Rating: 
Summary: In spite of flaws, a worthwhile read
Review: The plot's erratic, there are too many characters, the torture scenes make me squirm, and the fantasy goes beyond the pale (people--and donkeys!--giving birth to kittens who grow to become mystic pumas? )... And yet, there is something about this book that kept me turning the pages, laughing out loud, reading bits to other people. It's not as good as Captain Corelli's Mandolin, but it's still a book that's insightful, fun, entertaining, wonderfully written, and memorable.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting Story, Brilliant Writer
Review: The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts is one of the most original books I have ever read. It is, in turns, witty and horrific but always engaging. Having travelled throughout South America myself, I found myself nodding and laughing at his cultural refrences such as the Ford Falcons. De Bernieres writing style evokes Garcia Marquez but with edgier prose. This book left me smiling and wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: Louis De Bernieres at his very best-a great book!
Review: This brilliant, hilarious, tragic novel tells the story of a village in a fictional yet all-to-real South American country whose villagers lives are thoroughly disrupted when the wife of the local Jefe--the arrogant and haughtily Dona Constanza--attempts to divert the flow of the local river to fill her swimming pool.The villagers, who depend on the river to water their crops, are outraged, and turn to Don Emmanuel to plead their case. The campaign the dissolute, foul-mouthed, corrupt, entirely gallant Don Emmanuel wages leads to government intervention into the fracas and the outbreak of a full-scale civil war. A novel that effectively portrays the life of the modern day South American peasantry as well as the beauty, viciousness and insanity of life in a region torn by strife and riven by corruption told with a sense of compassion, love and humor that are truly rare in today's ethnic fiction. Highly recommended.
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