Los años con Laura Díaz

by Carlos Fuentes, Alfred MacAdam (Translator)

A radiant and epic new novel that is among the finest achievements of Mexico's greatest man of letters.

The Years With Laura Diaz is Carlos Fuentes' most important novel in several decades. Like his masterpiece The Death of Artemio Cruz, the action begins in the state of Veracruz and moves to Mexico City--tracing a migration during the Revolution and its aftermath that was a feature of Mexico's demographic history and that is a significant element in Fuentes's fictional world.

Now the principle figure is not Artemio Cruz (who, however, makes a brief appearance) but Fuentes's first major female protagonist, the extraordinary Laura Diaz. Carlos Fuentes's richly woven narrative tapestry-filled with a multitude of dramatic scenes both witty, amusing, and heartbreaking-shows us this wonderful creature as she grows into a politically committed artist who is also a wife and mother, a lover of great men, a complicated and alluring heroine whose brave honesty prevails despite her losing a son and grandson to the darkest forces of Mexico's repressive, corrupt regimes. In the end, Laura Diaz herself dies, after a life filled with tragedy and loss, but she is a happy woman, for she has borne witness to, and helped to affect, the course of history and has vindicated the aims and intentions of the highest art.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Latin American, Spanish Literature, Literature, Latin American Literature, Literary Fiction

527 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Carlos Fuentes Macías was a Mexican writer and one of the best-known novelists and essayists of the 20th century in the Spanish-speaking world. Fuentes influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.

Fuentes was born in Panama City, Panama; his parents were Mexican. Due to his father being a diplomat, during his childhood he lived in Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago, and Buenos Aires. In his adolescence, he returned to Mexico, where he lived until 1965. He was married to film star Rita Macedo from 1959 till 1973, although he was an habitual philanderer and allegedly, his affairs - which he claimed include film actresses such as Jeanne Moreau and Jean Seberg - brought her to despair. The couple ended their relationship amid scandal when Fuentes eloped with a very pregnant and then-unknown journalist named Silvia Lemus. They were eventually married.

Following in the footsteps of his parents, he also became a diplomat in 1965 and served in London, Paris (as ambassador), and other capitals. In 1978 he resigned as ambassador to France in protest over the appointment of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, former president of Mexico, as ambassador to Spain. He also taught courses at Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Penn, George Mason, Columbia and Cambridge.

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کارلوس فوئنتس در ۱۱ نوامبر ۱۹۲۸ در پاناماسیتی به دنیا آمد. مادرش برتا ماسیاس ریواس و پدرش رافائل فوئنتس بوئه‌تیگر است. پدر وی از دیپلمات‌های مشهور مکزیک است. وی سفیر مکزیک در هلند، پاناما، پرتغال و ایتالیا بود.

دوران کودکی‌اش در واشنتگتن دی.سی. و سانتیاگوی شیلی گذشت. فوئنتس در دانشگاه مکزیک و ژنو در رشتهٔ حقوق تحصیل کرد. او به زبان‌های انگلیسی و فرانسه تسلط کامل دارد.

آثار
* مرگ آرتمیوکروز، ۱۹۶۲
* آئورا، ۱۹۶۲
* زمین ما،‌ ۱۹۷۵
* گرینگوی پیر، ۱۹۸۵
* ملکهٔ عروسک‌ها
* آسوده خاصر، ترجمهٔ محمدامین لاهیجی.
* مرگ آرتمیو کروز، ترجمهٔ مهدی سحابی.
* آئورا، ترجمهٔ عبدالله کوثری.
* سرهیدا.
* خودم با دیگران (به تازگی با نام از چشم فوئنتس) ترجمهٔ عبدالله کوثری.


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Carlos Fuentes Macías fue un escritor mexicano y uno de los novelistas y ensayistas más conocidos en el mundo de habla española. Fuentes influyó en la literatura contemporánea de América Latina, y sus obras han sido ampliamente traducidas al inglés y otros idiomas.

Fuentes nació en la ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, sus padres eran mexicanos. Debido a su padre era un diplomático, durante su infancia vivió en Montevideo, Río de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago y Buenos Aires. En su adolescencia regresó a México, donde vivió hasta 1965. Estuvo casado con la estrella de cine Rita Macedo de 1959 hasta 1973, aunque era un mujeriego habitual y, al parecer, sus asuntos - que se ha cobrado incluyen actrices como Jeanne Moreau y Jean Seberg, su llevados a la desesperación. La pareja terminó su relación en medio del escándalo, cuando Fuentes se fugó con un periodista muy embarazada y entonces desconocido de nombre Silvia Lemus. Se casaron finalmente.

Siguiendo los pasos de sus padres, también se convirtió en un diplomático en 1965 y sirvió en Londres, París (como embajador), y otras capitales. En 1978 renunció al cargo de embajador en Francia en protesta por el nombramiento de Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, ex presidente de México, como embajador en España.

