Rating: 
Summary: Strange, beautiful, Evita
Review: As I read this book I tried to think of an American who has the same power to fascinate people, not only before but also after death. Elvis is my candidate - and even he doesn't come close. What is it about a handful of individuals who we can't seem to let go? Where does their ability to captivate us come from? What do they provide us that we so desperately need? I found the book absolutely fascinating - at times difficult. So difficult to comprehend that in fact I had to put it down - only to pick it right back up again. The story tells us about bits and pieces of Evita's life - but not in any order - lending to the feeling of Evita's eternity. No need to be chronological. Evita always was and always will be.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest book ever about EVITA - my biggest idol ever
Review: Even though I haven't read the whole book yet, I must agree with the one, who says on the front page: This is the book I always have wanted to read. The story about Evita Perón (and her body) is a very interesting story. And it's not am adventure - - it's true
Rating: 
Summary: A Novel about a Novel
Review: From reading the reviews of Santa Evita, one might actually conclude that the book is about her, about her life or about her times. And that would be a mistake. This novel is fundamentally about itself, making constant references to the writing of it, other writings, other authors, the process of writing, and other writings of this author. I found the transitions out of context and jarring, as though I was being suddenly reminded that I was reading a book.
After a while, I found the de-constructing of Evita to be tiresome and not very original. The subject of Evita Peron's life is an extremely colorful, bizarre and fascinating story in and of itself. Somehow, I felt that the author had utilized this famous and powerful legend to manipulate the reader. The segments of the narrative which are more "straight" and not self referential, are extremely compelling. Then suddenly, I felt I had been caught in a mouse trap of deconstructionist trickery, and that Martinez had "used" his purported subject as a piece of cheese to lure me in. Not nice.
Rating: 
Summary: Unlike everyone else I thought it was a boring
Review: I honestly looked forward to reading this book and I was so disappointed. I ended up thinking so what? What was the point? I thought it was just plain boring, but since it had received so much praise from people I respect I finished it anyway, awaiting it to have some kind of interestering twist. It didn't and I felt like I wasted my time.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW!
Review: I'm a college freshman and before summer was out, I bought Santa Evita - I didn't get a chance to finish it, but boy, am I sorry! It's a REALLY wonderful book - especially if you're interested in Eva Peron. The only reason I gave it an 8 wa because it jumped around a little bit.
Rating: 
Summary: EVITA ETERNAL but this book is not
Review: I've been fascinated by the legend of Eva Peron for over 10 years now and I've always wondered why there hasn't been a full length book based on the mysterious (and disturbing) circumstances surrounding her embalmed corpse. After all, we're talking about one of the 20th century's most controversial and fascinating woman and her astonishing story did not end at her death of uterine cancer in 1952. Eva Peron's cancer ravaged body was preserved and restored to it's former beauty and radiance. It took the embalmer several years to finish his masterpiece and when he was done, Juan Peron was exciled and Eva's body kidnapped. Her whereabouts were a mystery for several years. Despite the fascinating subject, this book failed to keep me intrigued. Don't get me wrong, it was cleverly written but far too long and the book looses it's reader half way through.
It should be noted that even Eva Peron's most hardened critics will cringe when reading about the mistreatment (and molestation) of her corpse. It's not hard to see why so many loved Eva Peron in life (after all she was a strikingly beautiful young woman and at her physical peak- rivalled even the most glamorous of film stars) but it's still a mystery to me as to why so many were compelled to commit "ungodly" acts to her corpse. Witnesses do claim that Eva's mummy was unforgettable and lovely, so we may understand to a certain degree as to why Dr. Pedro Ara fell in love with it (it was HIS masterpeice, his fantasy), but he wasn't the only one of Eva's after death admirers. A horney General and even a young girl (who innocently mistook her for a life-sized Barbie doll) are included on that list. That said- being stared at and sexually touched after death is unforgivable and morbid.
The book also deals (briefly) with Eva Peron's past (Eva's early life in the pampas, her early career as an actress and her transformation from a pale, unimpressive brunette to the blonde goddess she was to become) through flashbacks and the author does include some of his own comments on the subject.
Many of Eva's hardcore fans will find this interesting reading. I did too, but somehow it didn't grab hold of my attention the way I had originally anticipated. It's a welcoming addition to Eva's catalogue but somehow lacking and sometimes tedious as well.
