Cellophane [Hardcover]

Marie Arana (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 2006

Don Victor Sobrevilla, a lovable, eccentric engineer, always dreamed of founding a paper factory in the heart of the Peruvian rain forest, and at the opening of this miraculous novel his dream has come true—until he discovers the recipe for cellophane. In a life already filled with signs and portents, the family dog suddenly begins to cough strangely. A wild little boy turns azurite blue. All at once Don Victor is overwhelmed by memories of his erotic past; his prim wife, Doña Mariana, reveals the shocking truth about her origins; the three Sobrevilla children turn their love lives upside down; the family priest blurts out a long-held secret....

A hilarious plague of truth has descended on the once well-behaved Sobrevillas, only the beginning of this brilliantly realized, generous-hearted novel. Marie Arana’s style, originality, and trenchant wit will establish her as one of the most audacious talents in fiction today and Cellophane as one of the most evocative and spirited novels of the year.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Arana, author of American Chica and editor of Washington Post Book World, revisits her native Peru with a tale as bawdy, raucous and dense as the jungle whose presence encroaches on every page. Arana's first novel depicts a family—and a country—on the fulcrum between the old ways and the new, between feudalism and revolution. At the height of the Great Depression, paper engineer Don Victor Sobrevilla pitches his small empire where the trees are—in the heart of the rain forest—constructing a highly successful paper factory and a vast hacienda, Floralinda, far from the political centers of Trujillo and Lima, linked only to the outside world by the dangerous and unpredictable Amazon. When, in 1952, Don Victor discovers the formula for cellophane, his household is afflicted with a "plague of truth," a compulsion to confess their most shameful histories and most hidden yearnings, to make their stories as transparent as the paper itself. When desires are laid bare, so are the conflicts that the family has kept hidden for so long, resulting in interlocking quests for power. The novel's broadly comic first half makes the story's violent culmination even more harrowing. (June 27)
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From The New Yorker

Arana's inventive first novel draws on some of the same material that animated "American Chica," her memoir about a dual upbringing in Peru and America. Don Victor Sobrevilla Paniagua is an engineer and a dreamer who ferries his wife and children into the Peruvian jungle to build a paper mill, raising "leviathans out of the earth" and creating a "swarming empire" of iron and steel. Don Victor has "the magic of a shaman" and the wealth of a god, but, once he masters the secret of manufacturing the "fragile, pellucid, mysterious" substance cellophane, Arana unleashes a destructive magic and, with deadpan comic timing, unravels his rain-forest demesne.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: The Dial Press (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385336640
• ISBN-13: 978-0385336642
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

www.mariearana.net
Marie Arana was born in Lima, Peru, the daughter of a Peruvian father and an American mother. She is the author of an acclaimed memoir "American Chica," which described her bicultural childhood between North and South Americas. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN-Memoir Award, and winner of the Books for a Better Life Award. Her novels, "Cellophane" and "Lima Nights," are dramatically different works, the first being a rich, lush satire of the Amazon jungle, the second being a stark, urban love story set in contemporary Latin America. Her book "The Writing Life," is a collection from her well-known column for The Washington Post, which explores the way writers think and work. You can find more information about Marie at www.mariearana.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "He longed to stand in a place untouched by man...and, despite all adversity, raise leviathans out of the earth.", July 31, 2006

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cellophane (Hardcover)

As a boy in Trujillo, Peru, Victor Sobrevilla Paniagua receives his fortune from a monkey in the plaza. "Beware! There are those who think you a dreamer," the scrap of paper warns. "Pay them no mind. They would have you doubt your goals." The paper further advises Victor to pray to the Virgin of Copacabana for protection against the day when he will face unexpected disaster. Victor eventually builds a paper factory in the rain forest of eastern Peru, finds the statue of the Virgin of Copacabana, and brings it to his jungle home, Floralinda. All is well with his world--until 1952, when he discovers, amid dark portents, how to make cellophane--thereby precipitating the dire events predicted in the second half of his childhood fortune.

