The Last Night I Spent With You : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A fabulous note of erotic repartee
Review: A fabulous note of erotic repartee - the story flows and in each chapter you confront the characters - their dark sides, telescopic views trying to reach beyond the wider ring of the lenses. The book consists of three characters Fernando , his wife Celia and Julieta. The attraction between Fernando and Julieta at some point seems to be fatal and Fernando suffering from mid-life crisis jumps towards Julieta during their maiden cruise trip to the Caribbean. The relationships build and destroy and rebuild around the lines of bolero (love song in South America) so it will be better if you have at least a little concept of bolero and what it means. This is not exactly a novel but a novella and if you can have a of scotch on the rocks and music by Eros Ramazotti to accompany this book then you will finish it in three hours. The translation by Edith Grossman is superlative as always. (I find Edith's translation always a safe bet). The eroticism never turns into pure lust and the grey line between eroticism and vulgar is never touched. This book calls for a delicate reading atmosphere - please do not try to read it in the airport. After you finish the book please again go back and read the letter to Angela and then they will make more sense. I deducted one star and lipped in only four because I was expecting a chapter from Julieta but it never showed up.

Rating:
Summary: Sickos
Review: I read a number of "professional reviews" before purchasing this book-- "The New York Review of Books" and "Kirkus Reviews" to be exact. Firstly, the critics----excuse me, but have you taken leave of your senses? This book was awful!

Last, but definitely least, the book itself. I thought I was going to read a sophisticated novel about a married couple who go on a Carribean cruise following their daughter's wedding. I could not believe the content of this so-called work of literature. It was disgusting. Don't even try to give me the erotic argument. Erotic I could handle, but this book was nothing short of sick. I even read a few passages to my husband, and he thought I had to be making it up. Sorry, I can't give you examples of the things that disgusted me as I won't get this past the censors.

Rating:
Summary: Sizzle Sizzle!
Review: Read Montero's novel, and boleros will never sound the same again.
She may be the hottest thing since the Divine Marquis.
And she's far more witty!
Wait until the French discover her - they may put L'affaire Houellebecq far behind them.

Rating:
Summary: Well crafted - unusual plot
Review: This novel is written primarily in sexual terms - memories of infidelities, present maritial and extra-maritial sex, and sexual fantasties; if detours here and there to explore death - real and imagined. It explores the relationship between a couple on a cruise ship vacation following the marriage of their daughter - an only child. While that description may not make the book sound interesting, the book is excellent - it has a tightly written plot with unusual relationships between its characters and with surprising twists that provide the insights into the characters' personalities that hold the story together.

However, if you've read nothing by Montero, I would suggest either of her other translated books - In the Palm of Darkness or The Messager - as more indicative of her style.