Rating:
Summary: Fact of fiction? Reality
Review: Martinez' story of Evita is riveting. This book is one whirlwind of internal questioning. What's true and what causes the book to be labeled fiction? Are the events in Evita's life documentable? Does the author love or hate her? Do I love or hate her? I finally surrendered to the narrative force of the story, believing it, yet not being able to recount the fantastic and inspirational stories to others as fact. Which I wish I could, since it is such a good story. No dry biography of Evita will touch her essence as much as this courageous ex-patriate's. Evita proves that one will can impact millions. A definite read for all Latin American fiction fans, world-perspective lovers, and people with big plans.
Rating:
Summary: Boring Book.
Review: Maybe something was lost in the translation...but I just didn't like this book.Yes, the stories of Evita's body being moved from place to place are bizarre and intriguing in a very morose way, but this is not what is most important about Evita. What is most important about Evita is her legacy of teaching the importance of equality; what is most important about Evita is what she did while she was ALIVE. Lastly, there is no evidence that Evita had anything to do with Nazis. There is talk and rumours, and hearsay, but there is no TANGIBLE or believable evidence that she had anything to do with Nazis. Anyway, bleah! - bad book!
Rating:
Summary: Santa Evita's macabre populism in third world syncretism
Review: Perhaps no book written to date has better captured the incorruptibility of the female body as well as its uneasy alignment with "the body corporeal" (of the masses) in the way in which Martinez's Santa Evita does. As Evita's lavendered and glowing corpse is treated by careless military men and the vissicitudes of politics and time so is Argentina unexpurgated. Divulging the whereabouts of the corpse and the near transcendental and clairvoyant effect this masterpiece of embalming has on various Argentinians under and after the Peron regime; Martinez takes us further still deeper into his personal epiphany steeped in paradox as an "involved" journalist and captive audience of his own novel and its unravelling in time. Credibly Martinez gives a deep truth to the mundane and the profound-- sacred and profane spirit of the "elect person." That Evita may have been selected from the common trough... that she was selfmade and that she wa! s the heroine with at least two faces is obvious enough and this Evita so silent becomes in the thoughts and recitives of others: an understanding, a destroyer of life, a bringer of gifts, a dolly, and a trollop to name but a few of her many incarnations. Is it no wonder that with so many Eva Peron's rolled into one diminutive woman who died of ovarian cancer at 33... that one perfectly preserved Eva could never be enough to serve as a functionary and so in a strange shell game we are given several... of course none so impeccable as the original nor as important to the affairs of god and man! Since this review is written subsequent to the death of the English "Popular Princess" Diana and in the wake of her historic funeral and memory as well as to the distortion through the fish eye of an avid press and population the truth of Santa Evita could not be more timely. A historic monument of myth made flesh again as this book decides not to settle in immutable spac! es and interstices but like the corpse takes on several par! allel forms from radio broadcast to historic speech in which Evita does not accept the vice presidency. Martinez wields his pen sometimes like a scalpel and sometimes as a lover with an excusably purple pen. Simply astonishing.
Rating:
Summary: Santa Evita's macabre populism in third world syncretism
Review: Perhaps no book written to date has better captured the incorruptibility of the female body as well as its uneasy alignment with "the body corporeal" (of the masses) in the way in which Martinez's Santa Evita does. As Evita's lavendered and glowing corpse is treated by careless military men and the vissicitudes of politics and time so is Argentina unexpurgated. Divulging the whereabouts of the corpse and the near transcendental and clairvoyant effect this masterpiece of embalming has on various Argentinians under and after the Peron regime; Martinez takes us further still deeper into his personal epiphany steeped in paradox as an "involved" journalist and captive audience of his own novel and its unravelling in time. Credibly Martinez gives a deep truth to the mundane and the profound-- sacred and profane spirit of the "elect person." That Evita may have been selected from the common trough... that she was selfmade and that she wa! s the heroine with at least two faces is obvious enough and this Evita so silent becomes in the thoughts and recitives of others: an understanding, a destroyer of life, a bringer of gifts, a dolly, and a trollop to name but a few of her many incarnations. Is it no wonder that with so many Eva Peron's rolled into one diminutive woman who died of ovarian cancer at 33... that one perfectly preserved Eva could never be enough to serve as a functionary and so in a strange shell game we are given several... of course none so impeccable as the original nor as important to the affairs of god and man! Since this review is written subsequent to the death of the English "Popular Princess" Diana and in the wake of her historic funeral and memory as well as to the distortion through the fish eye of an avid press and population the truth of Santa Evita could not be more timely. A historic monument of myth made flesh again as this book decides not to settle in immutable spac! es and interstices but like the corpse takes on several par! allel forms from radio broadcast to historic speech in which Evita does not accept the vice presidency. Martinez wields his pen sometimes like a scalpel and sometimes as a lover with an excusably purple pen. Simply astonishing.
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