si habia tenido el valor de aprender todo lo que la vida me enseno sobre ello.
Habia una vez una prostituta llamada Maria. Como un cuento de hadas contando para adultos, asi comienza la novela que conmovio al mundo. Me costo mucho aprender que el encuentro carnal de dos cuerpos es mas que una simple respuesta a estimulos fisicos o al instinto de perpetuacion de la especie. En verdad, lleva consigo toda la carga cultural del hombre y de la humanidad. Once minutos no pretende ser un manual o un tratado sobre el hombre y la mujer frente al mundo aun desconocido de la relacion sexual. Es un analisis de mi propio recorrido, sin pretender, en ningun momento, juzgar aquello que vivi; buscaba descubrir si habia tenido el valor de aprender todo lo que la vida me enseno sobre ello.
290 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2006
36 people are currently reading
800 people want to read
About the author
Paulo Coelho
436 books138k followersThe Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage. In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time. Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005), The Witch of Portobello (2006) and Winner Stands Alone (to be released in 2009). During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions. Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in Wordpress, Myspace & Facebook. He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube and Flickr, offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers. From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution of his work.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
January 22, 2021
¡Que bien escribe este hombre!
Un "can't stop turning the pages " book.
👌🏼
Un "can't stop turning the pages " book.
👌🏼
July 22, 2015
Isn't it true that in the life of every man there are five black minutes?
A journalist is murdered in Paracuan, a Mexican port city, and the clues left behind point to an incident that occurred more than thirty years prior.
When the state sets out to hurt somebody, nothing can be done to stop it.
I really started to get into the book when the action flashes back to 1977 and the search for a killer of little girls. Vicente Rangel Gonzalez, quite possibly the world's most reluctant detective, has pulled the case.
Rangel had spent six years on the force, the last four trying to resign. He was always saying he was going to resign, but every time he was on the verge of doing so he got involved in some difficult case and ended up putting it off again.
Rangel was talked into joining the police force by his beloved uncle who offers some wise counsel.
Get one thing straight: as long as you're in this business, you're not going to have any friends. You heard right: not one friend. Everyone who gets close to you is going to ask for something or want to use you for something. You can't trust anybody. A police officer doesn't have friends when he's doing his job; a police officer only has enemies. The trick is to learn how to avoid them.
These words prove to be good advice as Rangel becomes more and more immersed in the investigation.
This is a fairly standard police procedural spiced up by the locale, the author's excellent descriptions and the incredible amount of political corruption that affects the way local residents conduct their lives. I'm assigning it four stars due to the quality of the writing more than the story. On the whole I was satisfied with the book, though there were a few times that I just wanted it to end.
A journalist is murdered in Paracuan, a Mexican port city, and the clues left behind point to an incident that occurred more than thirty years prior.
When the state sets out to hurt somebody, nothing can be done to stop it.
I really started to get into the book when the action flashes back to 1977 and the search for a killer of little girls. Vicente Rangel Gonzalez, quite possibly the world's most reluctant detective, has pulled the case.
Rangel had spent six years on the force, the last four trying to resign. He was always saying he was going to resign, but every time he was on the verge of doing so he got involved in some difficult case and ended up putting it off again.
Rangel was talked into joining the police force by his beloved uncle who offers some wise counsel.
Get one thing straight: as long as you're in this business, you're not going to have any friends. You heard right: not one friend. Everyone who gets close to you is going to ask for something or want to use you for something. You can't trust anybody. A police officer doesn't have friends when he's doing his job; a police officer only has enemies. The trick is to learn how to avoid them.
These words prove to be good advice as Rangel becomes more and more immersed in the investigation.
This is a fairly standard police procedural spiced up by the locale, the author's excellent descriptions and the incredible amount of political corruption that affects the way local residents conduct their lives. I'm assigning it four stars due to the quality of the writing more than the story. On the whole I was satisfied with the book, though there were a few times that I just wanted it to end.
August 15, 2015
I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door I must have it painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up, when your whole world is black
(lyrics from The Rolling Stones)
It’s a black, bleak world that Martin Solares paints in his debut novel, a city riddled with corruption where drug lords, power hungry politicians, venal union leaders and bought officers of the law dine together in fancy restaurants while little girls are kidnapped, raped and murdered with impunity.
A young reporter who investigates the decades old unsolved serial murder case is killed. The disillusioned old trooper on the police force who tries to get the threads untangled is first hobbled by his bosses and then put in hospital in a hit and run accident. While recuperating, he browses throught he notes of the young officer who first investigated the case, all those years ago.
And the picture that is gradually revealed turns into darker and darker shades of black.
Son of a fucking bitch, Romero thought. Everybody’s come to an agreement: the government agrees, the president agrees, they made their agreement over the girls’ dead bodies. As happens everywhere, the city grew up around its tombs.
The detectives are modelled clearly on the noir canon. Ramon Cabrera, also known as El Maceton (“The Big Flowerpot”) is elderly, cranky, cynical, heavy fisted, heavy drinker, in a disfunctional marriage. ( Their last fight was over the remote control. His wife complained they never talk anymore, that he was always quiet, that he only wanted to make love and then watch TV. ). He is also persistent, methodic, considerate, honest : as a result he’s shunned and ridiculed by most of his colleagues as a sort of dinosaur, out of touch with reality.
