Rating: 
Summary: Santa Evita.
Review: Really a fantastic book, in which the novel is mixed with historical facts which not only captivates you in the way as it is written, but also introduces some light to certain facts that took place after Evita's death, specifically, the outregious destination given to Evita's body which were never publicly revealed. For me, an Argentine citizien born in Buenos Aires some years (not many) after Evita's death, who in some way or in the other has been always captivated by Evita's personality, although did not share some of her political aspirations and procedures, was somehow tired of hearing huge and enormous amount of histories in relation to Evita's body, with this book I was illustrated in some portion of the history of my country which was secret and maintained undisclosed from the public for many years after Evita's death. To those who may consider that some parts of this book appears more a fiction than a historical fact, well, believe it or not, it was a "real" portion of our past history and not "fiction" or "myth".
Rating:
Summary: A literary work of art
Review: Seeing that "the only thing that can be done with reality is to invent it again," Tomás Eloy Martínez brilliantly transposes Evita's postmortem journey into an outrageous postmodern fictional montage wherein the author, represented as a fictitious character and narrator in the novel, spins a web of biography, history and myth into a effervescently farcical and sombrely perverse narrative, mellifluously illuminating the woman who "ceased to be what she said and what she did to become what people say she said and what people say she did." The end-result is a gripping tale which sheds new light upon details that biographers and historians commonly leave behind, seeking to unfold "the unexplained blank spaces" of her domain while tracking the political, mythical, historical body of desires which Evita's cadaver, the body of the nation, incorporates. And quite marvellously, in the interim, the textuality of Santa Evita undrapes the roots of the complex set of relations which provide an understanding of the corpus of discursive regularities that extend the representation of Argentina to Evita's embalmed cadaver as the novel bares and reconstructs the miracles, desires, secrets, and mysteries including the fragments and revelations which triggered the narrative flow, as "little by little Evita began to turn into a story that, before it ended, kindled another." Simply put, a literary work of art.
Rating:
Summary: A literary work of art
Review: Seeing that "the only thing that can be done with reality is to invent it again," Tomás Eloy MartÃnez brilliantly transposes Evita's postmortem journey into an outrageous postmodern fictional montage wherein the author, represented as a fictitious character and narrator in the novel, spins a web of biography, history and myth into a effervescently farcical and sombrely perverse narrative, mellifluously illuminating the woman who "ceased to be what she said and what she did to become what people say she said and what people say she did." The end-result is a gripping tale which sheds new light upon details that biographers and historians commonly leave behind, seeking to unfold "the unexplained blank spaces" of her domain while tracking the political, mythical, historical body of desires which Evita's cadaver, the body of the nation, incorporates. And quite marvellously, in the interim, the textuality of Santa Evita undrapes the roots of the complex set of relations which provide an understanding of the corpus of discursive regularities that extend the representation of Argentina to Evita's embalmed cadaver as the novel bares and reconstructs the miracles, desires, secrets, and mysteries including the fragments and revelations which triggered the narrative flow, as "little by little Evita began to turn into a story that, before it ended, kindled another." Simply put, a literary work of art.
Rating:
Summary: A literary work of art
Review: Seeing that "the only thing that can be done with reality is to invent it again," Tomás Eloy Martínez brilliantly transposes Evita's postmortem journey into an outrageous postmodern fictional montage wherein the author, represented as a fictitious character and narrator in the novel, spins a web of biography, history and myth into a effervescently farcical and sombrely perverse narrative, mellifluously illuminating the woman who "ceased to be what she said and what she did to become what people say she said and what people say she did." The end-result is a gripping tale which sheds new light upon details that biographers and historians commonly leave behind, seeking to unfold "the unexplained blank spaces" of her domain while tracking the political, mythical, historical body of desires which Evita's cadaver, the body of the nation, incorporates. And quite marvellously, in the interim, the textuality of Santa Evita undrapes the roots of the complex set of relations which provide an understanding of the corpus of discursive regularities that extend the representation of Argentina to Evita's embalmed cadaver as the novel bares and reconstructs the miracles, desires, secrets, and mysteries including the fragments and revelations which triggered the narrative flow, as "little by little Evita began to turn into a story that, before it ended, kindled another." Simply put, a literary work of art.
Rating:
Summary: La novela define el espíritu argentino
Review: Si te interesa la sociedad argentina, esta novela tiene que formar parte de tu biblioteca personal porque en ella se revela la profunda influencia de Evita sobre los argentinos. La peregrinación del cadáver no sólo resulta interesantísima sino también refleja el movimiento de cambios por los cuales los argentinos han pasado en los últimos 40 años. Te la recomiendo no para que aprecies la filosofía de Evita sino para que aprecies con más profundidad la experiencia argentina.
Rating:
Summary: A Slight Mistake In the Book Description
Review: There is a slight error in the book description. General Juan Domingo Perón was NOT a dictator, he was voted for by the general public of Argentina and put into power by them. A dictator is one who forces himself into a political position and rules without restraint. Furthermore, a dictator is a tyrant and Perón was no such thing. But of course, you will see that in the book...
Rating:
Summary: A Slight Mistake In the Book Description
Review: There is a slight error in the book description. General Juan Domingo Perón was NOT a dictator, he was voted for by the general public of Argentina and put into power by them. A dictator is one who forces himself into a political position and rules without restraint. Furthermore, a dictator is a tyrant and Perón was no such thing. But of course, you will see that in the book...
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: This book captivated me from moment one -- beautiful writing, fantastic story, with some mind-blowing moments in terms of discovering things about Evita's life. My only wish is that at the end there was a concrete explanation of just how much of it was fact -- I know that a great deal of it was -- and what was fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Enchanting!
Review: This book was so powerful. It drew me in, kept me glued, and haunted me for WEEKS after I put it down. Based on facts, but fictionalized, SANTA EVITA is a combination of biography, mystery, and history. And it's all very very fascinating. The drama and intrigue surrounding Evita's corpse equals no other. And by the time Eloy Martinez is finished weaving his story - you close the book wondering what was real, what wasn't, and what parts of the story you can believe! Wonderful example of the magico realismo (magic realism) the Argentines are known for!
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This is a terrific historical novel, effortlessly weaving through fact and fiction. I had trouble putting it down. It is an interesting commentary on our obsession with celebrities and the question of what is truth, what is myth? Can we ever really know the truth about those we consider "legends?"
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