Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I think there are dreams that can kill you.", October 16, 2004
The drug trade throughout Mexico, Latin America, and the Mediterranean come alive in Arturo Perez-Reverte's latest novel, quite different from his intellectual mysteries. Here he writes the "biography" of Teresa Mendoza, a young woman from Sinaloa, Mexico, who becomes the mastermind of a multimillion dollar drug empire operating from Marbella, Spain. This novel's challenge lies not in an intellectual puzzle, but in understanding the business networks Teresa builds with drug lords from Russia, Italy, Morocco, and Colombia, along with various agents of government whom she buys off. As she becomes a successful businesswoman, known as "The Queen of the South," the suspense develops: Will she stay alive? And how?
The story begins in Mexico when Teresa is twenty-three. Uneducated but attractive, she is in love with Guero Davila, a Chicano pilot involved in shipping coca. When she suddenly receives a phone call telling her to run for her life, she does so, escaping through Mexico City into Spain, and then Morocco. Putting her knowledge of drug transportation to work by involving herself in hash-running between Morocco and Spain, she ends up with a short jail sentence but an important friendship with another inmate, Patty O'Farrell, the rebellious daughter of a wealthy Spanish family. When they are released, they set up a big-time drug trafficking business, with Teresa running the show and becoming, eventually, the person with whom everyone in the business must deal.
Teresa's story is not told in linear fashion. An unnamed speaker/narrator, presumably Perez-Reverte himself, has come to Sinaloa to investigate and describe Teresa Mendoza's life and business. Interviewing everyone with any information, he inserts himself and his interviews into the narrative. Soon the line begins to blur between fiction and fact, since some of the people he interviews, such as the three people to whom he dedicates the novel, are, in fact, real people who are included as characters in the novel. These add depth and a fine sense of realism to the novel.
Although Teresa Mendoza is not a character with whom the reader will identify, the author develops a certain amount of sympathy for her. Teresa is an entrepreneur of great intelligence, and this, combined with her ability to avoid creating any sort of trail that will implicate her legally, keeps her going in her dog-eat-dog world. The novel is episodic but fast paced, despite the sometimes unwelcome intrusions of the narrator/speaker, and Perez-Reverte succeeds in presenting a broad, intriguing picture of the business of drug smuggling and those who make it their careers. Mary Whipple
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"This is not happening to me, she thought", December 28, 2004
I remember reading an article in the New York Times a little while ago in which a writer said that he decided whether or not to read a book based on the first sentence. He would continue reading only if he was hooked by this small sample. When I started reading this novel I thought to myself that Perez-Reverte must be of similar beliefs. The start of this work is so strong that it is hard to put it down after reading its first sentence, "The telephone rang, and she knew she was going to die".
The phone call Teresa Mendoza receives is a signal that Guero Davila, her lover, is dead and that she needs to run away. Thus starts a spectacular adventure full of twists and turns that will have the reader looking forward to the next development every step of the way. Guero was a drug dealer that was betraying his bosses, so when they discovered him, he was murdered and they proceeded to go after Teresa.
An anonymous writer who is doing research and writing a book on the life of this mysterious woman tells part of the story. As usual, Perez-Reverte goes back and forth in the story, mixing elements from different time periods relating to the main character's life. In this case, we soon learn that the writer meets Teresa twelve years after Guero's death when she is involved in a difficult situation with the Federales in Culiacan, Mexico. Therefore, the author is letting us know that the ending may be in line with his usual pattern: bitter-sweet.
After that interlude, Perez-Reverte goes back to the moment in which Teresa is forced to run and we are taken along in a magnificent roller-coaster ride that will show us how this character changes and evolves, fighting with her destiny and trying to survive. The author's great writing skills help in making us feel as if we were right in the middle of the action, and we find ourselves rooting for a woman that ends up involved in the world of drugs. Perez-Reverte also does a very good job in describing settings and people in places like Mexico and the US, immersing the reader in the ambiance of these locations.
As to our main character, one thing is certain, Teresa learned her lesson from her experience with Guero, and now she decides to take control of her life: "She was never going to wait for anybody again, watching telenovelas in some house in some city somewhere". This is the essence behind this main character, and whether you like the book or not will depend on how much you like Teresa, a strong and focused woman, who takes life as it was dealt to her and who has a significant amount of inner conflicts. As far as I am concerned, this character has enough interest by itself so as to make this one of the best books of 2004.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Corrido of The Mexicana, March 21, 2006
I have read every Perez-Reverte novel . . . because he brought to life the worlds of antiquarian books, paintings, old fencing masters, chess, crumbling churches and treasure maps. All except one -- The Queen of the South. I balked because it was about drug running-- a subject I have never been interested in. (I think the closest I got to anything related to recreational drugs was growing a "false aralia" houseplant at work and fooling people into thinking I was growing "weed" right in front of the boss.)
It was months after it came out when I finally decided to pick it up. (My problem, as a reader, is that I ALWAYS FINISH a book, no matter how bad or boring it is. Because I was never going to let the 8 bucks I spent on it -- go to waste.) So I was afraid I was going to be stuck with a book that would put me to sleep for weeks. I was WRONG.
Arturo Perez-Reverte has done it again! He has enthralled me with the story of Teresa Mendoza. She starts out as the girlfriend of Guero Davila, a small plane pilot who flew drug shipments between Colombia and the U.S. He is killed (in flashback) and her story begins when she flees Sinaloa.
Reverte's writing is riveting. He tells of her incredible rise in the world of drug trafficking . . . she finds love (of sorts)again with Santiago, a boat driver; fate, Edmond Dantes and a lost "treasure" finds her in the form of a wealthy prison inmate, Patty O'Farrell. Teresa leverages her new-found wealth into power among the drug traffickers. And there's more betrayal and tragedy. It just doesn't stop. Not a dull moment!
There's a subtle parallel to the novel called The Count of Monte Cristo but not much because while the Monte Cristo book is almost entirely about revenge, Teresa's story will end with a "settling of debts." In the most spectacular fashion.
I got particularly attached to her bodyguard--- Pote Galvez whose fate was almost poetic and gut-wrenching and a 3-hanky event.
Read the Song of Teresa! You won't regret it. I found myself using the colorful phrases that Teresa used . . . while I was reading. (Although I recommend not muttering it during a staff meeting. Thankfully my boss only knows German.)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
