Tropical Animal [Paperback]

Pedro Juan Gutierrez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2003

Sexy, sordid and sleazy, Tropical Animal brings to mind the likes of Miller and Bukowski but is unmistakably, and inimitably, it's own thing. Pursued by Gloria, a proud and sophisticated prostitute on a mission to curb his predatory instincts, Pedro Juan is holed-up in his crumbling Havana apartment, painting. An invitation to Sweden, seems to offer him a way out. However he soon finds himself haunted by memories of Gloria and their wild sex together, and increasingly uninspired by his new environment. Does Pedro Juan, legendary sexual conquistador finally have to admit that the game is over? Or do his hedonistic instincts have juice enough to keep him active yet?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gutiérrez's first book published in the U.S., Dirty Havana Trilogy, was a series of loosely connected vignettes chronicling the rough and tumble lives of Cuban down-and-outs buoyed by cheap rum, marijuana, petty crime and insatiable sexual appetites. Like that work, this murkily autobiographical novel is narrated by Pedro Juan, a 50 year-old former journalist and indomitable urban flaneur. When we first meet Pedro Juan, he's seducing Agneta, a frigid administrator at a Swedish university, with nude photos sent in the mail. At the same time he is busy with Gloria, a prostitute in his crumbling Havana apartment building who'd like him to settle down and give her babies. Intractable as ever, Pedro Juan goes to Stockholm for a literature seminar organized by Agneta, who becomes his "Swedish lover." Restless after a few months of solitude, salmon and a woman who just can't let loose between the sheets, he returns to Cuba and his "depraved" Gloria, a woman who enjoys being whipped in bed. Lurid sadomasochism, graphic descriptions of bestiality and generally brutish behavior (the "animal" of the title refers to Pedro Juan, who boasts that "what attracts me is filth") could offend, though most of the Hobbesian sentiment is excessive to the point of the grotesquely absurd. A colorful mix of Fellini and Bergman, Gutiérrez's atmospheric novel deftly mixes the rude with the refined. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gutierrez's previous work, Dirty Havana Trilogy (2001), attracted attention as a modern Cuban permutation of the picaresque narrative, a political obloquy so thoroughly drenched with debauchery that reviewers could not quote its pithiest passages. Though no less sexually saturated, his follow-up compounds its commentary by transplanting its familiar Pedro Juan to sterile Sweden. There he finds quiet and studies contrast while digging into the reserved and perhaps prudish Agneta, who resists his objectification if not his advances. But Pedro Juan's thoughts often return to Gloria, the insatiable Havana prostitute, and readers are frequently and explicitly reminded of the old adage about taking the autobiographical protagonist out of dirty Havana but not the other way around. Those who loved the earlier work for its raw Tropic of Cancer flavor will probably be satisfied by the chaser's many lewd interludes, but those readers after political invective may be put off by this selection's complicated, evolving, and undoubtedly affectionate relationship with Cuba, where the protagonist returns for something resembling a happy ending (and the author still resides). Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (April 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571215858
• ISBN-13: 978-0571215850
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Translation, November 6, 2011

By 

P. Johnson "Chaeradys" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tropical Animal: A Novel (Hardcover)

I give it one star simply because of the translation. For example, "la casa de Rosa" becomes in English "the house of Rosa" instead of "Rosa's house." The sloppiest, junior high school errors I've ever had the displeasure to read. And the demigod Gutierrez would likely be (probably is) extremely disappointed to learn that an awful translation makes this book entirely unbearable to read. The translator of Tropical Animal, whoever he is, brutalizes Gutierrez's work. It plods, stumbles, and staggers along with no clear appreciation for either English or the book's original Spanish. Just horrendous.

Don't be deterred by this - try picking up Dirty Havana Trilogy translated by Natasha Wimmer, and you'll see the difference.

2.0 out of 5 stars What a sad and empty life, July 25, 2011

By 

Eddie Russell (Coogee, NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tropical Animal: A Novel (Hardcover)

Growing up I read through Henry Miller's trilogy Sexus, Nexus and Plexus and Tropic of Cancer/Capricon and finally The Rosy Crucifixion. So I am inured to this kind of narrative: debauchery, drinking and ramblings on just about any topic.

The difference between Gutierrez and Miller is that the latter had a deeply philosophical bent that at some level gave the books heart, whereas stripped of that, as in Gutierrez's case, leaves you with a life devoid of anything other than sex and drinking. And we all get past that stage once we get into our adulthood.

I guess that Mr Gutierrez is still stuck in his 20's. For a man in his sixties to be behaving in this manner is not exciting and interesting but empty and pathetic.

If this was my life I wouldn't make it past 25.

4.0 out of 5 stars A vibrant and terse tour through Havana and Sweden, June 26, 2011

By 

M. Haber - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tropical Animal: A Novel (Hardcover)

If you enjoy Bukowksi, 'Tropical Animal' will not disappoint. Told in the street-wise yet literary voice of Pedro Juan, we are taken from his life in Havana all the way to Sweden and by the end back to Cuba. The story revolves around Pedro Juan's relationships with Gloria (Cuba) and Agneta (Sweden). One relationship is stormy while the other is somewhat bland. A well-told story with some good universal insights about art, love and compianship.

I've read other reviewers slight this book because it was 'dirty' or 'shocking' which is ridiculous since the book's literary value is obvious from the first page. You may not always agree with Pedro Juan or his choices, however the story is as truthful as any country's literature and the reader walks away with a deep insight (a touch depressing) into the darker side of Modern Havana.