Vicente Rangel Gonzales is a misfit, accidentally brought into the police force by his legendary uncle, Don Miguel Rivera, who recognized the sharp intelligence and the iron core of integrity in the apparently aimless young man of the seventies. I see him in my mind as a Latino version of Serpico, “an idealist in a sea of corruption” as Solares puts it.
With strong leading characters, colourful setting, sharp dialogue and gruesome murders, the novel has the key ingredients of a good police procedural. Solares is not content with writing a noir homage though. He goes for the highbrow literary angle with an incredible skill for a debut author. His mastery of timeshifts, his ability to insert politics, religion, economics, popular culture into the narrative, his skill at creating memorable secondary characters and to evoke their inner turmoil in terse paragraphs – all speak of a major talent and of a novel that transcends the genre limitations to address the most important issues of the individual and of society.
The town of Paracuan described in the book is fictional, but its portrayal was so convincing that I actually did a search for the state of Tamaulipas to try to identify the author’s source of inspiration. I have only to think of the news coming out of Mexico in recent years (kidnappings, corruption, political grandstanding, innocents caught up in the middle of a merciless war) to realize that the ‘mean streets’ of Raymond Chandler have migrated South of the Border, where the people are in dire need of detectives like Cabrera or Rangel.
At times, he felt like reality actually consisted of several layers of lies, one piled on top of another.
---
Easter Eggs:
- B Traven, the reclusive author of The Tresure of Sierra Madre makes a cameo appearance, with references also to John Ford and the making of the movie.
- Alfonso Cuiroz Quaron, a famous criminologist, has a whole section of the novel narrated from his POV.
- there’s a leit-motiv of a poster of Cola Drinks that keeps popping out in the text, not unlike the eyes in F Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby. A metaphor for the menacing presence of the Big Brother to the North?
Recommended!
Thanks to the Pulp Fiction group for pointing this gem out to me!
July 22, 2010
Masquerading as a crime novel, Martín Solares' The Black Minutes is actually a fine piece of literature . The novel is set in a northern Mexico port city that is riddled with narcotraficos, police corruption and some sketchy Americans whose businesses dominate the local economy. The story begins when a young reporter is found murdered, and one of the local detectives is sent out to investigate. Over time, he finds links to some unsolved crimes, the kidnapping and murder of small girls in the 1970s. Solares weaves the narrative going back and forth from the perspective of the 1970s detective and his work on that case to the present detective and his work that is tangled in the past. At times, the novel is rollicking fun (the police officers regularly seem to be beating each other up), but by the end you realize that Solares has taken you on a ride that plunges you hard and fast into some of the most pressing questions about life in Mexico, present and past. A great read, I highly recommend it.
June 24, 2015
Cuenta una historia policiaca llena de intrigas y misterios que te mantiene atrapado de principio a fin.
Me gustó y lo recomiendo si te gustan las historias de ese género y si no, también lo vas a disfrutar.
Al final el autor dice que es una historia de Ficción y los crímenes no son reales, pero estoy segura que muchos aspectos de la novela están basados en realidades de los policía, los políticos, el crimen organizado y el narco mexicano.
Me gustó y lo recomiendo si te gustan las historias de ese género y si no, también lo vas a disfrutar.
Al final el autor dice que es una historia de Ficción y los crímenes no son reales, pero estoy segura que muchos aspectos de la novela están basados en realidades de los policía, los políticos, el crimen organizado y el narco mexicano.
January 22, 2021
Una novela que describe perfecto el sistema policial de lo 70 en México, donde operaba la impunidad y la injusticia. Muy recomendada!
November 10, 2023
7 días y 378 páginas después. El primer libro que leo del autor y que resultó de la antología noir que leí antes. Es una gran novela negra mexa, y que esté situada en dos momentos, le da bastante intriga... el problema es que se vuelve repetitiva y cansada.
Sin embargo creo que me divertí, y me gustó bastante que no se abusa del recurso de los narcos, sino del contexto mexa per se (culeros, abusivos, corruptos, etc). Me parece una novela especial, e "innovadora" por así decirlo, el autor cuenta con destreza para ponernos en un lugar "imaginario" pero que suena a un lugar muy real.
Como dato curioso... me recordó montones a la pelicula "Los casi idolos de bahía colorada" aunque no tenga mucho que ver...
No habrá reseña, pero definitivo quiero leer más del autor.
Sin embargo creo que me divertí, y me gustó bastante que no se abusa del recurso de los narcos, sino del contexto mexa per se (culeros, abusivos, corruptos, etc). Me parece una novela especial, e "innovadora" por así decirlo, el autor cuenta con destreza para ponernos en un lugar "imaginario" pero que suena a un lugar muy real.
Como dato curioso... me recordó montones a la pelicula "Los casi idolos de bahía colorada" aunque no tenga mucho que ver...
No habrá reseña, pero definitivo quiero leer más del autor.
