Divina Trace [Hardcover]

Robert Antoni (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Old Granny Myrna, on her deathbed, tells her grandson, Johnny Domingo, the miraculous Caribbean tale of Magdelena the nun who, with Barto as the father, births a half-man/half-frog child whose existence then becomes the stuff of legend and leads to Magdelena's universal canonization on the island of Corpus Christi by the whole ethnic mix. Testimony in a number of voices and forms attests to the strange happenings and their possibly more scientific underpinnings (a case of anencephaly, an island doctor wonders)- -voices and forms (including a Hindu cosmogony poem, a mock- Ramayana) that first-novelist Antoni slathers on with zest. But a reader, receiving, eventually just feels buried. Partly it's a problem constitutional to dialect books--``Yes Doodoo, now de burden of passing on dis story must fall pon you. Because Evalina not here no more to push she foot long de road again, and you is firstborn Domingo manchild, beget by de firstborn Domingo manchild, beget by dis wadjank-cacashat who is Satan self, who defile Papa God own sweet saint of heaven to beget dis diab-crapostory hand down to you...''--and partly it's the fault of the swollen diameter of Antoni's mythic purpose, when in fact all he has to tell is a small story. Where was the editor on watch when this book came through? -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 436 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; First Edition edition (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879514450
• ISBN-13: 978-0879514457
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,060,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Framented History, April 16, 2003

By 

Geoffrey Philp (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Divina Trace (Paperback)

Robert Antoni's novel presents the history of the Caribbean through the lives of his characters who are flawed and wonderful.
The humor and satire in Divina Trace rise to Olympian proportions as the charcaters try to piece together the legend of Magdalena and the "crappo child." Antoni possesses a comic gift that is matched in My Grandmother's Erotic Tales--another MUST read.