Customer Reviews

Lovesick

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel is a fascinating mix, a great story populated with fascinating characters. At the heart of the story is the main character, Emilia. She is a combination of science, intuition and emotion that more than holds our attention and whose story we are sorry to see end. Her love life is a mix between torrid chemical passion with childhood sweetheart Daniel Cuenca and a more calm romance with medical colleague Antonio Zavalza. I enjoyed being transported into the rhelm of instability in Mexican politics of the late 19th and early 20th century. Daniel's passion for the political was a wonderful wanderlust. Emilia's parents were also great characters: Diego the pharmacist and Josefa, a mix of practicality and emotion. Several medical issues were also fascinating. One is the role of women in medicine and the difficulties of early female physicians to get education and be accepted. Another was the development of medical theory with Emilia's research encompassing the herbal, mystical, massage, etc. At one point the male doctors are amazed as her directness in asking a patient, "Where does it hurt?" Another tidbit was excluding women medical students from lessons on male reproductive organs; this highlighted a sense of history in a novel that spans years from 1874 to 1963. In Margaret Peden's English translation, there is a good sense of rhythm and pacing. This is an excellent novel that rivits our attention with the love story and many strong characters, and has enough historical, political and medical information to stimulate the intellect at the same time. Seek it out!

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Mexico is torn apart by a civil war that war effects all aspects of society, including the wealthy. Emilia Sauri is the daughter of a Mayan herbalist and a Spanish mother. She loves her childhood friend, Daniel Cuenca. As Emilia studies to become a physician and turns into a political rebel, Daniel runs off to fight, joining whomever he thinks makes the best leader of the month. He constantly returns home when his current favorite leader fails to live up to his expectations. At home, Daniel makes passionate love with Emilia, only to quickly desert her, leaving her lonely and angry. However, she loathes herself more for wanting and loving him even deeper after each departure.
...... While Daniel is away on one of his long term excursions, Emilia meets Antonio Zavalza, a physician who abhors violence. When Antonio opens up a local hospital, she joins his efforts to help the poor. Working side by side, the two doctors fall in love with each other. However, Emilia must choose between a man of peace offering to share a serene and professional future together or a man of war offering spurts of feverish love.
...... LOVESICK is a great work written in the Mexican form of historical fiction that will thrill readers who enjoy a novel written from a different perspective and writing style. Angeles Mastretta writes like an angel as she brings a unique, refreshing style to the genre. This reviewer strongly recommends this book and another tale by Ms. Mastretta, TEAR THIS HEART OUT, when it is translated into English.

.......Harriet Klausner

Reading Angeles Mastreta is like listening to a grandmother tell the story of her life. Anyone who has visited Mexico and knows the way Mexicans see the world, will clearly agree that this book, as well as any of her other works is a masterpiece. Everytime I read anything by her (and I always do it in Spanish) I marvel at the exquisitness of her carefully chosen language and at the perfect way she tells the story of life in Mexico. This book comes to remind us of what it is to transorm everyday life into literary masterpieces.

This book captivated me from the beginning, and I was sorry to finish it.
Emilia, the main character, struck such a chord. SHe is strong, intelligent, adventurous, feminine and passionate. Her strength and weakness is her heart. This is a story about love, not only romantic love, but love between huband and wife, love for family, love for friends, for knowledge, for passion and for justice. The multiplicity allowed to female characters in this book is a sheer joy to find. The language is delicate and the words chosen well. Mastretta has crafted a wonderful tale. Follow your heart!

If you're looking for literature, forget it. This is barely at summer beachtime reading level. On the other hand, if you like romance novels set in "mysterious exotic locations" this may be just for you. Hell, take a look at the cover, it's just a "latinized" version of that guy with the long hair who sells butter standing on a windy cliff with a bodice-busting babe and a mansion in the background. How sad that fiction from this area of the world is now coming to this. And Borges wept. (Yeah, I know, re-reading what I wrote it sounds snobbish, but I'm still angry that I spent the money for this tripe).