I was put off by this book for a few years before I got around to reading it because of the odd nature of Frida's drawings and doodlings, inks spillls morfing into "art" and in general the seemingly difficult text to follow. All this changed upon a recent trip to Mexico, amongst the tranquil backdrop of Mismaloya and unforgetable sunsets in this tropical paradise I was able to whip through this book. The serenity of the place helped me get through Frida's chaos. After reading her own insights and feelings about life I wanted more. Her bizarre life, filled with more theatre and characters than a Fellini film, more physical and mental agony than most humans can endure is one that deserves her own thoughts, although at times they are convoluted. Whether she was under the influence(many of her last years she was doped to mask the pain) or not is irrevelant because the text is spellbinding with illustrations that captivate the imagination, taking the reader along a surrealistic journey as only Frida can. It is a grotesquely beautiful book, rich in imagery , both literally as well as illustrated in the unique style of Frida Kahlo, reflective of the pain and suffering she lived, both self inflicted and her own fate. It is quite simply, Frida in her own words. The book is a handsome collection of thoughts and drawings by one of the greatest Latin American artists of the twentieth century. The author takes the liberty of interpreting each page, giving her perspective concerning the thoughts of Frida in a very helpful manner. The first part of the book is the diary, in writting and print and as colorful and bold as Frida was, whereas the second part is the type written text of the Frida's hallucianatory ramblings and drawings. This proves to a beneficail companion to reading each page, first by Frida followed by the clearer typed "translation" in thesecond part of the book. Without the type written text some sections are nearly impossible to decipher. The various sketches are shown in their embyonic stages and would later become part of her major works are truly amazing. If you are a lover of the works of Frida Kahlo this is a fine book to add to your collection of Kahlo memorabilia. This book is a perfect companion to Hayden Herrera's definitive biography. Incidently, my desire for more of Frida in her own words (this one is in Spanish mostly)was quenched recently by finding a book entitled "Escritura" by Frida Kahlo that is series of poems, letters and notes selected by Raquel Tibol. I highly suggest reading both if you are a Kahlophile.

This very intimate book accomplishes what no bio can: show us inside Kahlo, via her own ramblings and disorganization and odd illustartions and ink spills and lines, and drawings, etc. It is a weird highway to the inner mind of the goddess of 20th century art.

With a movie in the works ..., Kahlo is sure to solidify her position as the top-of-the-art-food-chain Latin American artist of the century (Georgia O'Keefe considered her the best female artist of the 20th century) and make her iconic face even more famous.

Kahlo deserves this position because she painted honestly and brutally. She painted her memorable Jewish-Austrian-Spanish-Mexican face, single eyebrow and slim moustache in stark honesty; she had many lovers of both sexes (when such a course of sex exploits was practically unknown); she grabbed her Mexicanity with a fierce pride and ferocity that would not be in vogue until decades after her death (Kahlo was born in 1907 and died in 1954) and yet during her life she was just the wife of a very famous Mexican muralist and a champagne Communist who partied with the Fords and Rockefellers while marching with the workers down the wide avenues of Mexico City. It is thus ironic that it is Kahlo, whose astonishing life and unique paintings are now the subject of lawsuits between governments and collectors, has taken the limelight from her talented womanizer husband and is rightfully considered one of the best artists of the 20th century, period. This is a nice addition and a must read for Kahlophiles.

This book gives an interesting view of the person who was Frida Kahlo, in her own very personal words and images. It is a bit sad that something so private has been made rather accessible, but it is good for lovers of Kahlo's art. The book is inspiring; it is quite creatively stimulating with the lush, free images and round scrawls in many colours. The introduction by Carlos Fuentes is well-written, and I especially liked his description of seeing Frida Kahlo at a Wagner opera. The essay by Sarah Lowe is likewise good. The reproductions of the diary pages look very good and clear (though since I haven't seen the originals, I'm just assuming they are accurate), the size of the pages is large enough, and the colours are all very vivid. The commentary is in a separate section from the diary reproduction, which is nice because you can look uninterrupted at the diary part, and not have to worry about what it all means. It does make for a lot of flipping back and forth when reading the commentary and referring back to the diary page, even though the page discussed is reproduced in black and white (very small) in the commentary. The commentary is rather sparse, and not all the pages of the diary are discussed. All in all a fascinating read.

Carlos Fuentes true epic surrendered me to tears...Laura Diaz whether a fictional character of Frida Kahlo's assistant, brought me an Argentine born individual to great emotional depts...It is a lyrical novel, which tells truths beyond truths...Carlos Fuentes writes and depicts all of his characters with great intellect, knowledge of the times, and incredible perspective...Was totally aghast at the comment by one of our reviewers that stated that this book was not historically correct and that Carlos Fuentes is a shameful communist...Au contraire, readers, Carlos Fuentes is a poet and a latin, and therefore tells the truths about our countries and the US with a very objective eye...Since the Where the Air is Clear by him as well, no other book has touched my inner being and left me completely breathless...It is a book that is both timeless and reflective, emotional and philosophical...and most of all one of the most satisfying performances by Carlos Fuentes...Viva Carlos Fuentes, un autor con tanta sabiduria!!!