Reviews

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Years with Laura Diaz by Carlos Fuentes has been in my library for a lot of years. Little did I know what a treasure it was. It was thought to be one of Fuentes' most important novels in several decades. His previous masterpiece was The Death of Artemio Cruz and next on my list. The Years with Laura Diaz is a sweeping family saga beginning at the close of the nineteenth century in Veracruz, Mexico and moves to Mexico City as it traces the migration during the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath. Also a big throughline in the novel is the significance of the Spanish Civil War and its far-reaching effects.

"She followed the white crow beyond the limits of what she knew, learning about and loving from that moment on, forever, everything she saw and touched, as if that day of death had been set aside for her to learn something unrepeatable, something only for her, and only for the age Laura Diaz had reached at that instant, haivng been born on May 12, 1898, when the Virgin dressed in white came walking into sight with her coat. . . "

"Laura now realized that for years the Spanish Civil War had been the epicenter of her historical life, not the Mexican Revolution, which had passed through the state of Veracruz so mildly and tangentially, as if dying in the Gulf were a unique, moving, and untouchable privilege reserved for Laura's older brother, Santiago Diaz, sole protagonist, as far as she was concerned, of the 1910 insurrection."

What is beautiful about The Years with Laura Diaz is the emphasis throughout the book on the art of murals and what they depict in the many stories of the religious, civil, moral and personal memories of a people and a culture. And this heartbreaking and beautiful book by Fuentes brings those stories to life, in the voices from the past conserving a part of our history. This is a richly woven tapestry in this compelling and sweeping narrative covering the life of Laura Diaz, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Looming large in the life of Laura Diaz is her relationship with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo over the years. In fact, the mural on the cover of the book is one that Rivera painted when he was invited to Detroit in 1932 to decorate the walls of the Detroit Institue of Arts. As Laura grows into a politically committed artist, we are witness to her life of tragedy and loss but she is happy as she has borne witness to the darkest forces of Mexico's corrupt regime and has helped to affect the course of history throughout the twentieth century in Mexico.

[Tayebe Ej · Rating 1 out of 5]

کتاب، داستان زندگی زنی به اسم لائورا دیاس رو روایت میکنه، اما شما بخوانید تاریخ مکزیک قرن بیستم. این خانوم لائورا مطلقا در من هیچ حس همذات پنداری ای رو برنمی انگیخت. البته جدای از لائورا، به هیچ شخصیت دیگه ای هم در داستان نتونستم نزدیک بشم، شاید چون این شخصیت ها برای فوئنتس فقط وسیله ای هستند برای نشون دادن تاریخ مکزیک و خودشون اهمیت خاصی ندارن. نتیجه اینکه با یک کتاب 700 صفحه ای مواجه میشید که پر است از اسامی شخصیتهای تاریخی و اتفاقات تاریخی که اگر از قبل اطلاعی درباره شون نداشته باشید کتاب کمکی به آشناییتون با اون اتفاق یا شخصیت نمیکنه. بگذریم از اینکه مترجم عزیز هم هیچ پاورقی، پینوشت، توضیح و اصلا هیچکدوم از اینها هم نه، حتی یک معادل لاتین برای اسامی خاص نیاورده!ا

چرا کتاب رو نصفه ول نکردم؟ بیماری عدم توانایی نصفه ول کردن کتاب :))ا

[Moshtagh hosein · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب طولانی و جالبی هست از فوئنتس،روایتگر تاریخ مکزیک از دید نویسنده که چندان خبری از رئالیسم جادویی خاص فوئنتس در این اثر نیست.

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carlos Fuentes'in şöyle bir lafı olduğu rivayet ediliyor: "Beni sınıflandırmayın, beni okuyun. Ben bir yazarım, bir janr değil." Pekala, etmeyelim de, etmeden eserlerini nasıl tarifleyeceğiz? Zira yine tipik bir Fuentes destanı idi Laura Diaz'lı yıllar. Evet bir Terra Nostra yahut Doğmamış Kristof kadar destansı değildi, bu dev yapıtlarına göre görece daha konvansiyonel biçimde yazmış Fuentes ama aralara yine imzası epik pasajları da serpiştirmeyi ihmal etmemiş. Başkahraman Laura Diaz'ın 70 senelik hayat öyküsünü okuyoruz ve aslında bir yandan da Meksika'nın ve Amerika'nın tarihine dalıyoruz. Fuentes topraklarının tarihini yazmayı çok seviyor, her seferinde de çok iyi beceriyor. Ancak sanki burada Laura Diaz'ın ve diğer karakterlerin kişisel hikayeleri bu büyük tarih anlatısına biraz fazla kurban gitmiş gibi hissettim. Karakterleri biraz daha derinleştirse kitaptan daha da çok haz duyardım şahsen ve fakat bu haliyle de çok güzel. (Bu arada bir yazarın başka kitaplardan karakterleri eserlerine alması da ne güzel bir şey ya. Birkaç cümleyle Johannes Buddenbrook'u hikâyeye katarak Thomas Mann'a selam çakmış Fuentes. Ayrıca kendi kahramanı Artemio Cruz bu kitapta da karşımıza çıkıyor, özlemiştik, iyi oldu.) Bu kitabın öncesinde yine Galeano'nun Latin Amerika'nın Kesik Damarları'nı okumak, bitirince de Juan Rulfo'nun Meksika fotoğraflarına dalmak eserden alınacak hazzı katlayacaktır diye düşünüyorum, naçizane tavsiyem bu yöndedir. Laura Diaz'dan bana çok şey kaldı ama buraya bir tek cümle bırakacağım: "Kaç yazgımız var? Ben tek bir erkeği değil, birçok erkek seviyorum: kadın olduğum için, orospu olduğum için değil."

