



Zorayda Contreras 24 de Abril, 2000






En este libro Elena comenta hechos historicos de Mexico, al mismo tiempo que nos introduce en un lugar magico, en el cual el pasado se encuentra clavado en el presente y toda la historia es narrada por el pueblo llamado El Porvenir.
La historia menciona a la familia Moncada y a la mujer que sumerge al pueblo en un mundo ambivalente: ellos la aman y la odian, la desean y le temen. Ella siente la indiferencia de un ser que puede materialmente llegar a tener todos los bienes deseados, pero que se encuentra atrapado en un laberinto sin salida.
La autora sobresale por un manejo impresionante de prosa poetica, lo que permitira al lector introducirse en un mundo completamente ajeno al nuestro.
En conclusion, es un libro representativo del "boom" de escritores latinoamericanos sobresalientes y que todo amante de una buena lectura hispana no debe perder.

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Look For My Obituary is not as straightforward a tale as its predecessor. This story tells of a young husband and father, unhappy in an arranged marriage, whose passion is awakened by a beautiful, mysterious stranger. With relentless determination he pursues this woman, though is careful not to cause scandal within his own loveless union, until his clandestine meetings with his love end with her "death"--her printed obituary is really an announcement of her own arranged marriage.
Though a brief look into one aspect of Latin American life, First Love & Look for My Obituary offers powerful sociological commentary and is evidence of Garro's own concern for the mistreatment of women in her culture. Garro writes with an eloquence accented with her Mexican heritage, yet both stories are not too immersed as to be confusing to those unfamiliar with the culture. Those with an interest in multicultural literature will find this volume to be a good primer.

Although the plots are quite different, many of themes in the two novellas are similar. Both novellas deal with the themes of love and death, which are two cornerstone themes of all literature. Both could have technically been titled "First Love": Irene and Miguel discovered love for the first time as did the two Barbaras and Sigfried. Also, both deal with the prohibition of love as well as the constraints of marriage, and the freedom that this social institution takes away from individuals, in terms of their own desire and love. Both novellas are written in a mysterious ways and turn out different than the reader expects them to.
Garro has been called the "Greatest writer in Mexico", and this description suits her perfectly. Her style is very beautiful and moving, and her metaphors have a deep impact. There is a line in Look for My Obituary where Irene tell Miguel, "We are both dead already", meaning that she is destined to get married to someone she doesn't love and he is trapped in a stale marriage with a woman he no longer loves and who no longer loves him. In this novella, marriage equals burial and love equals death, but these metaphors only merge at the end. It is there that the reader realizes the true implications of the story and of the fates of the two main characters. There is also a great exploration of Magic Realism in the story. It challenges Western limits of rationality and deals with the limits of language and thoughts and the levels of cognition that we have to perceive and explain our world. In Look for My Obituary, Miguel always cried as a child and young man for what was going to be missing in his life because he knew he would someday meet Irene and he was waiting for that day but knowing that even when he met her he would have to keep waiting, and he would never get to have her. This is the essence of Magical Realism and it does not hold up under Western rationalist standards. Western philosophy separates body and mind, reality and imagination. However, in this novella, a very emotional scene is depicted and it is better explained through Magical Realism than through Western attempts at rationalization. Everyone has experienced unfulfilled longings and desires that cannot be reasonably explained, and these things are beautifully depicted in this story.
Two Novellas is a fast and fun read, but it has deep impact and great meaning. It provides a good starting point into Elena Garro's work, as well as other great works in Latin American Literature.



The book is a collection of short stories. Stories full of drama and tragedy, stories of exiles and fugitives, stories of hunger and misery, stories of foreigners and strangers. Yet, it is also the life story of two women, and of their two mysterious companions... Lola and Petroushka, and once you begin reading, you will find it hard to stop.
So, give it a chance, I assure you that you will find yourself wrapped around the surreal but highly believable world of Elena Garro.

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for those of you who have read 100 years of solitude, Garro's story precedes and has been noted as the influential work for GGM's own work many years later.