November 7, 2016
3.5/5*
Μου είναι αδύνατο να θυμηθώ γιατί αγόρασα αυτό το βιβλίο αλλά η λογική λέει ότι είτε το πήρα γιατί μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ το εξώφυλλο είτε επειδή λατρεύω τον Taibo κ η προοπτική να διαβάσω ένα νέο Μεξικανό συγγραφέα αστυνομικών ιστοριών, δεδομένα με εξιτάρει. Ήταν μια καλή επιλογή, αρχικά γιατί κόλλησα με την ιστορία την οποία είχα συνέχεια στο μυαλό μου ακόμα κι όταν δεν έβρισκα χρόνο να την προχωρήσω και τέλος γιατί πάντα υπάρχει μια μικρή ικανοποίηση όταν διαβάζεις ένα όμορφο βιβλίο χωρίς να ξέρεις τι να περιμένεις όταν το πιάνεις για πρώτη φορά στα χέρια σου.
Το Black Minutes βέβαια δεν είναι τέλειο, το πρώτο μέρος του περιέχει αρκετές ενδείξεις άγουρου συγγραφέα αλλά αυτά λύνονται όσο προχωράς, γεγονός που μάλλον σημαίνει ότι η μεταφράστρια δεν έχει κάνει κ την καλύτερη δουλειά. Η ιστορία εξελίσσεται σε μια πόλη που λέγεται Paracuan κ η αφετηρία της είναι η δολοφονία ενός δημοσιογράφου που η έρευνα του για τη διαφθορά της πόλης τον οδηγεί δεκαετίες πίσω, στη έρευνα κ σύλληψη ένος serial killer μικρών κοριτσιών. Το μεγαλύτερο μέρος του βιβλίου ασχολείται με αυτή την υπόθεση κ εκεί βρίσκονται οι καλύτερες σελίδες του. Ο Solares έχει στήσει μια πολύ ωραία πλοκή που παρακολουθείς με όσο κόπο χρειάζεται για να μη νομίζεις ότι έχεις μπλέξει με ένα crime story της σειράς κ πάνω απ'όλα ζωντανεύει τους τόπους που διαδραματίζεται κ φτιάχνει ένα σκασμό ολοζώντανους χαρακτήρες που καταλαβαίνεις πως θα αντιδράσουν κάθε στιγμή.
Το μεγάλο ατού του βιβλίου (κ κύριος λόγος να το προτείνεις σε κάποιον που ασχολείται με αυτό το είδος) είναι ο έξοχος τρόπος που παρουσιάζει τις κοινωνικές κ πολιτικές δομές, χωρίς διδακτισμούς κ όμορφα τσιτάτα που θα έκαναν ωραίους τίτλους βιβλιοκριτικών. Εδώ ο Solares αφήνει τον αναγνώστη του να σκεφτεί πέρα απ'όσα συμβαίνουν σε πρώτο πλάνο. Χωρίς να υπάρχει ξεκάθαρος λόγος, είχα συνέχεια στο μυαλό μου το πολύ άνισο "Ήχο των πραγμάτων όταν πέφτουν", ίσως λόγω συγγενικής καταγωγής με τον Vasquez αλλά μάλλον επειδή ήταν γεμάτο με τέτοιες ατάκες (στην Κολομβία κανείς δεν είναι αθώος κ.ο.κ.), χωρίς αυτό να σημαίνει απαραίτητα ότι θεωρώ το Black Minutes ανώτερο του προαναφερόμενου βιβλίου ή τον Solares πιο ταλαντούχο συγγραφέα. Απλά ο Μεξικανός μου φαντάζει πιο ανήσυχος συγγραφέας, κάτι που φαίνεται κι απ'τις επιτυχημένες απόπειρες του να ξεφύγει απ'τα δεδομένα του είδους που υπηρετεί παίζοντας έξυπνα ��ε ονειρικά αποσπάσματα και τοποθετώντας σε καίριο σημείο (εκεί που οι πολλές σελίδες θα μπορούσαν να κουράσουν) μια ξεκαρδιστική κατάθεση ενός τελείως σουρεαλιστικού χαρακτήρα, του ανιψιού του διευθυντή της αστυνομιας της πόλης.
Όσοι ψάχνουν αφορμή για να παρεκλίνουν απ'το αναγνωστικό τους πρόγραμμα, θα βρουν μια πολύ καλή επιλογή εδώ
Μου είναι αδύνατο να θυμηθώ γιατί αγόρασα αυτό το βιβλίο αλλά η λογική λέει ότι είτε το πήρα γιατί μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ το εξώφυλλο είτε επειδή λατρεύω τον Taibo κ η προοπτική να διαβάσω ένα νέο Μεξικανό συγγραφέα αστυνομικών ιστοριών, δεδομένα με εξιτάρει. Ήταν μια καλή επιλογή, αρχικά γιατί κόλλησα με την ιστορία την οποία είχα συνέχεια στο μυαλό μου ακόμα κι όταν δεν έβρισκα χρόνο να την προχωρήσω και τέλος γιατί πάντα υπάρχει μια μικρή ικανοποίηση όταν διαβάζεις ένα όμορφο βιβλίο χωρίς να ξέρεις τι να περιμένεις όταν το πιάνεις για πρώτη φορά στα χέρια σου.
