Peliculas de Mi Vida, Las: Una Novela (Spanish Edition) [Paperback]

Alberto Fuguet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

Beltrán Soler es de Chile, una tierra que se mueve. Es, además, un sismólogo que sabe más sobre las placas tectónicas que de la vida. Camino a Tokio, hace escala en Los Angeles, donde pierde el avión y se enfrenta a un temblor que lo remece. De pronto, las cincuenta películas más importantes de su vida, aquellos filmes que vio durante su infancia y adolescencia en los 60 y los 70, lo acosan.

Desde Willy Wonka y la Fábrica de Chocolates a Encuentros Cercanos del Tercer Tipo, pasando por las ruidosas cintas de catástrofe como Earthquake! y los filmes futuristas de los setenta como Soylent Green, Beltrán se conecta con su pasado y su excéntrica y disfuncional familia. De recuerdo en recuerdo, de película en película, Beltrán descubre la dimensión casi épica de la historia de los Soler. Ambientada en los dos mundos extrañamente paralelos de la suburbana California de Nixon, y el frío Santiago de Chile de Pinochet, esta ágil y contemporánea novela es sobre dos idiomas, dos mundos y dos familias que ven las mismas películas.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in Santiago de Chile, Alberto Fuguet spent his early childhood in California. He is one of the most prominent Latin American authors of his generation and one of the leaders of the literary movement known as McOndo, which proclaims the end of magical realism. He has been a film critic and a police reporter. He lives in Santiago de Chile.

---

Alberto Fuguet nació en Santiago de Chile, y pasó su infancia en California. Es uno de los autores latinoamericanos más destacados de su generación y uno de los líderes de McOndo, el movimiento literario que proclama el fin del realismo mágico. Ha sido crítico de cine y reportero policial. Vive en Santiago.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rayo (November 1, 2005)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 0060733667
• ISBN-13: 978-0060733667
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente, November 3, 2003

By 

Jorge Corro (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Las Peliculas de Mi Vida: Una Novela (Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)

Vengo leyendo a Fuguet desde la epoca en que escribia como Enrique Alekan, y aunque se podria decir que el autor a veces peca de autoreferente (si, Matias Vicuna tambien aparece aqui), en este libro se aprecia una forma de escribir y de estructurar la novela mucho mas depurada. El paralelo entre la sismografia y los "terremotos personales" de cada uno, la encontre excelente. Creo que es lo mejor que ha escrito, aunque con esto no quiero menos preciar sus otros libros: Tinta Roja y Mala Onda son relatos con merito propio.

Desde mi punto de vista, creo que Fuguet logra lo que Matias Vicuna (de nuevo) describia despues de leer The Catcher in The Rye. Una identficacion tal con el personaje que a uno le gustaria sentarse a conversar con el, y saber que fue de su vida, que que paso despues del punto final...

Lo recomiendo sobre todos a aquellos que han criticado a Fuguet por la crudeza de algunos relatos, y lo decadente de alguno de sus personajes.

Excelente lectura.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, lousy editing, December 28, 2005

By 

Gloria E. Gonzalez "Gloria Estela González" (Middlebury, Vermont) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Las Peliculas de Mi Vida: Una Novela (Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)

This is another of Alberto Fuguet's intense and incisive works of fiction. He breaks with the myth of the "good Chilean exile" by having his protagonist closely relate to Pinochet supporters. His criticism is subtle and therefore more effective. His outsider's perspective on both Chile and the U.S. offers very unexpected insights on both countries and cultures.

As much as I can rave about the book I must complain about what amounts to the worst edition I have ever seen coming from an American publishing house - and this is Harper Collins! I was exited about the Rayo concept - books written by Hispanic authors appearing both in English and Spanish versions. Naturally, I was looking forward to reading my first of these. However, the Spanish edition is so bad it has probably a typo per page. It is a shame that Rayo was unable to hire Spanish speaking editors of quality. As if they did not exist. Makes me wonder if Latino editors get the same income as their English language counterparts.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge this book by its cover, August 12, 2004

By 

V. Wicker - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Las Peliculas de Mi Vida: Una Novela (Spanish Edition) (Hardcover)

As well as being the first book I read by Fuguet, the back flap of the cover was the first reference to McOndo that I have ever heard. Judging by the brief definition of the genre, I was expecting a work that blatantly attacks Gabriel García Marquez, Alejo Carpentier, Isabel Allende and other writers of magic realism while celebrating McDonalds and Coca-Cola. After all, McOndo declares the death of magic realism in Latin America. What I found was a work that agrees wholeheartedly with the uniqueness of Latin American and Chilean culture but is speaking from a different generation.

After guessing wrong at the tone of the book, I repeated the mistake after taking a look at the format. Flipping through the pages, the format looks like a list of movies that the protagonist has seen. I got excited thinking that maybe I would read an intellectual perspective on several classics. As it turns out, this is not the case at all. Rather, the narrator uses the films, many of them forgettable B flicks, to locate the times in his life where formative events occurred. The list has nothing to do with building a relationship with the reader and is completely introspective and therefore autobiographical. There are no obvious ovations made to the reader, the ending is neither epical nor moral.

This is an exorbing portrait of a Chilean adult looking back at his life and past passions. I get the sense that many of the events described come straight from Fuguet's own experiences, but at this point I don't know enough about the author to be sure. In a way, it is not represenative of all or even most young Chileans. The narrator spends most of his childhood in California and holds a PhD in seismology. But it has a very subtle and captivating style that keeps the reader turning the pages and enjoying what she finds.