I was somewhat lost as to what the aunt intended to do with the dolls. I mean were they given to the nieces to watch over them and protect them or were they just given to the nieces just because she loved them and wanted to give them the dolls out of love. Did she know (aunt) that the doctor was just using her for her money or did she find out when he tells his son in front of her this is how he paid his eductation. I was unsure of this I didn't know if she knew this from the beginning or found out as mentioned before.

I read this story in Spanish while in college, and I absolutely loved it. I believe there is a great deal of symbolism and everything is not what it seems. I think it's a strong commentary on Puerto Rican culture. (How a woman with a slight imperfection is destined to be alone; How the doctor only married the girl because of her status and displayed her, etc.) Maybe I read more into it than the author intended but it's one of my favorite stories.

My reading pleasure was marred by the fact that at least some of the stories in this anthology reflect none-too-subtle and gratuitous anti-Semitism. The first story, for example, amounts to an attempt to justify the murder of a Jew. The second story, a generally humorous and wry commentary on the bureaucracy, specifies, in an apparent attempt at humor, that it was a Jew who acquired the books purchased by one financially over-extended bureaucrat.

Only if Spanish literature was, at the relevant time, profoundly anti-Semitic do these stories provide a fair and representative sampling. If so, perhaps the forward should warn the reader. If not, then the replacement of the anti-Semitic stories in this anthology with non-racist stories would be a most-welcome improvement.

A truly laughable conclusion. You might as well accuse the book of being biased against accountants, women at work, cavalry officers... etc. etc. add infinitum.

Good, rich, readable stories offering a glimpse of the vast expanse of Spanish literature. I liked it so much, I also bought the second book in the series (which I can also recommend, though I enjoyed this one more). A agree somewhat with A. Reader from Connecticut that the translations are not literal, but literal translations result in non-English - English which makes for poor reading. The stories loose very little, if anything, in the translation.

The stories in this book are by some of the great writers of Spain and South America. This is a well constructed anthology of varied and entertaining stories that provides an insightful glimpse into the particular cultures of several different countries that are too often grouped together because of their common language. The book gives a sound sampling of different regional styles and philisophical approaches to literature. To accuse this book of being anti-semetic is as absurd as suggesting that a Jew buying books is in some way offensive. Furthermore, to suggest that the first story is a justification for the killing of a Jew is to bypass all reasonable bounds of literary criticism and basic common sense in search of something to be offended buy. The only real criticism that can be made of this book is not in the content of the stories or the brilliance of the authors featured, but of the translation which is less literal then some readers might hope; and this too is a debatable.