Customer Reviews

The Anatomist

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

the articles of this man's defense, what should have been the most important part of the book, were NUMEROUS, DRAWN-OUT, and EXTREMELY DRY.

i liked the cover. liked the VERY ending too. its the in-between bits that i wasn't crazy about.

This book may suffer a little in translation but I enjoyed it! It is interesting to read about the growing knowledge of human sexuality during the Renaissance especially about the brave and curious who dared probe what the Church forbade. The book has given me a new appreciation for female genitalia and the ultimate power of women's sexuality over men.

When book ends, some how if feels that the author missed a great opportunity to write a fantastic novel and settled for an amenable one. The narrative structure is captivating but it needs more sidelines, so many of the characters are fascinating but they are never fully developed and their backgrounds remain hidden. On the other hand the material was perfect to build great suspense and tension with many twists and turns, but Mr. Andahazi preferred to roll out a conclusion. Its like having the opportunity of taking a stroll trough be beautiful country road, and then see the driver heading for the usual highway. What a pity.

It is hard to believe this wonderful book about a heart broken man is a translation. What Renaldo does for love and his discovery are equally fascinating.

Interesting topic, poor presentation. Kill the machismo.

It is without a doubt an intresting book that will take you back in time and will make your mind wonder and imagine things that are well described in this book. Mr. Andahazi does a good job at gathering facts and making a good fiction. The lecture will be easy and fast. This is a book you will be able to read in two days without any trouble if you are a good reader. However, you might end up with that particular feeling that there was something missing. The book does not meet the expectations you might have from reading the editorial review. A three out of five is well deserved.

This is an interesting historical tale. What I found most interesting was the author's historical research. It is difficult at times to distinguish fact from fiction, and although this may have been a desired effect, it is frustrating at times if you actually want to know what really happened. All in all, the story and characters are potentially fascinating - but only potentially. A great opportunity was missed here. All the ingredients are certainly there to produce a major epic instead of this slender tome. Nevertheless, it is definitely worth reading.

I had heard many good things about this book, enough to persuade me to buy it without browsing it first. That was my first mistake.

There are no interesting characters in this book, or at least no sympathetic ones. (Some of them may qualify as "interesting", if one has a sufficiently flexible definition of "interesting".) Contrary to what the cover and the ad blurbs would have you believe, it is not the least erotic, the plot is poorly constructed, and the style vacillates between failed attempts at levity and overweaning pretentiousness.

Other than that, it was fine.

The front cover would like to lead you to believe that this is a controversial novel. If the search for something different and challenging has pointed you in the direction of this book then you will almost certainly be disappointed. It's about as controversial as a wet fish! There are some good moments within the novel especially towards the conclusion of the book but the actual ending definately does not enter this category. The strange short chapter style of the book breaks up the general flow of the work to too great an extent.

Despite several well crafted passages, Andahazi has spilled an overblown, puffed up imitation of contemporary European fiction in his first novel. Like so much in his native Argentina's culture, the author, failing to find his own voice, has aped the Continental greats. This is simply a foolish imitation of The Name Of The Rose, lacking both subtlety and sophistication. Far from being a novel of ideas, or even erotic fiction, this would be parable is so stuffed with postmodern platitudes and poor characerization that it collapses from the dead weight inane contradiction. Here is a hint, if a dust jacket reads, "In the tradtion of.....," skip the imitation and read the original.