[Deea · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*
(the better-looking version of this review is on my blog: http://elephantsonclouds.blogspot.com...)

Our lives are hourglasses. Every grain of sand is a moment. An hourglass is turned over, gravity does its job, sand starts falling. A life starts. Personality is first an inchoate entity: a grain of sand, then two, then more… the accumulation of all the fallen grains of sand is what we are, what we become. Until the final grain has fallen, there is a continuous transformation: the present “me” is built upon layers and layers of different alter-egos: the multitude of “me’s” that we have been in the past.

Laura’s story does not begin when she is born. It would be too easy. None of our stories have this kind of well-established beginning. We only see the trees, but under the ground there are roots. We keep forgetting this. Laura’s family is a family of German immigrants. Each one of its members has its own drama. Discontent runs deep in the family, hidden one way or another behind stories that are meant to provide explanations and which only seem to succeed in romanticizing everything.

“Returning to the past meant entering an empty, interminable corridor where one could no longer find the usual things or people one wanted to see again.. As if they were playing with both our memory and our imagination, the people and things of the past challenged us to situate them in the present, not forgetting they had a past and would have a future although that future would be, precisely, only that of memory, again, in the present.”

Ab ovo, Laura’s story is this one: there is a grandmother whose fingers from the right hand (or maybe it was the left one, I don’t recall) were cut because she had been too proud to have surrendered her wedding ring to a thief she was strongly attracted to who had attacked her convoy when she was going to her husband’s mansion, there are two spinster aunts, one a never-published poet, the other a never-acknowledged pianist, there is another aunt who was her grandfather’s daughter with a prostitute, there is a mom who decides that the only way to escape the seclusion of her family is to keep her feet on the ground, unlike her sisters. The story starts being delineated in our minds before Laura even gets to enter the stage. Before the sketch of her own life starts to get contours, all these lives from the past are already strongly imprinted in her DNA.

“… our existence has no other meaning but to complete unfinished desires…”

Her own story revolves around “Santiagos”: her step brother, her son, her nephew and another Santiago that she does not interact with, but whose unseen roots below ground get to lean on her experience of life and vision. The grains of sand are falling in her hourglass: she encounters love and its different forms (the erotical love, the maternal love, brotherly love), she experiences solitude and lack of meaning, she experiences intimacy, she gets introduced to the Mexican art world (Frida and Diego Rivera), she gets to understand that she cannot love her two sons equally and that we are drawn to some people and not to others, she is vulnerable and learns to embrace this since it is all a part of becoming who you actually are, she finds motivation and artistic forms of self-expression, she learns to be alone without being lonely, she learns to forgive and she learns that all past experiences have their own safe place in her mind, that there is no reason to deny their existence because they are part of what she has become.

“We have to make time for the things that have taken place. We have to allow pain to become knowledge in some way.”

Grandeur of haciendas in contrast with corruption, cruelty of politics and senseless deaths are graciously woven in this saga. Laura is a survivor. She learns moral fortitude along the way. She is a daughter and a mom, she is a niece, a grand-daughter, a mother in law, a grandmother, a great-grandmother. A stepsister. A lover. A wife. A friend. She makes mistakes and she learns from them. She begins to understand that we are all unfulfilled promises and that we all understand this only too late.

“Santiago had been an unfulfilled promise. Was that what Grandfather was, too, despite his age? Was there any really finished life, a single life that wasn’t also a truncated promise, a latent possibility, even more… ? It isn’t the past that dies with each of us. The future dies as well.”

Other hourglasses are turned over all the time. Other lives begin. Sand starts falling. First grain. Second grain… Other personalities are getting shaped, but the process starts anew each time. For Laura, “what might have been already was, […]. Everything happened exactly as it should have happened.”

(all photos are taken by me in Azore Islands and Lisbon)

[Farnaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

پیش‌نوشت: من این رمان رو خیلی دوست داشتم تنها دلیلی که بهش پنج ندادم ایراداتی بود که به نظرم به ترجمه وارد بود. اسدالله امرایی ‏تقریبا تمام اسامی افراد رو اشتباه به فارسی برگردونده و پانویس هم نگذاشته و جاهایی از متن که آلمانی یا فرانسوی بودن رو عیناً به همون زبان به رسم‌الخط فارسی نوشته بدون اینکه به خودش زحمت بده بازم پانویس بذاره!
ولی از اینا که بگذریم کتاب معرکه‌ای بود. کتاب داستان سالیان زندگی لائورا دیاس و اطرافیانشه و در خلالش تاریخ مکزیک و وجوه روانی شخصیت‌ها کاویده میشه. خلاصه توصیه می‌کنم حتما بخونید
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برای مرده‌هامان یک بار و فقط یک بار گریه می‌کنیم، بعد باید کاری را ادامه دهیم که آن‌ها دیگر نمی‌توانند بکنند. ممکن نیست با چشمی که اشک آن را ابری کرده و ذهنی آشفته دوست بداریم، بنویسیم، بجنگیم، فکر کنیم یا به کار بپردازیم، عزاداری طولانی خیانت به زندگی فرد متوفی است
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تنها گذشته نیست که با هرکدام از ما می‌میرد. آینده هم می‌میرد
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یک روز می‌بینی که گذشته چه اهمیتی دارد، برای ادامه‌ی زندگی، برای آن‌ها که همدیگر را دوست دارند تا دوست داشتن را ادامه دهند
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موضوع مهم نیست، درد،، رنج، عشق، مرگ، زایش، انقلاب، قدرت، غرور، تفاخر، رویا، خاطره،، اراده، مهم نیست کدام تن را جان می‌بخشد، وقتی شکل می‌گیرد، زشت نیست، زیبایی متعلق به کسی‌ست که آن را درک می‌کند، نه کسی که آن را دارد، زیبایی چیزی بیش از حقیقت نیست که در اختیار هرکدامِ ماست، مال دیه‌گو وقتی نقاشی می‌کند، مال من وقتی روی همین تخت بیمارستان ابداع می‌کنم، مال تو که باید بگردی و پیدایش کنی
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درون خودم آکنده‌ام، در پوست خویش
با خدایی دست‌نایافتنی که خفه‌ام می‌کند
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خواب، خوابِ شب، خیابان، پلکان و فریاد مجسمه که سر خیابان می‌پیچد؟ می‌دوم به سوی مجسمه و تنها فریاد را می‌یابم، می‌خواهم فریاد را لمس کنم تنها پژواک را می‌یابم، می‌خواهم پژواک را بگیرم دیوار را می‌یابم، به سوی دیوار می‌دوم تنها آینه‌ای را لمس می‌کنم
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به این می‌ماند که شوکران زندگی را سرکشیده باشی و کاری نداشته باشی جز آنکه دراز بکشی تا مرگ به سراغت بیاید، آیا برای آنکه کسی باشیم باید رنج ببریم؟ آیا به آن دست می‌یابیم یا به دنبال آن می‌رویم؟
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خوان فرانسیسکو درک نمی‌کرد که هنرمند بودن با بیماری مترادف است. به این می‌ماند که آینه‌ای مضاعف جلوی آدم باشد که دو وجه دارد، هرکدام واقعیتی جداگانه را بازمی‌تاباند، بیماری و هنر و نه الزاما واقعیتی توامان، واقعیات برادرانه
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در زندگی لحظاتی هست که چیزی جز دوست داشتن مرده‌ها اهمیت ندارد. مجبوریم هرکاری از دستمان برمی‌آید برای مرده‌ها بکنیم. من و تو با هم غصه می‌خوریم چون مرده‌مان در میان نیست. حضور آن‌ها مطلق نیست. فقط غیبت آن‌ها مطلق است
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نمی‌دانم عشقی که بر هیچ پایه‌ای جز خاطره بنا نرفته،، قابل‌تحمل خواهد بود یا نه. نمی‌دانم عشقی که همیشه درد می‌خواسته به ناز و نوازش تن می‌دهد یا نه، خلاء عاطفی می‌طلبد، خدایی عظیم که جایی برای مهربانی و خاطره نمی‌گذارد و جای خالی و دانستن اینکه جای خالی‌اش پر نمی‌نمی‌شود، هیچ تسکین و دلداری نمی‌دهد
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فقط می‌تواند فریادی باشد، ناله، صدایی تهی. آن‌ها که از درد می‌گویند آن را حس نمی‌کنند. کسانی که زبان درد را می‌فهمند آن را برای دیگران شرح می‌دهند. درد کلامی ندارد

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone is familiar with historical fiction but there is a special branch of Latin American historical fiction which I’d describe as Heroic Women; a specialist in this is Isabel Allende but there are many others, both men and women, who dabble in this genre. Typically, they are the women behind the power but they can also be women who brush up against those in power and other famous persons of their time.

This is an example of the latter since Laura Díaz is a witness to Mexican history of the 20th century, as well as being an artist, which brings her into contact with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera; in fact, as the book begins, she’s spotted as one of the figures in Rivera’s famous industry mural in the Detroit Institute of Arts. She’s also a wife, lover, and grandmother, all of which are deeply affected by the tumultuous and often violent events which took place in Mexico in that century. (A warning: if you are not familiar with Mexican history, be prepared to Google to understand the power struggles at the time of the Mexican Revolution; there are familiar names such as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata but a lot of other names as well, such as Porfirio Díaz, Orozco, Huerta, Obregón, Madero, Carranza and Cárdenas; it’s not essential to know these but Laura is affected by all these power shifts, which are frequently by assassination.) I actually found the history more interesting than Laura’s story as I don’t think Carlos Fuentes wrote her well; the book’s format seemed to be some event in Laura’s life followed by a poetic rhapsody on the nature of love and life and I felt it dragged a lot. Her story is interesting but the events are more interesting; for instance, there is a section on the Americans fleeing McCarthyism and living in a colony in Mexico, and another on the student unrest and massacre just before the 1968 Summer Olympics. These more directly affect Laura emotionally, more than the Revolution does.

