Rating: 
Summary: Stimulate This
Review: ... I do not find Pedro Paramo to be a very well-written piece of literature. ... it is definitely not worth a spot on the International Baccalaureate curriculum. The main problem I have with it is that the author cannot finish a thought; he writes in the descriptive detail that everyone raves about, and then leaves everything up to the reader, and I find this to be an awful style of writing.
The 'flowing tangents of possibility' created by the writer are merely unfinished thoughts with a million answers...was that really the goal? It makes the task of analysis very difficult if there is no right answer to ANYTHING. Sure, this is acceptable for a few parts of the book, but if the author can't finish a thought, it becomes a puzzle of guessing, similar to one of those books that you read as a little kid where you skipped pages depending on the choice you made, and went back if you made the "wrong" choice. Unfortunately for us, however, we don't have the luxury of knowing when the choice was wrong. You could go a solid 60 pages thinking that a character was dead, only to have him/her come back and do something that a proves that he/she was alive the whole. Or maybe, he/she came back to life? You never know! I won't deny that if you are bored, this book will stimulate you; however, the lack of a positive answer makes it a random assortment of thoughts that any writer with half a mind could assemble, and not the critically acclaimed book that the IB Program loves. The constant lack of a firm answer makes it a frustrating piece of literature full of random complexities that I, as a publisher, would never have let out of the drafting stage. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
Rating: 
Summary: IB you did me good (er, well).
Review: ... I'd like to say that never in my life have I read a book for school that I have enjoyed more. Never have I seen one human man create so many flowing tangents of possibility using so few words. PEDRO PARAMO is a story told between the lines, as Rulfo said his life was made by the silences. And what's between the lines? The question is left almost completely up to the reader to answer. I've never read a book that is so wonderfully and easily its own inverse. This is not a book to keep as a beach companion, it's a book that makes you think. And though my fellow students might argue that Rulfo's ambiguity is frustrating (I would agree with them at times), I also find it to be so liberating. Rulfo is an author content to lay the framework for the story. He puts his readers down on his forest path and lets them hack their own way through his trees (I know some of us wished we had had machetes at times, hence the hacked). But, to be cheesy, no matter what rout they take, they all reach the other side of the woods in the end.My advice when reading this book...don't take it too seriously. Let it stimulate your mind, but don't try too hard to figure it out. Sometimes I tend to think that Rulfo would be most disappointed if we actually figured him out. I think he meant to leave this book open-ended to encourage independent reader interpretation, and that if someone sat down and said "this book means this and only this," then he would be disappointed. Yes, this can definitely be upsetting to some people because we like knowing the end to the mystery. But hey, maybe it's nice to know for once that no one's wrong here. The one rule with this book is there are no rules, life is death, death is life. So if death isn't the final answer to the question of life (is life the answer to death?), then why is there an answer to Ruflo's question? Perhaps his question is the answer... hah hah. I'm done being all pondery now. In closing, this book rocks. It's innovative, it's mysterious, it's interesting, and, even if you don't like it, it makes you think.
Rating: 
Summary: Contrary to popular belief...
Review: ...this is one good book. In fact it's better than most books out on the market. Instead of going with the old traditional style, Rulfo explores a new dimension and introduces new intellectual challenges for his readers. Yes, the book IS confusing in the beggining, but the beggining itself does not contain any important information. Rulfo uses his beggining to help people ease into his style of writing. This book is a mental challenge. If you like challenging yourself, go with it! But if you don't, please don't insult it.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written prose from between dreams and awake
Review: A beautiful rendition of the world between the living and the dead. A book written in surrealist prose of a man's life told from many different points of view. And from many different points in time. A must read, to fully comprehend it, it becomes a multiply times must read. A perfect example of the mystical realism genre.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing at first, Captivating after that.
Review: A must read for those who like experiencing the frontier between dreams, nightmares and reality.
Rating:
Summary: Al vs. Ermias
Review: Before you go thinking, " Well these reviews don't help much" it's best u get a teenager's opinion. Ermias, the one who gave this book a single star is a high school student. LITTERALLY. He and I are Juniors and as part of our IB Program, we are forced to read a book in English 11 that is somewhat beyond our current "in the box" thinking. Don't shy away from this book just because it sounds complicated. It's got mystery, passion, some action and everything else needed to make the greatest book of 20th century novel. Rulfo wrote this small 100 some page novel and won the nobel prize. Yeah it's that good. Teenagers have a hard time appreciating it, because we have less time than your average adult. I would list what we do but thats for another time. So take your time and read with an open mind.
Rating:
Summary: trapped between worlds: the magic of pedro paramo
Review: Briefly, this is the most thought-provoking novel i have ever read. Rulfo's amazing description transport you between reality, the dream world, and the afterlife to the point that the reader forgets where he or she is and simply "goes with the flow." One cannot help but get caught up in the journeys of Pedro Paramo (although the story's namesake, we rarly deal directly with him) and his family and aquiantances. "Pedro Paramo" is truly a magical book in which one has no choice but to lose oneself in the writings of this masterful storyteller.
Rating: 
Summary: Hay que leerlo dos veces!
Review: Este es un libro que me lo recomendaron mucho, pero en realidad esperaba más. El manejo de la "atemporalidad" es interesante, y también lo que quiere plantear en la relación madre-hijo-padre. Es una descripción muy buena de la realidad latinoamericana. Es un libro que hay que leer dos veces para entenderlo mejor.
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Summary: It's about the revolution
Review: For those who are not getting Pedro Paramo, here it is- the book is about the Mexican Revolution. Pedro Paramo represents Porfirio Diaz, who controlled Mexico from 1870's to 1910, when the revolution broke. The death of Susanna is the call of the revolution when the populace decides to do what they want, not what PP dictates. The misery afterwards? The misery of the revolution. Other recomended ready? The Labyrinth of solitude (Octavio Paz) and The Burning Plain (En Llano En Llamas- Juan Rulfo). With the Revolution in mind, the book becomes much clearer.
Rating:
Summary: This book echoes ... Rulfo shows, not tells.
Review: I got lost with Pedro Paramo in this hauntingly surrealistic trek. This book echoes, it trickles down through time and you can hear the rain and the voices Pedro Paramo hears. The scattered, translucent images he creates come together at the end, upon reflection. A journey into a whole past that creates, shapes, and even destroys is often confusing and disjointed. Rulfo SHOWS that, not tells. Likewise, he invites us to look at our own lives and our own past.
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