Το Black Minutes βέβαια δεν είναι τέλειο, το πρώτο μέρος του περιέχει αρκετές ενδείξεις άγουρου συγγραφέα αλλά αυτά λύνονται όσο προχωράς, γεγονός που μάλλον σημαίνει ότι η μεταφράστρια δεν έχει κάνει κ την καλύτερη δουλειά. Η ιστορία εξελίσσεται σε μια πόλη που λέγεται Paracuan κ η αφετηρία της είναι η δολοφονία ενός δημοσιογράφου που η έρευνα του για τη διαφθορά της πόλης τον οδηγεί δεκαετίες πίσω, στη έρευνα κ σύλληψη ένος serial killer μικρών κοριτσιών. Το μεγαλύτερο μέρος του βιβλίου ασχολείται με αυτή την υπόθεση κ εκεί βρίσκονται οι καλύτερες σελίδες του. Ο Solares έχει στήσει μια πολύ ωραία πλοκή που παρακολουθείς με όσο κόπο χρειάζεται για να μη νομίζεις ότι έχεις μπλέξει με ένα crime story της σειράς κ πάνω απ'όλα ζωντανεύει τους τόπους που διαδραματίζεται κ φτιάχνει ένα σκασμό ολοζώντανους χαρακτήρες που καταλαβαίνεις πως θα αντιδράσουν κάθε στιγμή.
Το μεγάλο ατού του βιβλίου (κ κύριος λόγος να το προτείνεις σε κάποιον που ασχολείται με αυτό το είδος) είναι ο έξοχος τρόπος που παρουσιάζει τις κοινωνικές κ πολιτικές δομές, χωρίς διδακτισμούς κ όμορφα τσιτάτα που θα έκαναν ωραίους τίτλους βιβλιοκριτικών. Εδώ ο Solares αφήνει τον αναγνώστη του να σκεφτεί πέρα απ'όσα συμβαίνουν σε πρώτο πλάνο. Χωρίς να υπάρχει ξεκάθαρος λόγος, είχα συνέχεια στο μυαλό μου το πολύ άνισο "Ήχο των πραγμάτων όταν πέφτουν", ίσως λόγω συγγενικής καταγωγής με τον Vasquez αλλά μάλλον επειδή ήταν γεμάτο με τέτοιες ατάκες (στην Κολομβία κανείς δεν είναι αθώος κ.ο.κ.), χωρίς αυτό να σημαίνει απαραίτητα ότι θεωρώ το Black Minutes ανώτερο του προαναφερόμενου βιβλίου ή τον Solares πιο ταλαντούχο συγγραφέα. Απλά ο Μεξικανός μου φαντάζει πιο ανήσυχος συγγραφέας, κάτι που φαίνεται κι απ'τις επιτυχημένες απόπειρες του να ξεφύγει απ'τα δεδομένα του είδους που υπηρετεί παίζοντας έξυπνα ��ε ονειρικά αποσπάσματα και τοποθετώντας σε καίριο σημείο (εκεί που οι πολλές σελίδες θα μπορούσαν να κουράσουν) μια ξεκαρδιστική κατάθεση ενός τελείως σουρεαλιστικού χαρακτήρα, του ανιψιού του διευθυντή της αστυνομιας της πόλης.
Όσοι ψάχνουν αφορμή για να παρεκλίνουν απ'το αναγνωστικό τους πρόγραμμα, θα βρουν μια πολύ καλή επιλογή εδώ
April 4, 2011
It's hard to believe that "The Black Minutes" is Martin Solares' first novel. Elevating the form of detective noir, he weaves an intriguing portrait of a small Mexican drilling community that is both romantic and horrific.
The novel is set in two time-periods. In present day, a journalist is murdered and investigator Ramon Cabrera uncovers his expose on the grisly deaths of several young girls twenty-years prior. The bulk of the book revolves around that story, in which we are introduced to a second detective, Vincent Rangel, the head of the investigation into the serial killings, however reluctantly on his part. Both detectives are honest men in a city run by a corrupt and dangerous government. But Vincent Rangel's story is sepia-toned, nostalgic. His lively dialogue and detailed characterization add depth to the fast-paced story. There are snippets of Solares' writing that are truly poetic, and the story is original and gripping. It's not the most challenging literary work to grace the library's shelves by any means, but was a highly entertaining read. It will be interesting to see if Solares continues with similar drama and structure in his next work, or ventures down a different path. Either way, his second novel will be highly anticipated, for "The Black Minutes" is certainly promising.
The novel is set in two time-periods. In present day, a journalist is murdered and investigator Ramon Cabrera uncovers his expose on the grisly deaths of several young girls twenty-years prior. The bulk of the book revolves around that story, in which we are introduced to a second detective, Vincent Rangel, the head of the investigation into the serial killings, however reluctantly on his part. Both detectives are honest men in a city run by a corrupt and dangerous government. But Vincent Rangel's story is sepia-toned, nostalgic. His lively dialogue and detailed characterization add depth to the fast-paced story. There are snippets of Solares' writing that are truly poetic, and the story is original and gripping. It's not the most challenging literary work to grace the library's shelves by any means, but was a highly entertaining read. It will be interesting to see if Solares continues with similar drama and structure in his next work, or ventures down a different path. Either way, his second novel will be highly anticipated, for "The Black Minutes" is certainly promising.
