Commentaires client les plus utiles
|
|
5 internautes sur 5 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
5.0étoiles sur 5
Blown away, Juil 11 2004
The reportage style of "Queen of the South" fits Arturo Perez Reverte like a glove. Creating female characters has never been his strong point, and using an observer's eye to tell most of Teresa Mendoza's story works very well. Where you usually hear that good non-fiction "reads like a novel" here we have a fiction that reads like an investigative report in a quality magazine-one of those addictive pieces you think would make a great book.And it has. The Spanish novelist's latest is the story of Teresa Mendoza, who rose from being a drug smuggler's sweetie in Mexico's narco-capital of Culiacan, Sinaloa, to running one of the largest and most successful drug enterprises on the Mediterranean. There's no play for sympathy for Teresa, no descriptions of her childhood (except for Teresa's brief recall of her mother "washing dirty dishes in a tub in the backyard and sleeping with drunken neighbors"). Teresa does not ask for sympathy or expect it. She is never innocent. In Culiacan there is no mercy, no consideration. The place has evolved into a Colombian-style society of sociopaths, and she has learned to take what's offered and keep her eyes peeled. The inevitable happens at the start of "Queen of the South" and Teresa is on the run from page one. There are no heroes in this book; it is an unflinching portrait of an ugly world. The paranoia, manipulation, and joylessness of the drug enterprise is fascinating, with only one character in it for the thrill. Threaded through with the lyrics of Mexican narco-corridos, "Queen of the South" peels back the skin of modern drug cartels. This is an exciting, creepy read.
|
|
|
2 internautes sur 2 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
5.0étoiles sur 5
A gripping book, the best Perez-Reverte I've read, Jui 11 2004
I have read Perez-Reverte's "The Fencing Master" and "The
Nautical Chart". I consider these books intellectual noir,
whose plot revolves, in part, around a feme fatal. The
beautiful faithless women in these book are one dimensional.
Even in "The Nautical Chart", where the book revolves around
the beautiful Tanger, we never really get a feeling for who
she is. Coy, the man who loves her, spends the book trying
to understand her. But in the end Coy only has a collection
of observations that never really add up to a whole.Having read two books by Perez-Reverte where the women were
beautiful and dangerous characters without full dimension
I wondered if Perez-Reverte could actually write about a
three dimensional women. The answer has been provided in
"The Queen of the South". The central character is Teresa, a complex woman with a
complex history. By the end of the book I felt that
Perez-Reverte has created a character that could have lived beyond the pages of the book. Before becoming a novelist
Perez-Reverte was a new reporter and it shows in this book.
When I finished reading the last page, I had the strange
feeling that the events recounted really could have happened
exactly as outlined. This was reinforced by the fact that
Perez-Reverte has incorporated some actual people into his
story. Teresa as a dark character and by the end of
the book she has blood on her hands. Perhaps because
Perez-Reverte provides such an intimate portrait of Teresa
I was unable to see her as evil, despite some of her actions.
We see Teresa grow from a scared young woman to full adulthood
into a sophisticated woman. The story of "The Queen of the South" is told by a reporter
and the detail in which the world of drug running is
described in amazing detail. Like Fredrick Forsyth's "Odessa
File", one is reading a novelization of actual reality.
The story is gripping. From the start we feel that Teresa is living on borrowed time. There is nothing of the slow
buildup that exists in "The Fencing Master". This book
is a page turner from the start.
|
|
|
1 internautes sur 1 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
4.0étoiles sur 5
insightful look at drug trafficking, Jui 28 2004
Mexican drug-running pilot Guero Davila warned his girlfriend that if the cell phone he gave her ever rings, she must flee because he is dead and she is next. When the call came, the voice calmly told her that "They wasted Guero", killed his cousin, and she was high on the clean up list. Listening to the voice of Guero in her head, the panicked Teresa Mendoza runs for her life.Teresa knows that they will find her eventually so she must change from the innocent upbeat girl who a coke delivery pilot rescued from poverty to a major player. She chooses Spain to start out, but she is raped and incarcerated for her efforts. However, over the next dozen years, Teresa learns and begins to rise through the ranks until she becomes Narco's QUEEN OF THE SOUTH with a confrontation awaiting her with the Don of Mexican druglords. Though the men in Teresa's life are evanescent and never fully developed yet somehow seem fascinating (what if), readers receive an insightful look at drug trafficking through the exploits of the terrific protagonist. The story line actually plays out along two plots with the main theme being the rise to power of Teresa; the other subplot focuses on a reporter doing research into Teresa's life by interviewing felons and law enforcement officials who have known her. Thus, the audience obtains a second and at times a third perspective on events that shaped this intriguing anti-heroine. This strong novel falls a bit flat due to the weak support cast, but Arturo Pérez-Reverte still provides an intriguing thriller.
|
|
|
Commentaires client les plus récents
|
de Arturo Perez-Reverte
de Arturo Perez-Reverte
de Reverte Perez
de Arturo Perez-Reverte
de Arturo Pérez-Reverte