In the end, I found the book a little tedious but it could well have been that I just wasn’t hooked by yet another Heroic Latina. One reviewer said that Laura Díaz was destined to be as famous as Madame Bovary – hmmm, apparently not, but worth checking out if this is the type of book you like and you’re ready to read something other than Isabel Allende.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura Diaz' story is told through a series of vignettes, many of which Fuentes has modeled on the experiences of members of his own family, descendants of German immigrants from the region of Veracruz, and her experiences illustrate the artistic and political movements that shaped 20th-century Mexico. In an English television interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71W-uD...), Fuentes characterizes the book as a sort of female "The Death of Artemio Cruz," but it struck me as much broader in scope (besides the Mexican revolution and economic development of the 1940's and 50's, Laura shelters the refugees from the Spanish Civil War and the McCarthy hearings in the United States) but also, intentionally, less psychologically realistic and more narratively interesting.
"That is why it took so long to reach her grandfather's bedroom. Reaching the dying man's bed required her to touch each and every one of the days of his existence, to remember, imagine, perhaps invent what never happened and even what wasn't imaginable, and to do so by the mere presence of a beloved being who represented everything that wasn't that was, that could be, and that never could take place." (p. 82)

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is a big, sweeping saga about a woman's life and reflecting upon the last century of Mexico. True to Fuentes' style, it can be grandiose and very political and yet very intimate. There were few dull parts considering its 600 pages. It is the story of a woman's seventy some years so one needs time to tell the story.

Her begins when she discovers a magical person in the forest, glittering with jewels but she is corrected. She came across a spiny ceiba tree with the sun glittering on those spines. "Things are not what they seem" becomes a motif throughout the book. Laura's life grows from her German-Mexican family roots to her "fame" as a photographer of Mexico City. So many changes take place in her seventy years especially the men in her life, from her husband, lovers, children and grandchildren. At the same time its a reflection of Mexican history as well. Bear with it. There are so many surprizes and I found the last chapters powerful and full of reflections on life and growing old. At times, it felt almost like Garcia Marquez in tone but never crosses into magical realism.

Then when its all over, Fuentes adds his "recognitions" and explains how so much of the book is based on his own family. I was floored. Talk about life inspiring art. Well done, señor Fuentes.

Read in Spanish.

[Dulce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lo admito, no soy una lectora de clásicos.
Segunda confesión, por alguna extraña razón, los autores más renombrados, más analizados por los críticos literarios y de más seguidores entre los estudiantes de letras me han llegado a provocar urticaria literaria.
En este nivel voy a colocar al famoso Carlos Fuentes (RIP).
El inicio de la novela me encantó y declaro que disfruté mientras Laura fue niña y hasta que se casó con el líder sindical pero de ahí en adelante, lo sufrí.
En algunas partes deseaba que alguien me arrebatara el libro y no me lo devolviera (pues no quería ceder y no terminarlo sino que una fuerza externa lo alejara).
Me gustó participar de la vida de Laura, de hacer un recorrido histórico por México de la mano de ella, pero sus tormentosas descripciones me provocaban vasca...oraciones, tras oraciones de cavar en el hoyo de la inmundicia de una mujer que no sabe lo quiere y va rebotando entre un Santiago y otro Santiago y otro Santiago.
Por otro lado, a veces me dio la impresión de que el mismo autor se perdía y tenía que invertir páginas y páginas en recordarse, so pretexto de recordarle al lector, lo que había pasado antes.
Podría ser una buen libro para análisis histórico-político del país, pero temo que recomendarlo a un lector inicial lo haga pensar que leer es aburrido.

[Nick Garbutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

No, I have not learned Spanish overnight. This wonderful book, The Years with Laura Diaz is also available in an English translation and that was the version I read.
I wanted to make that clear because my son lives in Spain with his girlfriend and they would, to say the least, be astonished if they were to learn I could speak the language after all.
Reading books like this make me wish I did. The Years with Laura Diaz is a whole life story, a genre which I love.
This one does not just tell the story of Laura but also of Mexico in the 20th Century – a country that has long fascinated me but about which I know next to nothing.
I found the fact that those defeated by Franco in the Spanish Civil war sought refuge there especially fascinating as was the history of the left in Mexico.
Whole life stories are pretty much by definition long reads but if I do have a criticism of the book it is a little long and might have benefitted from tighter editing.
That said I’d recommend Fuentes, he was a great discovery for me.