August 4, 2015
This is a tale of a murder. A murder that leads to a deeper mystery about some long ago murders of little girls. This is a tale of Mexico, Mexico now and Mexico then, although surprising little had changed between the two time periods. This is a noir tale with heroes who don't want to be where they are, nor do they do a whole lot to change that situation. This is a tale of a police department overflowing with characters, each and every one with a unique nickname, and they run the gamut from insightful and intelligent to slovenly and dim. This is a tale at times as real as anything you'll ever read, and at times it is filled with magical realism...and somehow the two work perfectly together. This is a tale wonderfully written by a first-time author and I truly hope they've translated more of his works into English. If I'm lucky this won't be the last Martin Solares book I read.
June 28, 2024
En su momento me encantó.
Buenos libros para leer cuando se inicia :)
Buenos libros para leer cuando se inicia :)
February 13, 2012
A novel with narratives that fracture off into different narrators once in a while, with sometimes heavily stylized voices, okay that's fine. Detective novel with procedural passages, uniquely Mexican flavour to the Police organization, specific historical critique of said Police, all okay too.
It's just the narrative voices (apart from the two main characters Cabrera and Rangel) all sound the same, periphery characters are sketched and given very little detail, thought processes and motivations are barely touched upon, and the plot is, when viewed in hindsight, haphazard and poorly serviced. There's some anachronisms too (CD players in the 70s? really? [I'm willing to accept that's a translation issue, but it does happen numerous times]).
The ending is not only anti-climactic but also nonsensical, entirely eliding details and having major events happen off-page.
I like some elements, some nice flowing descriptions of Paracuan (the fictional city where the novel takes place), casual descriptions of delicious sounding food, half decent police procedural stuff, interesting insight into 70s police enforcement in Mexico and etc. It just wasn't very good in the end.
It's just the narrative voices (apart from the two main characters Cabrera and Rangel) all sound the same, periphery characters are sketched and given very little detail, thought processes and motivations are barely touched upon, and the plot is, when viewed in hindsight, haphazard and poorly serviced. There's some anachronisms too (CD players in the 70s? really? [I'm willing to accept that's a translation issue, but it does happen numerous times]).
The ending is not only anti-climactic but also nonsensical, entirely eliding details and having major events happen off-page.
I like some elements, some nice flowing descriptions of Paracuan (the fictional city where the novel takes place), casual descriptions of delicious sounding food, half decent police procedural stuff, interesting insight into 70s police enforcement in Mexico and etc. It just wasn't very good in the end.
July 24, 2012
The Black Minutes is a detective/crime novel set in a fictional Mexican town which unfolds in a unique fashion in that it is told from multiple perspectives. While the format lends some interest to the proceedings it is also a drawback in that the voices of the main characters blend and the voices of the secondary characters add little overall. The story is interesting enough - the current day murder of a journalist opens up a decades old investigation into a series of gruesome child murders - however the threads of the story get bogged down in the author's desire to outline police corruption and how it impacted both investigations. The story starts with the present day investigation but quickly delves into the past and spends far too long there. Many of the characters exist in both time frames and have nicknames which the author uses interchangeably. After a while it becomes a struggle to remember who is being talked about. When the story ultimately returns to the present day, the outcome is largely unsatisfactory. All in all an interesting premise that could have been presented in a better fashion.
December 21, 2010
I was eager to read this book after seeing very positive reviews -- some said a "police procedural," which I like but my main interest was that it's by a Mexican author and set in Mexico, so I was really looking forward to some real sense of place and culture -- which I didn't really get in this book. It was hard to connect to the characters (it's told from different perspectives) and to keep up with the names and nicknames (a glossary helps, but a little more development of identity of the characters would also help -- rather than just naming names). There's a touch of magical realism in this book, too, which other than Isabel Allende (whose writing I love) doesn't always work for me. At one point I was very critical of the writing -- then I thought it was the translation (too literal) -- then I realized it was actually the voice of the character who was narrating that chapter, so I warmed to it a bit and other sections are much more fluently written and translated. I finished the book slowly, but I did finish it, despite my disappointment.
February 23, 2011
This crime novel by Mexican author Martin Solares is a mixture of police procedural, serial killer thriller and exploration of corrupt cops set in a seaside Mexican city that started out really energetic and vibrant, but by the end was completely rambling, stumbling to a finishing point. At 430 pages, this novel could have [and should have] used some trimming and tightening up. The unhinged, all-over-the-place way the story is told and writing style of Solares might have been intentional to convey the out of control chaos of the world of the cops, but it is too often pointless with repeating scenes over and over of the same things. This cut into the suspense too as by the end I didn't really care who killed the reporter or the girls.
December 5, 2016
Correcta novela negra que transcurre en México, con una trama policíaca en la que se ven inmersas cárteles de la droga, policías corruptos y personajes oscuros que como pescadores ajenos lanzan la caña para sacar beneficios. Desconozco si lo narrado en Los Minutos Negros es real o no, pero no cabe duda que el autor se basa en aspectos reales de su país para realizar una más que lograda recreación del ambiente en aquel país durante los años 70 del siglo XX.
