The Love Queen of the Amazon [Paperback]

Cecile Pineda (Author), Pineda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2000

Expelled from her demure convent school for swimming nude, led kicking and screaming to the alter, Ana Magdalena Figueroa is kidnapped on her wedding night only to escape and find refuge in the arms of the man of her savagely hot adolescent fantasies. Her marriage to the patrician but penniless writer, Federico Orgaz y Orgaz leads her to even more colorful adventures, from her blissful initiation into the flourishing bordello of her Aunt Ofelia to her apotheosis as the Madam extraordinaire of the legendary Confiteria. Meanwhile, Federico takes his cue from the subversively wicked stories his wife tells him to find his writing suddenly taking off at a new and flourishing pace. Exploring the nature of romance, deceit, and female desire, Cecile Pineda blends social and political satire with magic realism in a tour-de-force of stunning originality.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Sly magic realism; if Pineda's novel imitates (and occasionally parodies) instead of breaking ground, it's still fresh territory for the author of Face (1985) and Frieze (1986): a well- crafted, always entertaining read. In Malyerba--like Macondo, a mythic town that ``progress had yet to visit''--a house is taken over by bees, a woman is crystallized into honey, a mummy-like mother-in-law floats toward Heaven, and protagonist Ana Magdalena is expelled from convent school for stripping naked while saving a classmate from drowning. She and her genteel mother try various shifts to make ends meet until the child is married off--for money--to an older, world- renowned writer who proves to have financial problems of his own. In need of cash, seeking love, sex, and adventure (mostly with a pimpish boatman), and anxious to avoid her conjugal duties--i.e., listening to her husband read from his interminable manuscript--Ana Magdalena finds her vocation. Assuming that he's too busy writing (about a character much like herself) to notice, she transforms the great man's ancestral home into a bordello. Pineda pokes fun along the way at Borges, Garc¡a M rquez, Vargas Llosa, and others. Like Ishmael Reed, she scrambles historical periods: Ana Magdalena meets Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin, deluxe sound systems, and digital phones. Pineda occasionally deflates macho posturing and her happy hookers are more independent than usual, but she falls short of an assumption-reversing female vision. Masterful homage, with a touch of satiric response. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Cecile Pineda is the author of five novels: The Love Queen of the Amazon, Frieze, Face, Redoubt and Bardo99. Her debut novel, Face, has been optioned by Rubicon Films, Ltd. Prior to her career as a novelist, Pineda founded and directed her own experimental ensemble theater company dedicated to the development of original performance works. She has taught fiction writing in the San Francisco Bay Area, in San Diego, and presently at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse.com (May 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0595091628
• ISBN-13: 978-0595091621
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,890,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZON, I LOVED THIS QUEEN, January 23, 2008

By 

Dick Johnson (Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Love Queen of the Amazon: A Novel (Hardcover)

What a riot! There's no need to repeat the book description above since it captures the wildness of the book very well. This book will take you places you haven't been before with characters you've never known. It's a unique read.

My advice - 1. buy the book; 2. turn off the cell phone and TV; 3. go to the bathroom; 4. find a comfortable location to sit and read with a beverage of choice; 4. read & enjoy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Latin American magic realism satire?, April 9, 2000

By 

D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Love Queen of the Amazon: A Novel (Paperback)

It's set in Peru and Bolivia and maybe Brazil, and is full of erudite literary references and wonderful descriptions of old Lima. At first I thought it was real magic realism but then I thought it was a satire of the genre. The heroine is a sort of sexy female Candide. I was just rereading it and checked Amazon.com for more Cecile Pineda but find everything out of print. The only other review is of a novel called Frieze set in the ancient Orient.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars just marvellous, October 23, 2010

By 

Lama "LB" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Love Queen of the Amazon: A Novel (Paperback)

Cecile Pineda is an astonishing writer. I have a special fondness for this book because in addition to her usual enchanting prose it has a delicate wit and charm. It's full of sunshine and sensuality and adventure!