[Soshyans Varahram · Rating 3 out of 5]

در نمایشگاه کتاب امسال و در بازدید از غرفه‌ی کتابسرای تندیس، این کتاب را به سفارش و اصرار مسئول غرفه خریدم و اگر آن همه سفارش نبود، عمرا نمی‌خریدم!
داستانی از تحولات قرن بیستم کشوری در آن سر دنیا که کمتر اطلاعاتی درباره‌ش داشتم و البته که الان هم در همان اندک مانده‌ام! انصاف بدهم، داستان بدی نبود و ترجمه‌ی بدی هم نداشت ولی فضا زیادی برایم غریبه بود و اسامی نامانوس و همین نمی‌گذاشت آنطور که دوست دارم در ماجرا غوطه‌ور شوم. بزرگترین ایرادی هم که به ترجمه‌ی فارسی وارد است، درج نشدن اسامی خاص به زبان انگلیسی یا شاید هم اسپانیایی در زیرنویس است؛ گاهی اینقدر سر تلفظ درست یک کلمه مکث می‌کردم که جمله از دست میرفت، هرچند از نیمه‌ی داستان به بعد، کلهم اسامی خاص را ندید می‌گرفتم و فرض می‌کردم که اگر مهم و در داستان تاثیرگذار باشد، باز هم تکرار خواهد شد و در بار دوم برای درست خواندنش انرژی خرج می‌کنم!
خواندنش را توصیه می‌کنم؟ نه واقعا! کتابهایی که توصیه کردم را بخوانید، بیشتر لذت می‌برید.

[Cheryl Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the range of history and the historical figures but I felt no sympathy or empathy with or for Laura. The characters are like cardboard cutouts whose role is to show history and to philosophise (at times tediously).

I'm pleased I read it but I had to skim pages and kept checking how many pages I HAD to go before I got to the end. An interesting ride through various revolutions and oppressions.

[Ricardo Munguia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela en donde se retrata la vida de una persona, Laura Díaz, pero también la historia de la Ciudad de México y algunos sucesos y personajes que marcaron al país.

Los años de Laura Díaz empieza con la familia Kelsen, de origen alemán asentados en una hacienda cafetalera en Veracruz, casada con un líder sindical pasa a la ciudad de México donde vive la mayor parte de su vida y engendra una familia, para regresar a su hogar de la infancia en su vejez. En esencia es una saga familiar, pero también es una novela total, circular y bien cerrada en donde se agota por completo la historia que cuenta, y en ese sentido creo que está muy bien lograda

La historia de Laura Díaz es, como todas las historias, una acumulación de momentos y personajes que la marcaron. aunque disfruté bastante del libro me quedé pensando que resultó muy conveniente todos los hechos que conforman su historia. Conoce a Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo y personalidades de la escena intelectual y artística mexicana individuos prominentes del exilio español y norteamericanos exiliados en México por persecusión política. Pero lo que me quedo de todos los personajes es que no son personajes en si, si no la encarnación de símbolos que forjaron la personalidad de Laura, que por sí sola resulta un poco plana. La novela es profundamente simbólica, y no me percate de eso sí no hasta casi el final de la novela, y recomiendo a todo quien la lea que piense en los personajes como encarnaciones de ideas y pensamientos más que en personas que se desarrollan.

A pesar de que por momentos la novela es pesada y tediosa (en particular el segundo tercio) creo que una ves que le tomas el hilo su lectura es muy entretenida. Eso sí, creo que quien le interese leer este libro necesita dar un repaso a la historia de México y algunos de sus personajes célebres pues la narracion se encuentra repleta de guiños (incluso uno a la novela "La muerte de Artemio Cruz") y no se detiene a explicarlos. Yo no caché todos, pero siempre me resulta divertido ver qué entendía y tratar de averiguar lo que no. Las descripciones de los lugares son excelentes pues logra transmitir esa sensación de época, pero creo que los personajes son su punto más flaco. Si buscas una buena crónica de la historia de México (en particular de la Ciudad de México), te intrigan los guiños y te gustan las historias simbólicas, te recomiendo este libro, pero eso si, con la advertencia de que los personajes son algo planos y por momentos es algo tediosa, pues llega a tener por pedazos está estructura de "flujo de conciencia" en donde se omiten las pausas y las divagaciones se extienden por lo que parecen párrafos interminables. A mí me gustó bastante y no le resultó agotadora la lectura y de los libros del autor, creo que es de los que más e disfrutado

[Maik Civeira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ésta es la obra de un hombre de 70 años de edad, más tradicional y mucho menos experimental e innovadora que "La región más transparente" o "La muerte de Artemio Cruz", encontré con grata sorpresa que me gustó mucho más.

Quizá es que a los 30 años Carlos Fuentes era más cínico, o quería dar la impresión de ser un tipo duro, o quizá con el tiempo se hizo más sensible, pero lo cierto es que en los otros dos libros mencionados se pueden hallar personajes muy entrañables. En cambio, en "Laura Díaz" hay muchos personajes con los que uno puede congeniar, empezando por la protagonista. Son personas más cercanas a la realidad, humanos que cometen errores y que tienen sus defectos y manías, como todo mundo, pero que también son capaces de generosidad, de amor auténtico, de valentía y hasta heroísmo. Me pareció desde el principio una obra más sincera y personal, lo que comprobé al leer el postfacio del mismo Fuentes, en el que admite que muchas de las historias que cuenta en la novela son las de su propia familia.