I would suggest that readers re-read his beautiful prose more than once and refer to this book throughout their lifetime, it is filled with the passion, pulse of individuals who are citizens of the world...

Thank you, thank you...Carlos, for a great magnificent book...

This is a novel of great depth, written by a man who has lived his life observing, thinking, asking questions, considering and writing. His great talent lies in speaking for many: for fathers, mothers, sons, lovers, passionate revolutionaries and for each of us.

The Years With Laura Diaz, is as great a mural and testament, and as real and colorful as the Diego Rivera mural that graces its cover. Just as the great mural tells the history and stories of a people, so this magnificently written work shows us the colors and contrasts that richly color our world. Do check out our Guest Reviewer Deborah D/M's full review.

Carlos Fuentes takes us on a sweeping journey of the 20th century as he reveals the history, culture, and political life of Mexico and the world. Fuentes draws on his own family history to weave a tale of love and tragedy and of extraordinary people whose lives and work influenced their times. Laura Diaz, the heroine both normal and unusual in her roles as wife and mother--lover and artist, waltzes through the years with grace and vitality. Her honesty and common sense approach to life make her an example for the many lives that she touches. She married a dashing young man in the labor movement andwas thrown into the political mainstream that coursed through Mexico City in the early part of the century. She also was the lover of more than one dashing and famous man as she joined the high life of Spanish-European society that existed in Mexico City. Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo became friends of hers, and she traveled with them to the United States as Diego painted his famous--and infamous--series of murals celebrating the workers. As a friend of Frieda's, Laura was able to tell the tragic story of the famous painter and her struggle with health and tragedy. The figure of Santiago, first the murdered brother of Laura and later her son and grandson, symbolizes the heroic persona who fights for what is right only to be cut down before his prime. Laura holds her love of these three in her heart, and eventually it sustains her through her life and into her new career. That in later life she became a famous photographer of the poor and downtrodden is indicative of the love she has for the three Santiagos, and for her husband and lovers, all of whom where involved in the people's movement. This novel encompasses all that is important in life, and it celebrates the courage and vitality of those who are willing to spend their lives for other's causes. The tracing of Mexico's history from revolution, corrupt politics and visionary idealism, interwoven with Laura's life, is fascinating, and leaves the reader with a better understanding not only of Mexico bul also of the human spirit.

I stumbled upon this book while at a small bookstore in San Diego and the cover caught my eye. I had recently been getting interested in Frida so I bought the book because it looked like a nice distraction from Hayden Herrerra's biography of Kahlo. Was I surprised! This 119 page novel was an absolute pleasure to read. I knew absolutely nothing about it before reading it, but I was hooked from the first page. It tells the story of a California artist in the mid 90's who claims to be Frida Kahlo's grand-daughter (keep in mind this is fiction.) She gets a mysterious letter from an art dealer named Orlando. Intrigued and suspicious about the letter, she decides to visit his mansion a few months later. Upon meeting him she realizes that he is her frog-prince, in other words, her Diego Rivera. They soon fall in love and a whole inter-twined plot of enigmatic to creepy characters who are all connected by the mansion. This novel is intelligent, suspensefull and just when you think you have figured out the next thing about to happen, Kuenster throws a hard curve ball at you (I dropped the book more than a few times.) Kuenster's matter-of-fact narrative is very readable and I highly reccomend it to anyone looking for a short and creative novel. It will definately surprise you too.

First, if one wants an accurate biographical account of Frida Kahlo's life, do not read this. While this novel is entertaining and well-written, it does a disservice to the memory of Frida Kahlo and her family as well as her contemporaries. It paints a very critical portrait of Frida and her sister Cristina, Diego Rivera, and the others in their circle.
Mujica perhaps correctly portrays Kahlo and Rivera as opportunistic communists who decried the plight of the common man but who also mingled with the very wealthy and took large sums of money for payment for their work while the masses toiled in the fields and factories, bakeries, and homes where they were servants. Also, the depiction of Frida as being extremely self-centered and egotistical is supported by the factual evidence that even Frida's paintings were most often of herself.
However, there are scandalous and eyebrow raising passages that Mujica admits are fictional such as Frida engaging in an affair with one of her underage students, so why include these? Kahlo is an interesting figure even without all of the author's embellishments.
The story is told from the perspective of Frida's younger sister Cristina, and she is often angry and bitter about the fact that Frida got all the attention, negative as well as positive, even when Frida was the most mischievous of the girls. The novel ends with Cristina administering a lethal dose of laudanum to put her sister out of her misery. Again, the author states that this is a fictionalized portrayl and that no one really knows for sure if Frida's death was a suicide or an assisted suicide.
Still, even though the author explains that this work is fiction and she claims her intent was to "capture the essence of Frida Kahlo's personality" and not "document her life," I feel that the best way to capture someone's personality is by an accurate portrayl rather than the truth mixed with fiction. What Mujica's book did for me was pique my interest in the enigmatic and interesting life of Frida Kahlo so that my next choice may be Herrera's bio.

