Customer Reviews

Marianela (Clasicos de la literatura series)

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What is the actual implication of this fictitious work? Isn't there a serious, profound and truthful lessons in this love story so down-to-earth but yet so complex?

Marianela, a love story published in 1878 portrays a relationship between a blind man and his guide-- not beautiful a woman, whom he imagines attractive. Loving him she worries that once the man recovers his eyesight realizes she is not as pretty as he thinks her to be.

The author wisely crafts an interesting symbolism between the capacity to see, which is always spiritual and emotional, and on the other hand the human eyesight which can be inadequate, restrictive and misleading.

The implication that runs through the whole story is that adversity is a blessing in disguise, since blindness forces him to be humble enough to perceive the beauty she and others manifest. Once he recovers his eyesight and sees her for the first time with his human eyes, he rejects her.

Wasn't he in possession of real sight while blind than when he was able to recover his sight and to humanly see? Isn't Perez Galdos message, that the capacity to see and understand is mental, emotional and not necessarily physical?

Finally I can say this classic must be understood as a lesson on the spiritual superiority over the evidence presented by the human senses. This emotionally complex story has a symbolism, it will teach a lesson to whoever is receptive enough to its deeper meaning.

Pablo fell in love with a small, scrawny shadow of a girl named Nela. He loved her with sincerity and was able to look past her exterior because of his blindness. But he doesn't realize that she was so hurt and afraid that if he saw her ugliness, he wouldn't love her. When he got his eyesight back, she died of lovesickness for him. It's sad but well written. So read it...in Spanish it has a better affect.

I am a young "Anglo-American" (white) girl living in a Texas/Mexican border town with a 98% hispanic community, and am on my way to learning the language fluently. I read this book in my Spanish class, and nearly died from the beauty of this book! It has helped me along with recognizing and comprehending Spanish along with leaving me a satisfied reader. Someday when I speak fluent Spanish, I will read this to my daughter and am sure it will be her favorite bed-time story. :-)

I must admit that this book didn't pick my interest when I started reading it in My Spanish AP class in high school. Now after reading it I have to say that this book is wonderfully written and very educational.
Marianela is a girl who lives in The Mines of Socartes, she is the guide of a rich boy who suffers fom blindness Pablo. I loved Marianela's character since the first pages, she is so full of life, so innocent. All her life she lived out of the pity of others but it didn't matter to her. Pablo "said" he loved her and she lived in this illusion where she thought that she would finally be loved and not criticized by her looks.
Then, everything changed when Teodoro Golfin, a miracle doctor gave Pablo his sight. That's when everything changed. When Pablo saw what Marianela really looked like, he just started treating her horribly. Where did all his love go? I have to say that by the end of the book I hated Pablo with a passion. How can someone be so cynical as to tell a person how beautiful she is without really seeing the exterior appearance and then being disgusted by what he sees when he looks at how that person really looks? Sadly that's what happens with Pablo and it would have been better if he had stay blind.
This book bring some things that are really important. True beauty is on the inside, never judge someone by their exterior appearace because you might be surprised. True beauty is not something that you can see or touch, beauty has to be felt.
I highly recomend this book, it will touch your heart I promise

Pablo, a rich blind boy is madly in love with poor Marianela. Things go smooth until renowned Doctor Teodoro Golfín offers to cure up Pablo's eyes. Marianela, who thinks she is ugly is afraid that when he starts seeing, he'll see how ugly(on the surface) she really is. Her fears are confirmed when he falls for his beautiful cousin Florentina, who doesn't treat Marianela too well. She is so attached to Pablo that if she doesn't look beautiful for him, she won't be any use to him. A very destructive point of view which she sticks to. It's a tragic ending but it's common in most Spanish-language stories.

I first read this book as a Venezuelan teenager. I recently found it in the U.S., and intend for my child to read it also. You see: beauty is in th eyes of the beholder, and society focuses too much in the superficial aspect of everything. Literature such as this brings a new dimension to human relations and private conflicts which go on daily and often times unresolved in each persons psyche. A must read!

I read this book in 1969 and has become my favorite ever since. It taught me moral values and helped me to cope with relations with handicapped people. The author is a genius, has given life to words. I fell in love with Marianela not for pity of her but because of her charmin way of dealing with the blind. Excellent. I still read it.

I loved Marianela when I first read it back in El Salvador,We sometimes don't pay attention who really matters in hour lives,who loves us and give everything they have for us,the pay we give(wheter intentional or not)is anything ,but love.So now we better look around us for the brightlight of love.

Seeing as though I couldn't get the real Marianela quickly, this one suited quite well, perhaps even better. I had to write a paper on it and the simplified language made mush easier to understand.

This product arrived very quickly and was in perfect condition, brand new, still in the plastic. It was an excellent choice as the story is great, and the reviews and details given on the website were very accurate.