- Paperback: 290 pages
- Publisher: Akashic Books; 1 edition (May 1 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1888451165
- ISBN-13: 978-1888451160
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11.5 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 222 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #705,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Fun, fast and intelligent, this devilishly charming import gives pulp fiction a good name. Hailed as one of the best Latin writers, Uruguayan-born Chavarr¡a is well known throughout Europe as well as in Latin America. He has won literary prizes around the world, including the 1992 Dashiell Hammett Award; this able translation by Carlos Lopez is the first to bring Chavarr¡a to an English-speaking audience. The story, a madcap caper full of twisted sex, devious schemes and high-rolling hijinks, also showcases Chavarr¡a's considerable scholarly research into prostitution. When Alicia, a crafty, bicycle-riding Havana hooker in present-day Cuba, meets Victor, a convicted bank robber masquerading as an upstanding businessman, they quickly realize each other's mutually nefarious motives and wind up in a business pact that leads to larceny, kidnapping and death. Despite the dark subject matter, the winking delivery provides comic surges as reliably as an amusement park ride. Readers are kept off balance by surprise twists and rolling punches but riveted by the sheer force of curiosity and entertainment. Linguistic and cultural tidbits illuminate the intelligence at work behind the bawdy and raw story, while the narrative reveals the exploitative nature of economic forces at work in Cuba. Lines blur between victim and victimizer as Chavarr¡a reveals a symbiosis in which wealthy foreigners exploit the country's resources (from sunken galleons to beautiful women) and the Cubans in turn exploit foreigners' resources. But Chavarr¡a never loses sight of his goal: to deliver an energetic hustle that will leave readers clamoring for more. (June)Forecast: The campy, vintage-style cover painting featuring Alicia posing provocatively on her bicycle will catch the eye of fans of the pulp genre; a dip between the covers will do the rest.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Celebrated in Latin America for his noir detective fiction, Uruguayan author Chavarr!a makes his English-language debut with this fast-paced novel, set in Cuba. Featuring Alicia, a bicycle-riding prostitute, and Victor, a Canadian financier with a shady past and a few current secrets, Adi?s Muchachos spins the tale of a caper gone awry, where no one is particularly bad and everyone is on the take. Castro's Havana has not appeared this sunny in many years, nor have its crooks been this good-natured. There is an accidentally dead Dutch millionaire, a man with a nose so large that he wears a mask to hide it when he makes love, a recipe for smoked eels in mango sauce, and a defective Chinese bicycle. Mixed together, these ingredients make a zesty Cuban paella of a novel that's impossible to put down. This is a great read, recommended for public libraries. Andrea Caron Kempf, Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A definite winner,
By
This review is from: Adios Muchachos (Paperback)
It seems like every year the Edgar committees nominate one book that is so unusual that it stands out amongst the usual fare. Sometimes these books are excellent and would otherwise have remained undiscovered. For example, immediately comes to mind OUTCAST by Jose Latour, which was first published in English by the same publisher as this book. ADIOS MUCHACHOS is a black comedy that also could be considered a noir fiction. Characters are quite wacky and the plot extremely clever.In Havana, Cuba, Alicia literally pedals her wares as a bicycle hooker. However, she isnï¿t simply out for money. She views each ï¿clientï¿ as a prospective ticket out of her poverty-laden life via marriage or a long-term commitment. With the help of her pragmatic mother, Margarita, she seduces her johns with food and drink prior to their sampling of her sexual wares. Into this set up wanders her latest john, Victor King. Victor is involved in hunting for treasures on shipwrecks around the island. The people backing him are extremely wealthy. At first Victor uses Alicia for his own purposes. Later he proposes using her for his plan entailing voyeurism. However, a very unfortunate accident might possibly, with a bit of scheming, leave Alicia and Victor extremely wealthy. The question is, can they pull it off by outwitting the wealthy backers? The rampant descriptions of blatant sex would preclude placing this book among the ranks of the cozies. For those who enjoy hard edged humor, this book will very well fit the bill. The characters, all despicable creations are a pure delight. In spite of their immorality, the reader will find them quite sympathetic. Interest never wanes as the reader roots for Victor and Alicia to succeed in their deception. The book never tries to be a social commentary in that the living conditions in Havana never plays a central role. ADIOS MUCHACHOS is a definite winner and is my pick as the best of the paperback original nominees. However, I really donï¿t think it will win in that it is too unconventional.
3.0 out of 5 stars
A disapointment,
By Quilmiense (USA/Spain) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Adios Muchachos (Paperback)
I had read very optimistic comments on this book and its author in the New York Times for some time, so I finally decided to get into the Latin mood. The expectations were high and the starts very promising, really amusing. But little by little the emotion goes down. It's like you are expecting some twist in the story or something great to happen but there is nothing. It is just that. The story is told in a fast pace but it lack interest, at least to me. Only can I save from drowning this book the gorgeous hips of that belle cuban female, or that's how she seems to me.As a side note, I should say that the idea of touring Cuba for good and cheap sex -taking advantage of their slavery- is not a laudable one, on which the author doesn't seem to agree. No problem of conscience?
4.0 out of 5 stars
Doing the Horizontal Rhumba, or Dutch Treat,
By James Paris "Tarnmoor" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Adios Muchachos (Paperback)
Usually, a novel that splits right down the middle -- like a house divided against itself -- cannot stand. This one manages to, just barely. The first half is a raunchy romp with a Havana prostitute named Alicia, who manages to fall off her bicycle in an interesting way, and who strives to "trade up" toward a higher class of client. When she tangles with a shady international entrepreneur named Victor King, she finds her match until ...Well, I shouldn't say what happens midway through the book, if only because it is so surprising and outlandish that it should be experienced without any lead-in. Suffice it to say that, quite suddenly, one finds oneself in a standard crime caper novel of the shaggy dog variety. The author's style metamorphoses into another genre, and the lovely Alicia is relegated to a subordinate role. Only the ironic ending keeps me from downgrading the book to three stars. Daniel Chavarria obviously has talent as a writer, and has some of the juiciest sex scenes in recent literature, but he is no master of the genre. Paco Taibo, whose praise appears on the back, stands head and shoulders above him with his Hector Belascoaran Shayne novels. Yet I suspect that Chavarria is still young and has room to grow, and I look forward to reading his other works.
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