FRIDA by Barbara Mujica

Here's another of the many books out there today about the life of Frida Kahlo, the famous artist and personality from Mexico. In this version of her life, Barbara Mujica tells a fictional version of the story from the viewpoint of her sister Cristina, whose claim to fame is that she is the sister who had the affair with Diego Rivera, who at the time was Frida's husband.

Cristina narrates the story of her life with Frida Kahlo as she lies on a bed talking to a nameless psychiatrist. The reason for him analyzing her is not known and not revealed until the very end of the book. In the mean time, the reader gets a vision of a woman that is torn between love and resentment toward a famous sibling that has always gotten more than enough attention. Although Cristina was obviously not at the scene for many of the events told in this book, she claims that she can easily imagine how things happened to Frida. Every major event from Frida developing polio to her horrific trolley car accident, Diego and Kahlo's wedding to Frida's pregnancies, all are accounted for in this story. However, many fictional events have also been included, with fictional characters to go along with it. Mujica's purpose for this book is to give the reader a general picture of what life with Frida Kahlo may have been like, and how a sibling may have felt, living in the shadow of such an outrageous attention-seeking person.

I enjoyed FRIDA, but always kept in mind that this is indeed a work of fiction. It is not exactly known how Frida died, nor is it known what type of relationship she may have had with her sisters, especially with Cristina. That said, I treated this book as pure entertainment, and not as the bible on the life of Frida Kahlo. For a more accurate account of her life, Kahlo aficionados recommend the biography by Herrera Hayden.

i knew nothing about frida kahlo or diego rivera before reading this book, and in fact was not very interested in their art (until reading the book, that is). that i enjoyed it suggests that this is a novel for all, even those who do not already love/hate frida and her work.

Dr. Mujica's approach is fresh and engaging - the narration is not just narration: it is spicy and flavourful. it is a taste of frida instead of just a description of what frida tastes like.

the reader gets glimpses of frida through many eyes - not just those of her sister. a jewish father, a confusing mother, a heckled-but-confident childhood and an adult life sprinkled with sexual independence and infamous relationships colour what _could_ have been a traditional (and boring!) treatment of the life of an artist.

Mujica's style and focus keep our minds open. the parents, the childhood, Diego, the art shows and reviews - they were what they were; Mujica doesn't try to force them all into a neatly-packaged psychology of Frida.

i guess i would call it a good read, and then some.

The photographs include some not seen in the many other books on Kahlo, which is the primary strength of this book. However, it seems that some of the facts are drawn from the March biography of Rivera - which is at best questionable - and at worst Rivera's mythical reinterpretation of his own life. The unusual grammar and typographical errors are somewhat distracting at times. Overall, however, it provides a nice overview of the important points in the Kahlo-Rivera relationship.

This book provides better than average insight into lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. While people are now eagerly awaiting the Fall 2002 Selma Hayek movie on Frida, this book does provide some background into the world of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. If you are unfamilar with these artists this book would be a good place to start.

This book was absolutely horrible. This is the most ignorant biography I've ever read. Rummel is constantly criticizing every aspect of her that doesn't agree with traditional american values. Every time the communist party comes up in the book, Rummel inserts some incredibly ignorant and stupid anti-communist comment. There are so many interesting and well written books about this amazing woman's life, don't read this one.

As a fan of this great painter i already knew the major things about her life but this book goes deep into the mysterious world of Frida Kahlo. I find it expressing Frida as she would like to have been remembered this is a must read for the art lovers.

It's an interesting subject, but I found the book to be quite confusing. It skips around chronologically and often fails to explain fully the events that are mentioned. In addition, the translation is quite awkward in places. I would presume that the translator was attempting to preserve the flavor of the original, but she does so in a way that interferes with comprehension.

This book is a documentary on the life of Frida Kahlo. It is interesting because it doesn't focus soley on her art, but more directly emphasizes her emotional strength as a woman. A large portion of the book is exerpts from private conversations with Frida, as well as diary entries, medical records, and personal letters. Her life is filled with tragedy, but the book shows the incredible spirit of Kahlo as she faces near death and struggles as a female artist in a male dominated world. This book also gives the reader insight into the famed relationship of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Frida Kahlo: An Open Life, is written by Raquel Tibol who befriended Rivera in the 1950's and subsequently met and lived with Kahlo a year before her death. This book provides an unique perspective on the personal life of the very strong willed Kahlo.