Rating: 
Summary: A favourite novel of mine
Review: A beautifully written novel full of psychological insights. Carpentier's language is magical and haunting. I book I will re-read many times.
Rating:
Summary: A favourite novel of mine
Review: A beautifully written novel full of psychological insights. Carpentier?s language is magical and haunting. I book I will re-read many times.
Rating:
Summary: my favorite novel
Review: Every once in a while I pick up The Lost Steps
and savour it again. Each paragraph is a magical adventure.
Reading The Lost Steps is like taking a mystical journey into the soul of Latin America. Harriet de Onis's translation
captures the magic.
Rating:
Summary: my favorite novel
Review: Every once in a while I pick up The Lost Steps
and savour it again. Each paragraph is a magical adventure.
Reading The Lost Steps is like taking a mystical journey into the soul of Latin America. Harriet de Onis's translation
captures the magic.
Rating:
Summary: Katharine Mapes is wrong
Review: Frankly I don't see the "connection" between this book and "Heart of Darkness"... Different time, different book, different language, different continent... only the ignorant could conflate them. The Lost Steps is not a hypocritical, pretentious condemnation of pretention. It is a condemnation of the sort of empty commercialized work that prevents one narrator from finding his voice as an artist. The Lost Steps is the story of a hispanic musician/intellectual who lives in the modern city (sounds like New York to me) and makes a living writing jingles for commercials. He has the opportunity to make a long journey to a very different place in Latin America. The journey liberates him creatively so that he is able to find his "voice" as a musical artist. Not a bad story. As for the complaint that the narrator's language is riddled with words and metaphors from music should not trouble us when we consider that the narrator is a highly trained musician. Artists frame the world around them in the language of their craft. There was a time - not more than 60 years ago, in fact)when everyone who was "educated" could at least read a little sheet music and play a little bit of piano and those funny Italian terms that today sound like a foreign language were once understood by most everyone. The ignorance of today's readers is no basis for condemning the author as "pretentious". What I liked most about this story were those moments of brilliant prose where the narrator's (and the author's) love for Latin America shines through. The narrator's journey portrays Latin America in terms of "Lo Real Maravilloso", the marvelous reality where 20,000 years of human history have been superimposed and condensed within a single geographic space, making that space a unique place distinct from all other geographic spaces. If you are fascinated by "Lo real maravilloso" of Latin America, its cultures, its history, and you like stories about narrators who seek and find their artisitic voice (an over-used plot, perhaps) this is an enjoyable read. And no, you don't need to be a classically trained musician to appreciate this book!
Rating:
Summary: Katharine Mapes is wrong
Review: Frankly I don't see the "connection" between this book and "Heart of Darkness"... Different time, different book, different language, different continent... only the ignorant could conflate them. The Lost Steps is not a hypocritical, pretentious condemnation of pretention. It is a condemnation of the sort of empty commercialized work that prevents one narrator from finding his voice as an artist. The Lost Steps is the story of a hispanic musician/intellectual who lives in the modern city (sounds like New York to me) and makes a living writing jingles for commercials. He has the opportunity to make a long journey to a very different place in Latin America. The journey liberates him creatively so that he is able to find his "voice" as a musical artist. Not a bad story. As for the complaint that the narrator's language is riddled with words and metaphors from music should not trouble us when we consider that the narrator is a highly trained musician. Artists frame the world around them in the language of their craft. There was a time - not more than 60 years ago, in fact)when everyone who was "educated" could at least read a little sheet music and play a little bit of piano and those funny Italian terms that today sound like a foreign language were once understood by most everyone. The ignorance of today's readers is no basis for condemning the author as "pretentious". What I liked most about this story were those moments of brilliant prose where the narrator's (and the author's) love for Latin America shines through. The narrator's journey portrays Latin America in terms of "Lo Real Maravilloso", the marvelous reality where 20,000 years of human history have been superimposed and condensed within a single geographic space, making that space a unique place distinct from all other geographic spaces. If you are fascinated by "Lo real maravilloso" of Latin America, its cultures, its history, and you like stories about narrators who seek and find their artisitic voice (an over-used plot, perhaps) this is an enjoyable read. And no, you don't need to be a classically trained musician to appreciate this book!
Rating:
Summary: One of the most memorable novels I've ever read
Review: I've read thousands of novels that I cannot remember clearly, and this is one that has stayed with me for more than 20 years. I have thought of it repeatedly the last few months while walking in the woods and observing how the trails change with the seasons (a crucial part of the plot) and thinking about what life would be like if we were cut off from civilization the way the main character in this book is. The theme of this book is as beautifully executed as a classic opera and is especially meaningful if you are a music lover. I'm delighted to know that the book is still in print so that I can easily reread it and give it as a gift to people important to me.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most memorable novels I've ever read
Review: I've read thousands of novels that I cannot remember clearly, and this is one that has stayed with me for more than 20 years. I have thought of it repeatedly the last few months while walking in the woods and observing how the trails change with the seasons (a crucial part of the plot) and thinking about what life would be like if we were cut off from civilization the way the main character in this book is. The theme of this book is as beautifully executed as a classic opera and is especially meaningful if you are a music lover. I'm delighted to know that the book is still in print so that I can easily reread it and give it as a gift to people important to me.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic of 20th century Latin-American literature
Review: In this book, a Latin-American seeks to flee Europe for what he considers his roots. It is very important that we not confuse the narrator with the author. One of the author's many messages is that this kind of return to one's roots is impossible. The author subtly makes fun of his narrator to illustrate this. The tragedy of the book is that there is no escape for us into another culture, flawed as our culture may be.May I say that I was assigned to read this book in a comparative literature course at Berkeley over thirty years ago, but managed to avoid getting any more than the most superficial impression of it. But, hey; those were the sixties! My professor thought that this was an outstanding example of 20th century Latin-American literature, and I believe it is considered a classic. It is a book well-worth trying. Do not be frightened by the continued use of unfamiliar musical terms to express metaphors.
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent adventure in literature and in travel
Review: The Lost Steps takes the reader on a vivid and deep, mystical, magical journey. Whether read as an adventure story into the cultural roots of humanity in Latin America or as an adventure into rich, literary symbolism, Alejo Carpentier's masterpiece is a work that can be read again and again. Carpentier's ability as a skilled craftsman in the art of writing comes through whether he describes a journey over the Andes, a revolution, or the barking of dogs in a Indian village. Harriet de Onis has provided us with an incomparable translation from Spanish to English of this work of art. In my opinion it is the BEST work of fiction of the 20th Century. Test it for yourself.
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