Bad Times In Buenos Aires (Hardcover)

by Miranda France (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
France, who moved to Buenos Aires in 1993 as a freelance journalist, entwines personal recollections with research and thoughtful descriptions to provide a fascinating glimpse into the Buenos Aires she experienced. For instance, we are introduced to Sylvia, who required English vocabulary to express her three main interests: food, love, and headaches. France also spent time floating with the Aymara Indians on their man-made island homes. Her narrative is fascinating, describing tragic historic events, the myths surrounding Evita Pern, obsessions with psychoanalysis, and Frances own inner debates as she explores a different culture. The article that was the foundation for this book won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for travel writing. A wonderfully insightful journey into a city and its people; recommended for public libraries.Alison Hopkins, Queens Borough P.L., Briarwood, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ah, the tango! And juicy beefsteaks as thick as your arm. And gorgeous people sitting in cafes minding other peoples' beauty while cultivating their own. What an exotic image Buenos Aires conjures in travelers' minds--until they actually visit the place, according to British journalist France, who spent time living in the Argentine capital in the early 1990s and came away with a pretty good impression. She remembers the building where she lived as "permeated with an air of disappointment," and it seems the atmosphere of the whole city has that smell. The memory of Eva Peron meets the visitor at every turn; there is no escaping the Argentinians' obsession with psychoanalysis; and the dictatorship of the 1970s left sores in society that still fester and bleed. The infrastructure is falling apart, and the elegant buildings that in decades past earned Buenos Aires the sobriquet "Paris of South America" are crumbling. Read France's book, but if you still find the idea of Buenos Aires intriguing, by all means go and find out for yourself! Brad Hooper

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1st edition (July 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880016655
• ISBN-13: 978-0880016650
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,131,234 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Book for a Fantastic City, November 3, 2003

By A Customer

I had the privilege of living in Buenos Aires from my late childhood through mid-teens. I adore Buenos Aires and consider it and New York to be my hometowns.

In many ways, I'd say that this book could've been written about New York - both are huge, vibrant, overwhelming, dirty, sparkling, and absolutely magnificent places, founded by fortune-seeking immigrants and constantly seeming to be on the verge of crisis. And like New Yorkers, Portenos take great pride in the fact that they live in such a place - our big is the biggest, or bad is the worst, and our good is the absolute best. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

I like that Ms. France didn't gloss over or marginalise the ever-present image of Eva Peron - unlike so many writers, who seek to minimize her continuing influence, or relegate it to the old, Ms. France shows that even in this day, Evita has a hold on the nation she did so much to help. I'm proud to say that my family - both my mother's (Jewish) and my father's (Italian) were and remain committed Peronistas, and even during the darkest years of La Guerra Sucia, they kept their pictures and books by Evita - and both sides still use the prayerbooks put out (both Catholic and Jewish) after her untimely passing, which feature prayers for her. I still have mine, and continue that tradition here in the States.

My main beef with the book was that it wasn't longer. Write more of the vibrant streetlife and cafe society! Mention the food, the joys and terrors of taking the underground, the Spanish so liberally peppered with Italian and Yiddish! Reading this brought on a bittersweet sense of homesickness, and mandates a trip home soon (I literally got a lump in my throat when Ms. France described the Peronista rally where they chanted "Se Siente - Se Siente - Evita Esta Presente!" - the same chant we would exultantly howl during our Peronista Youth Front meetings before the catastrophe...

Ms. France got one thing wrong - Buenos Aires Te Mata is NOT a lament, it's a boast, a challenge to the world. Most Portenos say it with perverse pride, and would consider it a badge of honour. After all, it's a rare privilege to be able to say it!

Even bad times in Buenos Aires beat good times almost everywhere else!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, May 2, 2003

By A Customer

Miranda France's book is wonderful. It looks like many of the reviewers here on Amazon think that France should have sugarcoated her experiences with unctuous and patronizing enthusiasm. Through her fine writing, France seems rigorously honest. If you want shallow pleasantries talk to a diplomat or buy a postcard. If you want to know what BA is really like, read this book.

Obviously, I'm not the only one who is occasionally frustrated with Latin culture. The have-nots truly have not and barely exist. The haves are usually deeply narcissistic and preoccupied with appearance, class and race (France wrote about one woman who boasted she was 100% European and pretty much grateful that most of the native peoples of Argentina had been exterminated).

France has great talent! I think she was just in her 20's when she wrote this book. If I were she, however, I would have given the book a different title. For those of you who have been offended by this book, maybe you need to look a bit deeper.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A funny and entertaining book about the city I live in!, November 2, 1999

By	Freddie (Buenos Aires) - See all my reviews

Miranda France's intention is not to address the Argentine culture in an academic way but to share with the reader her stay in the "Paris of the Americas". I have to agree that potential visitors to Buenos Aires may not find it very encouraging nor touristically informative. Yet foreigners who have lived or live in Buenos Aires will find in this book the perfect answer to family and colleagues' questions: so, how is it other there, in Argentina? This book made me laugh about my misfortunes in Buenos Aires and made me realize I would miss this damn place when I go...Delightful.