Su lectura se me hizo algo lenta porque utiliza -como es lógico- vocabulario mexicano y algunas expresiones eran difíciles de entender hasta que uno se acostumbraba.
Su lectura se me hizo algo lenta porque utiliza -como es lógico- vocabulario mexicano y algunas expresiones eran difíciles de entender hasta que uno se acostumbraba.
August 8, 2014
Enjoyable read but Solares breaks a few cardinal rules of detective/police procedural fiction that undermine the quality of the story, particularly as it relates to the perpetrator of the crimes. I was drawn to the book by reviews indicating magical realism or surrealism, but those reviewers clearly don't understand the generic distinctions. There are some unusual (and rather marvellous) passages, but each of them is explained away as a dream or dream state, which eliminates any magical realist or surrealist connection. I found the ending to be unsatisfying, but I did enjoy the narrative journey, and Solares' talent is evident in this debut, so I will be watching for his next book.
October 22, 2016
Martin Solares sitúa en Paracuán, una ciudad del Pacífico mexicano, un microcosmos que tiene todos los elementos del México que conocemos :corrupción, violencia,asesinatos.Y lo hace con maestría del lenguaje, trayendo el calor del Trópico que él conoció consigo; e introduciendo de igual manera a personajes memorables como Vicente Rangel,policía único, honesto. A conseguir su siguiente libro: "No manden flores".
January 19, 2018
Excelente novela, aunque hay puntos entre capitulos que no se si no hilan 100% o es el cambio de perspectiva del personaje... lo otro... ok descubrimos la identidad de un par de criminales... pero no tenemos la conclusión del uno de ellos. O de los protagonistas que se quedan en el aire.
August 24, 2010
fine literary mystery. gruesome though.
March 8, 2011
THIS IS FABULOUS!!! Highly recommended!!!
April 28, 2019
Para mí uno de los mejores libros de novela negra mexicana.
April 21, 2019
This was a fun novel to read, though I did have to resort to the “cast of characters” throughout, a function of the profusion of characters, multiple story lines, many similar names, use of nicknames, and a my own faulty memory. I do not fault the author for the complexity, because this twisting, gyring noir detective story is itself compelling and well told, beginning in the present, reverting to the past for a long, long duration, then resuming again with events in the present.
With what I “know” of the sometimes brutal, sordid criminality of Mexican politics and the influence of powerful drug cartels, I found it interesting that Solares presents his readers only a rather tame serial killing of three children, a psychopathic killer, and a politically-motivated cover up (murder of a journalist). I took this as being exemplary of the more serious graft/corruption that exists in present-day Mexico, where the death of over 40 college students was engineered and hidden, again for political reasons so that leaders could maintain their authority. In this seemingly pervasive atmosphere of corruption and mortality, Solares draws strong portraits of two detectives intent on doing good, each aware in his own way that he is tilting at windmills.
A big fan of B. Traven, I was especially pleased to encounter him in this novel. With a notably laconic manner, Traven recounts his early life and flight from Germany/Europe (much of which is chronicled in his novel The Death Ship), his peregrinations in Mexico, and authorship of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. What is missing in this—and perhaps Solares assumes the reader is already aware—is the series of novels that Traven wrote about the Mexican Indians and their struggles with their despotic Spanish-descended overlords.
The combining of past and present stories, dealing with the same issues of corruption, suggests, ultimately, that the problems inherent in the 70s, are no different than those in the present—that, if anything, they continue to grow…
With what I “know” of the sometimes brutal, sordid criminality of Mexican politics and the influence of powerful drug cartels, I found it interesting that Solares presents his readers only a rather tame serial killing of three children, a psychopathic killer, and a politically-motivated cover up (murder of a journalist). I took this as being exemplary of the more serious graft/corruption that exists in present-day Mexico, where the death of over 40 college students was engineered and hidden, again for political reasons so that leaders could maintain their authority. In this seemingly pervasive atmosphere of corruption and mortality, Solares draws strong portraits of two detectives intent on doing good, each aware in his own way that he is tilting at windmills.
A big fan of B. Traven, I was especially pleased to encounter him in this novel. With a notably laconic manner, Traven recounts his early life and flight from Germany/Europe (much of which is chronicled in his novel The Death Ship), his peregrinations in Mexico, and authorship of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. What is missing in this—and perhaps Solares assumes the reader is already aware—is the series of novels that Traven wrote about the Mexican Indians and their struggles with their despotic Spanish-descended overlords.
The combining of past and present stories, dealing with the same issues of corruption, suggests, ultimately, that the problems inherent in the 70s, are no different than those in the present—that, if anything, they continue to grow…
September 18, 2023
La historia está desarrollada en Paracuán Tamaulipas (nombre ficticio de al parecer Tampico), el libro comienza con el asesinato de un periodista llamado Bernardo Blanco, cuyo caso es asignado al agente Ramón Cabrera (alias el Macetón). En un inicio las primeras sospechas del asesinato del periodista se orillan a que quizá fue asesinado por gente del cártel de Paracuán, pero conforme Cabrera avanza en las investigaciones se va dando cuenta que la posible razón por la cual ejecutaron a Bernardo es porque este estaba llevando una investigación sobre unos crimenes cometidos en contra de algunas niñas en Paracúan por ahí de los años setenta, y dicha investigación incomodo a alguien.