Otra cosa que me gustó es que este libro va más allá de la Revolución y el orden postrevolucionario; en esta novela algunos eventos históricos internacionales tienen un papel fundamental para Laura Díaz y los personajes que la rodean: la Guerra Civil Española, la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el Macartismo, el Movimiento Estudiantil del 68... todos éstos son temas que me apasionan.

La forma en la que Carlos Fuentes detalla la vida de Laura y los demás es magnífica: sabemos a qué juega la niña, a qué baila la adolescente, a quiénes ama la mujer, qué fotografía la anciana; sabemos qué viste, qué come, qué lee, qué películas va a ver, y cómo cambia a lo largo de toda su vida, y así podemos participar un poquito de esa historia subjetiva, íntima, que es tan nuestra, tan de todos los mexicanos (o más), como lo es la otra historia, la objetiva, la nacional, la universal, la que está hecha de nombres, datos y fechas.

Y creo que más que eso de la historia, lo importante en esta novela es precisamente la vida: todas las cosas grandes y pequeñas que pueden ocurrir en el lapso de una vida humana: los amores, las amistades, las pasiones, las tragedias, los desengaños, los ideales, las personas que vienen y van, las experiencias que nos marcan, las anécdotas en apariencia intrascendentes, pero que nunca podemos olvidar...

[Lora Shouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways, this was sort of a slow book. I kept waiting for something to happen.

Of course, a lot did happen. The book was the story of Laura Diaz, a Mexican woman of partly German ancestry, but it is also in many respects a history of Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In her early teens, Laura met her half-brother, Santiago, who later died in the Mexican Revolution. They had been great friends, and Laura vowed to dedicate her life to him.

Over the years she had several love affairs with different men, all of whom were revolutionaries of one kind or another. She seems to have been drawn to the first two because of their relationship, or supposed relationship to Santiago. She marries the second of these men and moves to Mexico City with him after the revolution is successful.

After the last of her lovers dies, about 90% of the way through the book, Laura finally goes out on her own and discovers her own talent. She takes a camera and visits all the poverty-stricken parts of town that she had avoided before, documenting the suffering she finds there, but also the hope and strength. And she becomes quite successful in her own right.

There is a lot of discussion of politics and philosophy, and many tales of the other people in her lovers’ lives, as well as a few other adventures.

I found this book on Scribd.

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweeping novel encompassing decades of Mexican politics, from the point of view of a fictional character who mingles with the movers and shakers, especially the socialists, labor activists, and artists.

Parts of the novel are fascinating and others are so inpenetrable that I couldn't get through them, I just had to skim. I don't know how much was the author's style and how much was the English translation. I don't think I've encountered another novel where I loved about half and couldn't read the rest, all mixed up like that.

[BB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Diaz is a vehicle to describe decades of Mexican history; how this was crafted and the overall content was intriguing, though I didn’t connect much with Laura as a character. Glad to have read this, nevertheless.

[Hamid Hasanzadeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"سال هایی با لائورا دیاز" نام رمانی طویل است به قلم کارلوس فوئنتس ، که در سال 2001 منتشر شده و اسداله امرایی آن را به فارسی ترجمه کرده است. فوئنتس با استفاده از کاراکتر "لائورا دیاز" و سیر زندگی او تصویری از تاریخ قرن 20 مکزیک را ارائه می دهد که در ضمن آن برخورد شخصیت ها با آرمان ها و هدف ها بسیار قابل توجه است.
لائورا چند سالی دور از پدر خود در کاته ماکو با مادر خود زندگی می کند، سپس به براکروس می رود و رابطه ی فکری و عاشقانه ای را با برادر ناتنی خود سانتیاگو برقرار می کند. سانتیاگو در سن 20 سالگی به علت فعالیت سیاسی جنبش کارگری و سندیکایی در براکروس تیر باران می شود. او متاثر از برادر آنارشیست خود در یک مهمانی با رهبر جنبش کارگری، خوان فرانسیسکو آشنا می شود و با او ازدواج می کند.خوان فرانسیسکو رفته رفته نشان می دهد که " بر اثر آگاهی از ترس درونی خود ، سعی می کند مبارزه کند و درنظر توده ها به یک رهبر قدرتمند بدل می شود در حالی که خود از ضعف خود آگاه است" همین ضعف در لو دادن راهبه ای به پلیس و کشته شدن او جلوه می کند ، و این که او اصولا چگونه آرمان های حزب کارگر را با مصالحه از روی ترس مبادله می کند. کشته شدن راهبه باعث اختلاف بین او و لائورا ختم می شود و می بینیم که لائورا دیاز به او خیانت می کند.حاصل ازدواج لائورا با خوان دو فرزند پسر به نام های سانتیاگو و دانتون است که یکی هنرمند نقاش است که جوانمرگ می شود و دیگری یک کلاش تمام عیار به نام "دون دانتون.".پسر دانتون سانتیاگو است که در تظاهرات دانشجویی کشته می شود و فرزند به جا مانده از او را به یاد پدر مبارزش، سانتیاگو می نامند که راوی داستان است و زندگی مادربزرگ پدرش را که در دیوار نگاره های دیترویت دیده است روایت می کند.
در این رمان فوئنتس تاریخ مکزیک ، روابط عاشقانه و شکسته شدن قهرمان ها را به تصویر می کشد.
ایراد ها : وجود بیش از حد شخصیت هایی که عملا کمکی به داستان نمی کند و اسم های فراوان ، گاهی اوقات اطناب بی مورد که خستگی خواننده را در پی دارد ، و اینکه اگر خواننده با تاریخ مکزیک و جنگ جهانی دوم آشنا نباشد مقداری زیادی از رمان عملا ملال آور است.

