The problem with writing a review about a classic is that there are a hundred thousand other people who have written much better reviews before you. Since this is not actually a space for reviews as such, I’ll elect not to give too much of a review.
Instead I think I’ll ask just what all the fuss is about? I’m not saying this isn’t a good tale – it is, even though the title gives the ending away. I quite enjoyed reading about the Ingles and Maria, his little rabbit. Maria was even less of an insipid character than I expected, though she was insipid enough. There were Gypsy’s and Bullfighters and Fascists and Geurillas and all sorts – certainly it has all the makings of a good yarn, which is what it is. Maybe I’m missing the point (most certainly I am) but there were bits I thought kind of tedious. Nothing a good edit couldn’t fix, but a bit tedious all the same.
On the good side, I took the time to read this bit over twice:
‘I saw my face in the mirror of the barbershop and the faces of those who were holding me and the faces of three others who were leaning over me and I knew none of their faces but in the glass I saw myself and them, but they saw only me. Ad it was as though one were in a dentist’s chair and there were many dentists and they were all insane”.
Apart from being a terrifying image that is a bit Clockwork Orange, it reminded me of this quote:
“Whatever faction of a man represents, the uninvited penetration of a woman seems to be his main reassurance of personal power. Beside and scarcely below the threat of murder, rape becomes a part of a woman’s life expectancy.”
- Dubravka Ugresic, ‘The Culture of Lies’.
And that made me think about the war in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Bangladesh and and and… that made me want to stop thinking altogether.
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