A partir de aquí la novela deja de lado el asesinato del periodista y nos lleva en un viaje al pasado, en donde aparecen otros personajes, como el agente Vicente Rangel quién fue el encargado de investigar los crimenes de las niñas, Jorge Romero la madrina de Rangel (ayudante), el mítico detective Quiroz Cuarón, y prácticamente el grueso del libro se lo lleva el desarrollo de la investigación y la resolución de dichos asesinatos en serie.
Los minutos negros a mi parecer es una excelente novela negra, te mantiene enganchado al libro, y solo al final te devela al asesino, además de que para mi Martín Solares logra de una manera estupenda reflejar la podredumbre de nuestras instituciones gubernamentales, en donde es demasiado común observar que gente poderosa puede brincarse la ley cuando quiere. Es el primer libro que leo de él y me quedé con un muy buen sabor de boca, sin duda seguiré leyendo más de su obra.
A partir de aquí la novela deja de lado el asesinato del periodista y nos lleva en un viaje al pasado, en donde aparecen otros personajes, como el agente Vicente Rangel quién fue el encargado de investigar los crimenes de las niñas, Jorge Romero la madrina de Rangel (ayudante), el mítico detective Quiroz Cuarón, y prácticamente el grueso del libro se lo lleva el desarrollo de la investigación y la resolución de dichos asesinatos en serie.
Los minutos negros a mi parecer es una excelente novela negra, te mantiene enganchado al libro, y solo al final te devela al asesino, además de que para mi Martín Solares logra de una manera estupenda reflejar la podredumbre de nuestras instituciones gubernamentales, en donde es demasiado común observar que gente poderosa puede brincarse la ley cuando quiere. Es el primer libro que leo de él y me quedé con un muy buen sabor de boca, sin duda seguiré leyendo más de su obra.
January 22, 2020
I picked this up after surprising myself by loving a streak of crime-related novels I read as part of a book group challenge (Big Sky, Where the Crawdads Sing, American Rust, In the Woods). This book was closer to a traditional police procedural than any of those though, and therefore took me further out of my comfort zone. The Mexican setting was another reason I wanted to read it, but it also added to my detachment from the book, as I found the general atmosphere of corruption and violence shocking but hard to relate to. Overall I thought that this was well done and gave a terrifying sense of the difficulty of succeeding - or even surviving - as an "idealist in a sea of corruption", but the overall bleakness and brutality did not make it a particularly fun read. I suspect that noir fiction is just not for me, and my rating reflects this rather than the quality of the writing.
December 3, 2021
Tenía altas expectativas sobre el libro, aunque he de decir que no sabía qué esperar. Me llamó la atención y lo busqué porque se hizo una película del mismo cuya producción lleva ya más de 10 años.
La trama es lo esperado en una novela negra mexicana de las últimas dos décadas, narcos, periodistas muertos, intrigas políticas, impunidad, corrupción, ambientada en el norte del país. Nada que no hayamos leído, aunque hay que tomar en cuenta que el libro se publicó en 2007.
Aquí lo que cuenta es cómo Martín Solares te mantiene durante más de 400 páginas sin que sea aburrido, pero sí un tanto desconcertante.
Empiezas en una temporalidad, pero el grueso de la novela está ubicada años más atrás. Comienzas conociendo a un personaje y de un capítulo a otro ese ya no es el protagonista. Fue un cambio brusco al que cuesta un poco adaptarse, pero no es motivo suficiente como para dejar el libro.
Es un libro largo que exige tiempo, pero no sé si al final espera una gran recompensa. Si, es entretenido y juega con un lenguaje popular y que describe escenarios crueles como nuestra realidad, quizá ahí está el valor de este libro, en que es una historia que conocemos, pero que desafortunadamente, sigue igual de vigente, tal como sucede con los feminicidios, tema importante en toda la novela.
Buena opción para tenerlo en la lista de leídos, junto a unas rolas de Rigo Tovar, un calor de mínimo 40 grados y unos mariscos tamaulipecos de Paracuán.
La trama es lo esperado en una novela negra mexicana de las últimas dos décadas, narcos, periodistas muertos, intrigas políticas, impunidad, corrupción, ambientada en el norte del país. Nada que no hayamos leído, aunque hay que tomar en cuenta que el libro se publicó en 2007.
Aquí lo que cuenta es cómo Martín Solares te mantiene durante más de 400 páginas sin que sea aburrido, pero sí un tanto desconcertante.
Empiezas en una temporalidad, pero el grueso de la novela está ubicada años más atrás. Comienzas conociendo a un personaje y de un capítulo a otro ese ya no es el protagonista. Fue un cambio brusco al que cuesta un poco adaptarse, pero no es motivo suficiente como para dejar el libro.
