- Hardcover: 1 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury UK; Reprint edition (Jun 5 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0747563152
- ISBN-13: 978-0747563150
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14.8 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 440 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,274,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Spanish journalist and novelist Cercas strives for a "true tale" in his first book to be published in the U.S., the story of a political prisoner during the Spanish Civil War who cheated death twice in one day. Narrated by a Spanish journalist also called Javier Cercas, the novel is the chronicle of his quest to uncover a story as slippery and charmed as its protagonist, Rafael Sánchez Mazas, a founder of the fascistic Spanish Falange, who became a minister without portfolio in Franco's postwar government. Before rising to his position of power, however, Sánchez Mazas was captured by a group of Republicans and marched into the woods along with his comrades to be executed; moments after his daring flight, "an anonymous defeated soldier" spied him-but said nothing. The facts of this fascist writer's miraculous escape quickly became legend, aided in no small part by the oral and written efforts of Sánchez Mazas himself. Sixty years later, Cercas, an inadvertent archeologist digging through his nation's bloody past, unearths revelations and epiphanies that are far less wondrous than the surface gloss, but much more useful to present-day existence. His thematic conclusions are powerful and humane enough to compensate for a narrative voice that is often speculative or long-winded. This work sometimes suffers from a scarcity of scenes and dialogue, but its moral core is smart and compelling.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Review
"A truly wonderful, magnificent novel. It is understanding, intelligent, compassionate ... If you were required to read only one book about Spain and its civil war, this should be that book." -- Scotsman
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Original, bold and absorbing trans-genre work,
By
This review is from: Soldiers of Salamis (Hardcover)
I first read this title because I studied The Spanish Civil War at university and because it had a good review. And I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this title.I was really impressed by its orignality in form, construction and honesty. I loved the way it flitted between personal narrative and history. I won't give a synopsis of the story because it is more than adequately explained below. However, it is a wonderful illustration of the way collective human memory can redeem itself by recovering a few names from the forgotten multitude, or how, if you prefer, how the dead cling on through a few individuals. This is also an important book, because it reveals the variety of experience in a war and what it means to different people and how some just get caught up in events. Moreover, it shows how there is never one single view that can demonstrate why a war happened or what it was about. This is not a history of the Spanish Civil War, nor does it claim to be. It is a book about, human experience, collective memory, and the part played by chance in human events. It was by pure chance that I read this book review in a newspaper I was about to discard, but just stopped in the nick of time!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Present history,
By
This review is from: Soldiers of Salamis (Hardcover)
I want to say that I loved the book, I was born in Girona and I was delighted to read how Cercas described the city and surroundings in a magnificent way. Besides I was surprised about the two bad reviews down there, I think the novel it is a tribute to all the people who fought in the Spanish Civil War and that are often forgotten. I must say that it is very recommendable to read this book in order to understand present spanish politics. I hope this helps to some people.Jordi
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strange but beautiful and haunting quixotic tale,
By A Customer
This review is from: Soldiers of Salamis (Hardcover)
Not going to give a long review but when I saw a couple of 1 star reviews I couldn't resist. A fascinating tale amidst the complex machinations of the Spanish Civil War leades the narrator and author to explore not only historical issues but issues of heroism and historical truth. While the writing is at times a tad convoluted, I barely noticed, and I ended up loving this book more than I initially believed I would. I would have liked to have given 4.5 stars if I could.
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