[Christy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I didn't finish this book, but I read 80% of it. I'd previously read another book by Fuentes in a Spanish lit class in grad school, which I also did not enjoy and imagined it was due to a lack of language understanding on my part. Now that I've read so much of one in English, I've realized that it wasn't that I didn't understand the language - it was that I don't understand the way Fuentes writes, nor do I like his characters. His rambling paragraphs jumping from the third person to first person format was frustrating, jumping through history in flashbacks was confusing to follow, and there is so much political philosophy that I was often bored. 400 pages in, and I still didn't care what happened to the protagonist, whose behavior with men and disdain for her own family irritated me throughout.

At least now I can accept that it wasn't that I couldn't understand the words after reading a Fuentes novel in Spanish.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only the fact that he's supposed to be a great Latin author makes me not give it a one star. Too long and obscure, kind of like One Thousand Years of Solitude, another supposedly great novel that I found almost unreadable. This one I slogged through for book club and got about half way through, with no reward for doing so.

[Profe Ronald Rojas · Rating 5 out of 5]

La piel de una mujer se conjuga con su mirada para ilustrar los senderos de una vida; la protagonista traza su vida, la vida de México en el siglo XX, la vida de sus amores y quizás nuestra vida como lectores; así es, esta obra es una semblanza del vivir por decisión así la escogencia sea una provocación ante la tensión entre la libertad y las expectativas que nos acechan a diario.

[Pedro Peñuela Florido · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gran novela de Fuentes. Aunque a veces desbordada de talento. En este caso la ambición es más por el lado de la historia que por la técnica o el estilo narrativo. El repaso de la historia del siglo XX mexicano le resta más que le suma a esta novela.

[Schildkrote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acompañando la vida de Laura Díaz se logra acompañar la historia de México, encontrando también esas fallas entre lo discursivo y la realidad.

[Marianna the Booklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uff, skończyłam wreszcie. Za długie to jest moim zdaniem, choć wiele fragmentów na tyle ciekawych i wciągających, że chciało mi się doczytać do końca. Mimo wszystko warto, choć trzeba się uzbroić w cierpliwość.

[Noa Soleto · Rating 1 out of 5]

No me ha gustado nada, el autor intenta abarcar demasiados temas y tanta información hace que sea tedioso de leer.
La protagonista me parece muy plana, superficial y egoísta, no logré conectar con ninguna de sus acciones

[Rita Sousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but unnecessarily long

[Mavis Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book almost twenty years after it was originally published offered me a refresher course in Mexican political and cultural history. Carlos Fuentes took on the daunting task of seeing the world through the eyes of a female protagonist. That he succeeded so well says something about his stature as one of Latin America's leading novelists.
Given today's focus on the issues of feminism and immigration, THE YEARS WITH LAURA DIAZ sheds light on the decades when both were emerging as central aspects of national and personal identity in Western Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Above all, we see how European immigration (the Spanish Civil War and the Holocaust in particular) contributed to changes within Mexico and the United States. Carlos Fuentes offers a panoramic view of world-shaping events while intimately suggesting how individuals experienced them.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a hot mess of a book. The really infuriating part is that I am fascinated by a lot of the history that is the basis for the story. He also actually made anarchist characters that were idealists, organizers, and artists (instead of the usual bomb throwing, nihilist villains). He even had a few moments of deep thought about life thrown in. But none of that made up for the long stretches of banal philosophizing. It didn't make up for how lacking the characters of color are. And it didn't make up for the fact that the woman the book is about was a vessel instead of a full human. Don't you just hate when a book has all the things that should make you like it but just falls down in the execution. So disappointing.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have been struggling with this book for days. I didn't really like the style, and I thought the story somewhat boring. But I couldn't understand why... I usually like family sagas and was keen to learn more about Mexican history. After having read more than half, it finally hit me. What really annoyed me was that Carlos Fuentes was unable to write a convincing female character. Laura Diaz, who is supposed to be the main character around which the whole novel is built, does not exist for herself. She is only a pretext to give voice to male characters (her grandfather, her brother, her husband, her lovers, her sons...). Never does she accomplish anything by or for herself. I very rarely abandon books halfway, but will definitely not force myself to finish this one.