Puerto Rico's preeminent literary figure tells the story of a battle between a well-to-do couple over a manuscript dealing with their family history and Puerto Rican politics, a battle with a terrible consummation.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In The House on the Lagoon, a wealthy Puerto Rican woman decides to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a novelist, much to her husband Quintin's chagrin. Isabel Monfort writes what she knows--the history of her family and Quintin's family, dating back to the turn of the 20th century. When Quentin discovers the work in progress, he is dismayed at her factual errors and unhappy that she reveals so many family secrets. Every couple of chapters, Quintin interrupts Isabel's narrative to tell his version of events and worry aloud about his marriage. At first, he tries not to let his wife know he's reading the novel, but soon he cannot resist writing comments in the margins. This "he said/she said" format allows Rosario Ferré to explore sexual divisions in Puerto Rican society and evaluate the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction.
Ferré also examines Puerto Rico's severe economic and racial divisions in evocative ways. She describes when Quintin's sisters were children, and they grew weary of playing with one of the servant's babies--the two girls decided it might be more fun if the baby were white, so they painted her. The lead paint made the infant deathly ill, and she had to be rushed to the hospital. "Another half an hour of being white, and Carmelina would have died." Isabel remarks.
At times this book is confusing because there are so many characters to keep track of, but the family tree at the beginning of the text makes it a bit easier to follow. Isabel is an engaging narrator who has plenty of racy and tragic stories to tell. The House on the Lagoon is a fascinating introduction to Puerto Rican history and culture. --Jill Marquis
From Library Journal
The Puerto Rican-born Ferre is a prolific writer in Spanish of poetry, criticism, children's books, and fiction (e.g., Sweet Diamond Dust, Ballantine, 1989), but this is her first novel to be written originally in English. A superb storyteller, she here interweaves the passions and struggles of two families?of Isabel and of her husband, Quintin?and several decades of Puerto Rican history, with conflicts of race, class, and changing relations with Spain and the United States. This is a novel within a novel: the character Isabel is writing a novel chronicling the two families, descendants of Spanish, Corsican, and New England ancestors. Quintin discovers her manuscript and, beginning with marginal notes and comments, ultimately writes his own interpretation of the events. Thus, at another level, this is a novel attempting to answer the question: What is a novel? A fascinating work; recommended for literary collections.?Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, Ore.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
rich with history,
By "tacomagirl" (tacoma, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The House on the Lagoon (Mass Market Paperback)
The amazing feat of Rosario Ferre is her ability to weave historical events with a fictional family's history all the while giving the reader an amazing page turner. This book gives a brief lesson in Puerto Rican history and the complexities of race, class and gender relationships.This novel tells the story of two wealth Puerto Rican families. The tellling of the stories leads to disagreements between the main characters, husband and wife, Quintin and Isabel. Their disagreements beg the reader to decide which one is telling the truth and who is more believable. It is a fascinating journey which challenges the reader, which is exactly what a great book should do.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Novel Experience,
This review is from: The House on the Lagoon (Mass Market Paperback)
I read this book on the recommendation of a friend who is a Puertorriqueno-Americano. He read it in Espanol and loved it. I read it in English and truly enjoyed the beauty of the writing and extremely well crafted characters. Three houses on the lagoon was a stretch of the imagination. I learned at least one woman's perspective of Puerto Rican history and culture presented in a highly palatable form. I have no idea of how well it represents reality (which -- as the book illustrates -- is highly dependent on the eye of the beholder). As a fan of detective novels I ended up thinking that the author killed off more characters than the average thriller. I concluded that Quintin knew the number to the Swiss bank account -- just a strong impression. The book made me want to take my next Caribbean vacation in Puerto Rico. My friend warned me not to expect to find the house on the lagoon which seemed so real to me. Accepted for what it is, this is a fine book.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning Intertextuality,
By Alan Cambeira "author of Azucar's Trilogy" (Dominican Republic, author of Tattered Paradise...Azucar's Trilogy Ends) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The House on the Lagoon (Mass Market Paperback)
Rosario Ferré is without doubt a formidable writer with broad literary formation (holding a doctorate in Latin American literature) and impressive versatility in genres: short story, poetry, essay, novelist. She joins that welcomed and exciting cadre of Latina writers who skillfully articulates profound feminist concerns in their respective societies. In THE HOUSE ON THE LAGOON, Ferré presents two of her constantly recurring themes that form the core of her literary trajectory: Puerto Rican reality past and present ... the agonizing socio-psychological consequences produced by the unique historical-political-economic link to the United States; and Latina feminism accompanied by society's ugly prejudicial response. This story offers a highly critical view of Puerto Rican society with a bold reinterpretation of her island's history. As in all her tales and essays (as she herself has revealed) there is a thinly veiled autobiographical reflection. Ferré crafts a stunning literary language that expresses itself via surreal images similar to those that characterized the vanguard writers and visual artists of the opening decades of the twentieth century. In Spanish we call the technique "desdoblamiento" -- the exposition or unfolding of images to narrate the events afflicting her protagonists. It perhaps functions more intensively in the original Spanish. But what results in essence is a mystical fusion of fiction and reality ... magical realism. This is a mesmerizing work by an extremely talented writer and is highly recommended.Alan Cambeira
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