Customer Reviews

Tropical Animal: A Novel

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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.

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.

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.