The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman (Paperback)

~ Louis de Bernières (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like its predecessor, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts , this deftly constructed novel pokes gentle fun at the well-mined genre of magical realism while providing an exuberant portrait of a Latin America in which anything is possible. Set in an imaginary nation reminiscent of Colombia, where the British author once worked, these interconnected tales chronicle the running feud between the Catholic clergy, headed by Cardinal Guzman, and the heretical countryside--in particular Cochadebajo, a free-spirited city serviced by an unfrocked priest and inhabited by a delightfully feisty collection of eccentrics, including a Mexican musicologist seduced by a mischievous set of twins, a former prostitute (in whose popular restaurant men down fiery chicken to prove their machismo) and Dionisio Vivo, the composer and crusading journalist who also figured in Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord . Accompanied by mercenaries, the clergy set out on a crusade that quickly gets out of control and only hardens the resolve of Cochadebajo's citizens to protect themselves. As the novel works to a dramatic climax, readers will join the author in rooting for the life-affirming joyousness of Cochadebajo, which is skillfully contrasted with the Cardinal's evil nature.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

De Bernieres, winner of two Commonwealth Prizes, is an Englishman with a French name who writes magical realist novels set in South America. In his third work, he returns to his unnamed country (similar to Colombia), where Catholic hierarchy butts up against cocaine cartels and indigenous pantheism. A wonderful creation, the eponymous Cardinal Guzman is an aging prelate with a young mistress and a monster growing in his belly. As it slowly dies, the monster poisons him until, during an hallucination, the cardinal kills his own son, who soon returns as a hummingbird. The novel's essential plot is the struggle of the bucolic town of Cochadebajo to protect itself from a marauding latter-day Torquemada and his "bodyguards," who, unleashed by the words of the monster-pregnant Cardinal Guzman, have been terrorizing mountain villages in the name of God. In the climactic scene, a ragtag army of the town's men and women, an army brigade, and an affectionate band of several hundred black jaguars defeat the venomous inquisitor. The language is rich and the book is abundantly imagined. Highly recommended.
- Harold Augenbraum, Mercantile Lib., New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375700153
• ISBN-13: 978-0375700156
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #395,976 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Both tragic and humerous, March 12, 2001

By	cptdeskjet (UK) - See all my reviews

This books is part of a trillogy of books set in a mythical South American country, which is never given a name. Like the other books of the trillogy, it is mostly concerened with the citizens of the city Conchebajo de los Gatos. A city populated with extremely unique and well drawn characters. De Bernieres obviously has a great love for his people, and you get to know all of them very well if you read the entire trilogy. The novel is not a linear story, but a collection of incidents and descriptions of events, some extremely funny, some, like the river overflowing with the corpses of murderd street children, paint a poinient potrait of the social problems of South American cities. Not a light wait romp but a powerfull portrait of south american life, with a good dose of humor and magic thrown in.

Having said that, you would be mutch better off starting at the beggining of the trilogy, The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts. The Neather Parts introduces you to all the characters properly, and is I believe a better book. Both funnier and more diverse in it's stories. If you like Don Emmanuel's, then go on to read this.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clerical challenges, August 17, 2004

By	Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

A melange of light fantasy with history can provide entertaining reading. In hands of an innovative stylist like de Bernieres, the read is far more - "invigorating" becomes a soft term. His facile style and comprehensive imagination produces a story of limitless value. While steeped in the real world, he introduces a new version of what has been termed "magical reality". Events have a historical base, characters are real, or are at least plausible composites. You are reading history through only slightly distorting spectacles. The deformation allows him to shift from history to parody. Under his skillful touch, nothing in the image is lost, but a wealth of insight is gained.

In this final volume of a trilogy, he depicts the life of a Latin American cardinal - a "prince of the church". Guzman suffers terrible pains and horrific visions. Demons, each with a particular role to play, appear to torment him. He's virtually incapacitated during these attacks. The ministrations of his mistress, Conception [what else?], are futile attempts at the application of folk medicine. Only their son, Cristobal, seems capable of alleviating the Cardinal's agonies. Yet even this happy therapy provides fresh challenges to the cleric. Guzman's familial problems aren't limited to this illegitimate child.

Key chapters in this volume are comprised of a letter to the Cardinal from The Holy Office. The letter aptly summarises the career and impact of the Church in his domain. It's a wonderfully scathing account of the hypocrisies perpetrated upon people in the name of divinity. Part of Guzman's tribulations relate to the letter and its account of the country. You will be returned to it from time to time.

While the Cardinal suffers, the population of a mythical city, Cochadebajo de los Gatos [look it up] find themselves under siege. They have a special relationship with the region's jaguar population, who act as an enlarged, and rather more accommodating, version of the domestic house cat. The siege allows de Bernieres to introduce yet another anomalous character in the person of the British Ambassador. After reading about his antics and treatment by the locals, it says something for British forbearance that de Bernieres was allowed to take up a London
residence.

De Bernieres' view of Latin America is, dare it be said, "catholic". He incorporates the Conquistidore traditions, the mixed roles of the Church, from hierarchical absolutist through evangelical zealots to radical Marxist reformers. The Indian population, mestizos, a lone Mexican, legions of peasants, aloof aristocrats all enter the stage. Few leave unbesmirched, usually through their own actions. Even the nation's President and his bizarre wife are woven adroitly into the narrative. No leader of a "banana republic" could suffer more at the hands of rebel forces than President Veracruz. De Bernieres gives him a slogan rich in irony, given the circumstances: "Democracy Is Safe In Our Hands".

This author has produced a string of successful works, with each seeming to outshine the preceding volume. Having accidentally picked up the third volume of this trilogy, it lost nothing in the reading due to ignorance of the previous books. Take up this, or any of de Bernieres books, secure in the knowledge that you will be shocked, entertained, enlightened and pleased you made the choice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bizarre!, May 16, 1999

By A Customer

I am very pleased that I came to Louis De Bernieres via Captain Corelli's Mandolin and not through this book. If it had been the other way around I might not have had the pleasure of reading one of the best novels of the last decade. This book did not deliver the full majesty of his writing ability.

While De Bernieres once again demonstrates his wonderful literary style, I found this work a little too bizarre to be classed as great. His humour is well balanced and the narrative was for the most part coherent but somehow this didn't 'do it' for me. I found myself only mildly interested in how the story would finish and perhaps because of its 'magical' if not surreal nature, I found it difficult to connect.

I also found that being completely ignorant of South America and all things Hispanic, I kept forgetting who were the main protagonists and what were their particular idiosyncracies.

By all means read this, but even if you don't like it, don't let it put you off Captain Corelli's Mandolin.