Sea of Lentils

by Antonio Benítez Rojo

Re-creates Spain's history in the Caribbean by describing King Philip II of Spain's reign, the beginning of the African slave trade, the founding of St. Augustine, and Columbus's second expedition to the new world

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Antonio Benítez-Rojo fue un novelista, ensayista y escritor de historias cortas cubano. Generalmente es indicado como el más significativo autor cubano de su generación.​ Su obra ha sido traducida en nueve idiomas y recopilada en más de cincuenta antologías.

Reviews

[Dusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by no means a breezy read -- it compresses hundreds of years of trans-Atlantic history and dozens of real and created characters (so many of them named Cristoból and Pedro) into just about two hundred pages -- but it is a rewarding one. To make an anachronistic comparison, Sea of Lentils does for the Conquest of the New World what Cloud Atlas does for love.

The book envisions the "birth" of the Caribbean as we know it today, by entwining four loosely-related narratives: In the first, scummy Antón Baptista accompanies Columbus to the New World and promptly plunders and impregnates everything in sight. The popular "industry" for most of his life is the search for gold and the oppression of Indians, but near the end of his life the gold and Indians become depleted and make way for sugar mills and African slaves. The transition is "credited" to the gentlemen's agreement the author depicts in the second story line, which takes place in England and the Canary Islands and features Pedro de Ponte and the pirate John Hawkins. In the third narrative, Admiral Menendez de Áviles and his son-in-law, Pedro, massacre the French Lutherans in Florida, and in the fourth the Spanish monarch who oversaw both the Inquisition and the development of the Caribbean slave trade -- Felipe II -- lays dying in his stinking chamber. As a friend of mine pointed out, what links these storylines most of all is that they're about people who're anything but nice.

The story about the "birth" of the Caribbean is a complex one that draws upon events taking place on many continents. While I would have liked to see Benítez Rojo include the perspective of Indians and slaves, I was nonetheless absorbed. Highly recommended.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the start of a review, it is not finished

"More than five hundred years on from Columbus's first voyage to America, this novel recreates the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean in four interwoven narratives: one explores the ambitions and disappointments of Philip the Second as he lies on his death-bed; another the clandestine origins of the slave trade in the activities of the English merchant-venturer John Hawkins; a third describes the extermination of the French Huguenot colony in Florida - all complemented by the story of a common soldier accompanying Columbus on his second voyage.

"'(The author) plays upon Spanish-American history rousingly, with an incessant hail of luminous, violent imagery and unmistakable indignation...He writes wonderfully, with life, edge, and the density of a poem...' John Updike" From the back cover of the 2000 Faber & Faber paperback edition.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coincidence that I finish this book the day before Columbus Day. How little we are taught about that character so mythic and heroic in our school books. I was shocked to discover how Columbus governed his new-found world. Even the 16th century Spanish were shocked at his brutality and had him incarcerated and returned to Spain for trial. The specifics are horrific and I will never view another Columbus Day without a bitter distaste in my mouth. I did some side-reading to verify some of these incidents and to read a bit about this Cuban author as well, but none of these discuss the book itself and that, after all, is the point of Shelfari.

I was fascinated by the history and the details. The subject matter was absorbing. But the presentation left me a bit confused. Four stories are presented concurrently and skips in place and time occur randomly, sometimes in mid-sentence (although sentences in this book may be entire pages unto themselves). Any of these devices may be useful and revealing but somehow, possibly because of the historical subject matter, they did not work for me. I am in the minority in this opinion, however, because the book is highly rated and, in fact, praised for the very aspects that I felt were faults. Nevertheless, if you wish to discover more about the Spanish Armada, the conquest of the New World, the bitterness between the old religion (Catholicism) and the new religion (what we now call Protestantism but, here, known simply as Lutheranism), and something of the power struggles between the crowned heads and the pope, there is a lot to be gleaned from this book.

[Pallas Nelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the densest books i've ever read, with the most varying style. there are four to five overlapping narratives here set in different times with no distinction between them other than unlabeled chapter breaks. the narrative veers wildly from first to second to third person, sometimes picking a consistent style for each viewpoint character and sometimes not. the writing style swings back and forth from class textbook to the most beautiful prose i've ever read (kudos to the translator, by the way, James Maraniss), and somehow, unbelievably, this works. its difficult as hell to read sometimes but it sure as heck works. five stars because frankly im intimidated by this book and i think there's enough here to study for years if one particularly cared to.

also fuck Anton Babtista all my homies hate Anton Babista

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Lorenzo Salviani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terribile. Lo odio

[Taylor Manookian · Rating 1 out of 5]

you know what i am going to tone down my own review since theres only like 5 for the book.
um i had to read this for english and i was not happy abt it. the main thing i got from it is this one guy loves to rape kids. um? die.
anyway heres the notes
- This is sickening. This dude being like she should have a son or die. Then them being like well this chick was hot so one of the dudes wanted to fuck her but she didnt want to and fought so hard it took FOUR FULL GROWN MEN to subdue her and TIE HER UP and then they WHIPPED HER UNCONSCIOUS and THEN the dude raped her. die
- All im getting from this is that every single man is a disgusting sickening evil creature. are good men a modern thing??? Even still its 50/50💀
- Obviously I am reading this for a class bc no one would voluntarily submit themselves to these giant text blocks without being forced to. How hard is it for this man to hit the tab button every once in a while. Where are your paragraphs
- This man is just raping kids all the time. wtf
- Not only does he go around raping children but he also forcefully drinks from ppls tits. What the hell is wrong with him.
- Well that was exceedingly horrible. Absolutely putting it on the worst books ever shelf. and i didnt even skim the last 100 pages i only read a few things from each page. that sucked

[Ahmad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the easiest book to digest but I'm fascinated with this historical period and used this for my thesis. It grew on me the second time around. Having written so much on it, I'm in no mood to start here again. The book just reminds me of how tangled creole roots are...

[moi, k.y.a.]

#55, @dnf
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