Customer Reviews

Women with Big Eyes (English and Spanish Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love this book. It's a powerful sketchbook of characters. The author introduces each of these characters and makes them so interesting that you just can't stop reading about them. The stories are short and tasty.

There are three things about this book that I find amazing:

1. The writing is as beautiful as it is sensual. Extremely well done.
2. It is the first book I've read that contained both an English translation and the original Spanish text since my high school Spanish teacher handed me "Don Quixote". "Women with Big Eyes" isn't the classic that "Don Quixote" is, but it is a lot more fun to read.
3. I fished this brand new book out of the bargain bin in a WalMart store for three dollars. That makes it one of the best reads for the money I've found all year.

Angeles Mastretta has captivated me! Her voice is completely her own, but you will be reminded of elements of Anais Nin, D.H. Lawrence, Yukio Mishima, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - even poets like Pablo Neruda and Rainer Maria Rilke. If you like any two of these writers, I predict you will fall for her as I have. Short stories, beautifully told - stories of real women, living real lives. A book you will devour, over and over.

Clicheed? Maybe, but only in the sense that all stories are merely reworkings of previously existing stories. It is the author's pulchritudinous style that makes each of these vignettes riveting, insightful, unforgettable, and one of my personal favorites. Read this book if you want to remember that magic exists in the guise of a woman.

Within the 39 stories of 'Women with Big Eyes' there are women of all types. And through these women Angeles Mastretta tells beautiful, mouth-wateringly descriptive stories. While some are short and simple and others a bit lengthier, all will take you through a range of human emotion. Her characters are real and through them you can find bits and pieces of women in your own life. She offers sage advice and meaning in her stories. By the end of the book I had felt like I understood what it means to have "big eyes" and wished I too could be framed and put into one of her stories.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves beautiful pieces of writing. The stories can stand alone and so a person need not rush through them all. They are however parts of a whole and the message is most fully absorbed when one has read them all. There is a spanish translation in the back for those who speak it. If the english translation sounds as beautiful as it does I can't imagine how great it must sound in it's original language. Adults of all age ranges would enjoy this book because of the depth of emotion the stories convey. There are some sexual references within the book but none that I think are too explicit for mature young adults.

I purchased this at Amazon and I enjoyed reading it. It was shipped quickly and arrived in great shape. I hope other enjoy it also.

Short stories and big messages. You don't need more. I love this book!

Who said Angeles Mastretta was a good storyteller? this book is so cliched, it makes me cringe!