Burnt Water

by Carlos Fuentes

Book Overview

La Ciudad de M xico -espacio m tico, ambiguo y luminoso- es el escenario del presente volumen y el protagonista velado de los cuatro relatos que lo conforman. Un peque o parapl jico, un homosexual... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374519889
• ISBN13: 9780374519889
• Release Date: August 1986
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Short but sweet

This particular translated edition of "Burnt Water" originally was released in Spainish under the title "Aqua Quemada" and has many more stories, over double, than the original version. The translations are excellent and deserve mention because they do not compromise the integrity of the beautiful written word of Carlos Fuentes. I have compared both editions and am very impressed with the literal translation. The stories are all very short, usually in the 25- 30 page range but read like little novels. The characters developed by Fuentes are colorful representations that come to life and jump off the pages. When reading Fuentes the familiarity with the characters and distant lands becomes familiar at once. Fuentes can take you on a journey to the times of the Mexican Revolution and you feel the period come to life. The rich literary style of Fuentes in his formative years is revealed to be not quite as eloquent as his later works but do show the characteristic stylings developing. When you read these short stories you will feel as though they are sketches of future works(if you are familiar with his later works), fragments creating a whole and eventually evolving into masterpieces. Fuentes ability to create visual scenes translates into an experience that allows you to smell the aromas, see the vistas, for example, when he describes a person sweeping in front of their home you can feel the wet earth being the neutralized by water to keep the dust down. You feel the character breathing in the fresh morning air, the fragrance of the flowers, the morning dew on the trees, the distant mountains and the peeking sun giving the countryside a wake up call; Fuentes paints panoramic vistas with his words that draw you into the scenes, he is a literary giant even in the short story form. Although I am not personally a big fan of the short story format, these stories are perfect for the limited attention span of the modern busy times we live in. This is an excellent collection of stories, all very different in content and sometimes ending too quickly; the people and places you meet in Carlos Fuentes works are such that you want them to go and on. Recommended for anyone that appreciates literary genius but especially good for someone on a limited reading time schedule or curious about the works of Fuentes.

A great collection of short stories

Very entertaining, with lots of unexpected endings to interesting and vivid stories. Perfect for somone who doesn't have a lot of time to read.