The action which follows is divided into three "plagues." A "plague of truth" follows the discovery of cellophane, as each character in Floralinda, including the priest, confesses his/her romantic indiscretions. A "plague of hearts" follows, with each person pursuing new love or rekindling old love. Ultimately, a "plague of revolution" occurs, as government soldiers invade Floralinda, and local workers blame Don Victor and his cellophane for these troubles and the bloody battles which result.

Rich and atmospheric, Cellophane is a consummately "Latin American" novel in the tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, though there is less "magical realism" here. Examining the lives, past and present, of Don Victor, his wife, their children, spouses, lovers, and servants, Arana creates vibrant portraits showing the contrasts between those who leave the city for life in the jungle, and those who have lived there all their lives. The Catholicism of "civilized" city life contrasts with the vibrant spirit world of the native inhabitants, and the tension between reality and spirit infuses the action.

Considered a "shape-changer," Don Victor practices the local religion, regularly visits a curandero (healer), ingests hallucinogens for purification, and has a "spirit creature"-- the huge Andean condor. Other characters, some of them devout Catholics, show "the interconnectedness of all things" by accepting treatment from the curandero, treasuring magical talismans, believing prophetic dreams, and, deep in the jungle, making unexpected discoveries about themselves, the spirit world, and the unity of life.

Expansive in scope and theme but magnificently controlled in execution, Cellophane is thoroughly entertaining, filled with humor and irony. Within her warm humor, Arana examines themes of creativity and spirit, love and responsibility, society vs. solitude, liberty vs. autocracy, and the conflict between new and old ways. Swirling from present to past and back, as background and action combine, Arana develops engaging characters and the fully drawn community of Floralinda, creating a novel lovers of literary fiction will celebrate. n Mary Whipple

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In the end, a keeper, July 23, 2006

By 

Ursiform (Torrance, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cellophane (Hardcover)

My opinion on this book changed several times through the reading. Arana certainly writes very clean prose, but there were times I would have traded a bit of that for a bit more spark. And, at times, the "magic" seemed closer to overwrought coincidence. In the end, however, she pulled it off.

I was drawn in by the idea of the protagonist (Don Victor) wanting to make paper (and, eventually, cellophane) in the Amazon. Few are the books that honor an engineer wanting to create, especially in difficult circumstances in a less developed country. Placing this in the Amazon allowed the tensions between European and Indian, Christian and Animist, and even tribe and tribe, to color the story. Ultimately, it is a struggle between Europeans over wealth that causes all the other tension to flare up and wreak havoc.

It seems unlikely that the plot's dependence on the difficulty of imposing western concepts of civilization on other people, even when it brings them material advantage, is unrelated to events in the world today. But this is not a book about the world today, and it can be read for pleasure as a period piece, even if the author doesn't always succeed in separating period and modern sensibilities. (If paper doesn't grab you, rest assured that there are bad marriages, affairs, lusts, feuds, and grudges to keep you occupied.)

While certainly not a towering work of modern literature, it is well above average for a modern American novel. And it is very much approachable for those wanting a taste of Latin American magical realism who have been scared off by the "better bring a machete to cut through the prose" secondary but over-hyped works in the genre.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, but it may not be for everyone, August 22, 2006

By 

Scott George (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cellophane (Hardcover)

A lot of being said lately about the brilliance of Latin American fiction. But, for me, the pages and pages of flowery prose just get to be too much after awhile. This book was better than I expected. At first, I didn't know if I would be able to make it through. I didn't know if the story of a man's obsession with making paper in the jungle would be enough. It is actually the journey of the family that is the story. Surprisingly, by the time I finished the book I found myself enjoying it. The characters are well developed and understandable in their thoughts and actions. Not everyone wil enjoy this style of writing, but it is certainly worth a read. If you enjoy Latin American literature, you will like this book. If you have been wanting to sample it, this would be a good start.