Customer Reviews

THE CAMPAIGN.

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I'm writing from the perspective of one who has very little background in Latin American history, and I did appreciate the literary device of sending the novel's protagonist from region to region. From reading this, I had a sense of the vastness of space and variety of experience possible in Latin America; also, I got the point that the revolutionary fervor was sweeping.

Perhaps the tool was contrived, but it worked for me mostly because I loved spending time with Balta Bustos, exploring the depths of human contradiction with him, sorrowing with him, maturing with him. Rarely have I read such beautiful writing, seemingly slow in pace (which normally would send me on to some other book) but in reality very captivating. I was absorbed here, and was rarely tempted to put the book down out of restlessness. Yes, history was obviously an aim here, but for me, the journey was human and full of heart.

Carlos Fuentes creates a historical novel based loosely on events in Latin America in the early 1800's that is both fun and exciting. The novel actually focuses more on his three main charaacters and their relationships and roles in various revolutuionary causes taking place in Latin America; in essence the breaking away from Spain. The main protagonist is Baltazar Bustos, a character who is the son of wealthy Argentine racnher and a firm believer in the ideas of Rousseau. We see an interesting tranformation of Bustos and all of the characters. Bustos has two friends that play significant roles in the book. Xavier Dorrego and Manuel Varela, who is telling the story, are the vehicles for this novel. Dorrego is from a priveleged family and buys books for his group of intellectuals. He aspires to be a lawyer. All three of the friends are subversives as each takes a role in reproducing the cherished but dangerous books received from Europe with new ideas. This is only the beginning of their adventures as the story is further propelled by Bustos kidnapping of the Marquise de Cabra's infant child(he swaps infants, replaces one with a mulatos child)but the plan goes awry as a fire destroys a room in which the baby was held. Bustos is tormented by this act and tries to repent by finding the elusive woman. The three friends travel to Chile , Venezuela, Peru and ultimately Mexico. Mr. Fuentes integrates the philosophies of the previously mentioned philosophers throughout his book via the characters. The revolutionary ideals of the time period that ultimately won independence for the nations of Latin America helps drive the novel. Thus Mr. Fuentes weaves a tale cleverly that is both historical and philosophical. I enjoyed this book but not as much as some of his other efforts. I would recommend this book to someone who likes history, specifically the quest for independence from Spain in the new world in the nineteenth century.

Bustos being a intrepid person along with Dorrego and Varela, tried to understand and at the same time change the political system that was being experienced back in that time when the spaniards ruled the latin american country Agentina. they fought with an intellectuall manner instead of the brutal, trying to get more knowledge about the political issues even though it was prohibited. They were succesful.

In this somewhat allegorical novel of early 19th century Latin American history, Fuentes attempts to produce a hybrid historical and philosophical novel. The protagonist is a young Argentine revolutionary and romantic whose travels take him throughout Latin America during the revolts from Spain. The allegory is the protagonist's pursuit of a woman whom he glimpsed only briefly and whom he has wronged. The result is not really successful, partly because characters and narrative seem to switch from one mode to another without good integration of the philosophical and historical elements Fuentes is attempting to combine. Oddly, the book suffers from being too short. It would have been much better to incorporate the philosophical elements into a longer and more naturalistic historical novel, a la Tolstoy's War and Peace. This book also contains some magical realist elements, which seem engrafted into the novel and consequently incongruous. Interesting but not very rewarding reading.