Es un libro largo que exige tiempo, pero no sé si al final espera una gran recompensa. Si, es entretenido y juega con un lenguaje popular y que describe escenarios crueles como nuestra realidad, quizá ahí está el valor de este libro, en que es una historia que conocemos, pero que desafortunadamente, sigue igual de vigente, tal como sucede con los feminicidios, tema importante en toda la novela.
Buena opción para tenerlo en la lista de leídos, junto a unas rolas de Rigo Tovar, un calor de mínimo 40 grados y unos mariscos tamaulipecos de Paracuán.
May 12, 2017
This fast-paced Mexican police novel got me out of a reading drought in which I was languishing for a while battling with several opened novels. The moment I turned the first page, I knew I was embarking on a familiar and comforting detective story set in the murky waters of a fictional Mexican town following one, then two police detectives of the flawed but honourable type battling the corruption of the town's leaders and their own police colleagues to get to the bottom of some horrific crimes both past and present. You would think this is one of those typical overt-the-top Latin-American novels of corruption in which the straight guy loses and then wins because it is fiction after all and readers do like a happy ending but the minute I put down this detective-guilty pleasure and I opened the news, the first headline I read was: 'Mexican mum who investigated daughter's death is killed'. So sadly the story is not a cliché but the tragic reality of day to day life and without the happy ending.
On a side note what I love in fiction is descriptions of the characters' meals and police officers are notorious for unhealthy eating habits so I enjoyed all the mentions of Mexican food: gorditas en salsa verde, chilaquiles, enchiladas etc and I swore I would get to preparing some of these myself this weekend!
On a side note what I love in fiction is descriptions of the characters' meals and police officers are notorious for unhealthy eating habits so I enjoyed all the mentions of Mexican food: gorditas en salsa verde, chilaquiles, enchiladas etc and I swore I would get to preparing some of these myself this weekend!
February 20, 2018
I haven't fully sorted my thoughts on this book yet, but what I can safely say is that it's outside of my normal wheelhouse. I don't read police procedural novels or crime novels, nor do I watch tv/movies in the genre.
What I enjoyed most about it were the structure and the moments in which I could catch just the lightest touch of magic realism. Structurally, split between modern day and the 1970s, it's interesting to take note of where and how characters repeat across the two timelines (the connections won't be fully clear until about 300 pages in), and I think a strength of the plot is that readers become more interested in the fate of the detectives than in the arrest of the murderer.
Certain parts, however, started to grate on me-- the frequent circling back to how some passing woman was voluptuous always kinds of annoys me when I encounter it in novels, but seemed extra inappropriate in a book whose central antagonist is a serial murderer of little girls. Maybe that's the point, though? I could make an argument for a certain purposeful juxtaposition. Parts felt too long, and the grand reveal left me a little lost, but perhaps that too is a mark of realism. The murderer is rarely lurking in plain sight.
What I enjoyed most about it were the structure and the moments in which I could catch just the lightest touch of magic realism. Structurally, split between modern day and the 1970s, it's interesting to take note of where and how characters repeat across the two timelines (the connections won't be fully clear until about 300 pages in), and I think a strength of the plot is that readers become more interested in the fate of the detectives than in the arrest of the murderer.
Certain parts, however, started to grate on me-- the frequent circling back to how some passing woman was voluptuous always kinds of annoys me when I encounter it in novels, but seemed extra inappropriate in a book whose central antagonist is a serial murderer of little girls. Maybe that's the point, though? I could make an argument for a certain purposeful juxtaposition. Parts felt too long, and the grand reveal left me a little lost, but perhaps that too is a mark of realism. The murderer is rarely lurking in plain sight.
June 29, 2020
Cerebral crime novel. I would recommend if you like have a tolerance for some gore, enjoy stories that take place in countries other than the US, and like hopping from point-of-view to point-of-view, and spiralling stories that take place over decades. Solares incorporated far more textures to the prose than your usual police procedural, and that makes it a delight to read, despite the gory subject.
Three stars is my own personal bias speaking - I prefer private detective novels set in Latin America to police procedurals set in Latin America, because . But that is truly my personal preference, and I'm looking forward to reading the other Martin Solares book translated to English later!
Three stars is my own personal bias speaking - I prefer private detective novels set in Latin America to police procedurals set in Latin America, because . But that is truly my personal preference, and I'm looking forward to reading the other Martin Solares book translated to English later!
October 6, 2017
Lordy, what a waste of my time, after getting about a 1/3 of the way through this nonsense it slowly dawned on me that I'd already tried to read it once a few years back and had given up. The same reasons I felt I was close to giving up yet again had reared their head. The author has the complicating and confusing habit of naming his (many) central characters by their full name, first name, last name or nickname, I found myself repeatedly wondering who on earth was I reading about, which character was this one or what part of the plot is this person from.
I wish I'd given up on this book again, the ending nearly drove me to tears, the plot revolves around a murder mystery that may or may not have been solved by somebody involved (maybe) with the plot, the final chapter seems to be a statement of record from somebody explaining the murders, I have no idea who did it or why.
I wish I'd given up on this book again, the ending nearly drove me to tears, the plot revolves around a murder mystery that may or may not have been solved by somebody involved (maybe) with the plot, the final chapter seems to be a statement of record from somebody explaining the murders, I have no idea who did it or why.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews