Rating: 
Summary: SURREAL AND HAUNTING
Review: Nothing in literature can prepare you for the impact of Pedro Paramo for nothing in literature compares to this novel from Mexican author Juan Rulfo. Published in 1955, and Rulfo's only novel, Pedro Paramo is the story of Juan Preciado's quest to find both his roots and his father. Fulfilling his mother's dying wish, Juan sets out for the rural Mexican village of Comala, the village of his mother's memories, the village where "she sighed about going back," and where Pedro Paramo, lover, overlord and murderer, spent his childhood and his youth. What Juan finds in Comala is something very different from what he expected, something very different from what the reader expects, for Comala is truly a village of the damned, a hell that one literally descends into, never to return. As Juan Preciado meets first one, then another of the inhabitants of Comala, he comes to an astonishing revelation--everyone in Comala, including his father, is dead. The second half of Pedro Paramo concerns itself with the reasons why Comala became a village of the dead and the emphasis then shifts to the enigmatic character of Susana San Juan, the only woman Pedro Pramo ever truly loved and the one who was forever denied him. Although few details are provided about Susana San Juan, we come to see her as the epitome of two archetypes: the heavenly goddess and the overtly sexual madwoman. When she dies and ascends into heaven, in front of Pedro Paramo's own eyes, the fate of Comala and its residents becomes forever sealed. Although this small book may seem to lack structure (there are no chapter breaks), it is highly structured. It is, however, a structure of silences, hanging threads, truncated scenes, and even non-time. Rulfo moves backwards and forewards between the past (the Comala of the living) and the present (the Comala of the dead). The author moves seamlessly between first person and third person; scenes cut into one another and move effortlessly from one location to another and yet nothing is jarring, nothing is out of place. Although more horrifying than any other book I have ever read, Pedro Paramo does not "fit" into any genre and Rulfo uses none of the usual writer's techniques to enhance his story. Rulfo simply uses straightforward narration, moving from conscious thought to memory, from the world of the living to the world of the dead. In an interview in 1980, Rulfo, himself, said that he wanted to allow the reader to participate in the telling of the story, in the filling in of the blanks. Pedro Paramo is a shadowy, eerie, haunting work, and one whose impact on literature cannot be over-emphasized. Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called this book the most influential reading of his early writing years and has admitted to memorizing the entire text. Yet Pedro Paramo completely lacks the humor of Garcia Marquez (in fact, its bleakness is entirely unrelieved) and it is definitely not magical realism. Although this book defies classification, it is most definitely a masterpiece and most definitely one-of-a kind.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic of Mexican Literature
Review: Pedro Paramo is one of the greatest books in Mexican literature. It captures the very essence of Mexico and its magic and mystery.I've read reviews of people who say they don't understand the book, that it's dark, confusing, depressing, etc. But you have to keep in mind that this book was writen by a Mexican writer, and this is the vision of the universe we Mexicans have. It's a vision of a world full of ghosts, full or mysteries, full or things that have no answer. A timeless world where present, future and past some times are hard to tell apart. This is a book that speaks about the very heart of Mexico itself. My recommendations to the readers of this book: keep a notebook and a pencil at hand. You'd want to make some brief notes about who's who. That helps a lot throughout the story. Just free your mind and remember: this book is a vision of the world through the eyes of a Mexican and maybe that's why some non-Latin people find it so hard to understand. But it's a very enjoyable story and a book you shouldn't miss.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: Pedro Paramo is, without a doubt, the strangest and most original book I have ever read. The story focuses on the character of Juan Preciado and his search for his origins after the death of his mother. The flawless writing is both surrealistic and impressionistic and the story Rulfo tells is the most horrifying I have ever read. The plot of Pedro Paramo contains many shifts in time that might be confusing for some readers. So might the story's many layers of complexity. Is Pedro Paramo simply a story of unrelieved horror, or is it a metaphor for Latin America itself? Perhaps it is both. The book may scare the daylights out of you, but the story never lags. On the contrary, it picks up pace as it evolves toward an inevitable, though not predictable, ending. Although Juan Rulfo wrote many short stories, Pedro Paramo is his only novel. It is definitely a masterpiece and definitely one of a very different order. Pedro Paramo may shock you, horrify you or leave you feeling bewildered, but it will certainly be a completely different story from anything you've ever read before.
Rating:
Summary: are you looking for the best?
Review: Pedro Páramo's Juan Rulfo is one of the best mexican writers book, it has everything that a master play needs: quality, greatness and incomprehensible simplicity. So, if you want pleasure (mexican one)you must read Rulfo's book for sure!
Rating:
Summary: are you looking for the best?
Review: Pedro Páramo's Juan Rulfo is one of the best mexican writers book, it has everything that a master play needs: quality, greatness and incomprehensible simplicity. So, if you want pleasure (mexican one)you must read Rulfo's book for sure!
Rating: 
Summary: "everything that grows is bitter"
Review: Reading over the reviews already posted, I think there is one strong theme in Pedro Paramo which hasn't been brought out: guilt. As small a role as he plays, I think Father Renteria (faintly reminiscent of Greene's whiskey priest in The Power & The Glory) is a primary character. His inability to either forgive or find forgiveness reflects the fate of all those in the town. From the initial dying request of Juan's mother to make his father pay, to Renteria's denial of "hope for us, hope to ease our sorrows. 'But not for you, Miguel Paramo'," we are introduced to characters wracked with guilt and yearnings for vengeance. The character of Susana takes on overtones of a Virgin Mary or Christ. She alone can save Paramo, and in turn the land. Renteria speaks to her in her dying moments of the torments of hell, and she dismisses him: "He sheltered me in his arms. He gave me love." But all hope of redemption dies with her, and those left behind are eternally haunted by their memories, by the forms of their loved ones. The hope that beyond the blue sky "there may be songs; perhaps sweeter voices" is dashed, and as Paramo realizes his death, he sees nothing but the "ruined, sterile earth."
Rating:
Summary: Not surreal or haunting: It's 1950 in Latin America!
Review: Rulfo decided that in just one short, potent book, he coud summarised the essence of literarure. So he wrote Pedro Paramo. We know the story: Preciado's quest for his father (nothing new here!) But the style, the verse, the rythm, the simple, complicated and rich text, obliges you to read till the end. Do you think that Comala is an invention? Isn't more misteriuos to think that the town is somewhere deep in Mexico? Perhaps you can meet Juan, and all the other ghosts (?) that make Comala so irresistible. After this novel, Rulfo didnot inked a new line: what was the case. He approached utter perfection, and like Deadalus, burnt with its sun, and understood that he had achieved what other, more "prolific" authors, will never do. Pedro Paramo was born almost together with "One Hundred Years of Solitude", and 50 years later we are still searching for Paramo and for a Buendia: perhaps they are together, fighting a lost war, or toasting for our good health, with a bottle of tequila, in a town that does not exist, in a place that we only can imagine, in a time whose only virtue is repeating itself, till we find them, and join the party.
Rating:
Summary: A surreal, haunting work to be read again and again
Review: Rulfo's masterpiece is infinitely complex, a challenging puzzle with countless hidden facets and inter connections, a surreal account of a small town and its inhabitants which defies human conceptions of both time and space. In short, the book is an utter delight for those who enjoy a good challenge. Pedro Paramo is not a book to read just once, and then forget; it stays with you, and requires multiple readings to truly understand and appreciate the brilliant metaphors and plot. After the first reading I was very confused. During the second reading I began to understand how the various narations and story lines fit together. During the third reading I fell in love. The fourth and fifth readings only increased my appreciation of the beauty and power of Rulfo's imagery and symbolism. Who knows what new questions and connections a sixth reading will reveal?
Rating:
Summary: Pedro Paramo
Review: Short review - Amazing Long review - I was very impressed with this book. The story - if it can be summed up so simply - is of a man who goes to the town where his father lived on the request of his deceased mother. He wanders about the dead town, running into the ghosts of previous residents, discussing his father with them and getting a glimpse into their lives. The story soon shifts focus away from him - and the 'I' narration - and instead moves about from person to person, each little experience illuminating the life of his father, Pedra Paramo, in greater detail. In some people's minds he was a villain, in others, a good man, in others, simply a rich man who did what rich men do. Occasionally little snippets of conversation float through the book, often these aren't attributed to anyone and would require a re-read to recognise as the reader becomes more familiar with the characters. Later, the narration moves away from 'he said she said' back to 'I', but this time the 'I' is Pedro himself. Here he pines for his dead wife, Susana, and his thoughts are only of love and glorifying her image. Yet, generally in sections immediately following it, we witness scenes where he either takes part in or is a silent witness to horrible deeds, so we are left to wonder just what sort of man Pedro Paramo is? And the best part of the book is that it does not try to answer this for us. Gabriel Garcia Marquez lists Rulfo as one of the two great influences of his life, as well as Kafka's Metamorphosis, and it shows. In Comala, people who die never really leave and an air of magic and realistic exaggeration (if that makes sense) permeates every person and every action. The seeds of Macondo (from 100 Years of Solitude) are more than evident here, in some ways this seems like the skeleton novella for Marquez's masterpiece. Often this was a bad thing, in that I felt I was getting a watered down version, but in other ways it was simply amazing to read another take - and the original Latin American take - on magic surrealism. This book is short, 124 pages, and a quick read. I highly recommend it, particularly if you enjoy Marquez.
Rating:
Summary: UN MEXICANO NO ES MEXICANO SI NO HA LEIDO ESTE LIBRO
Review: Si nunca has tocado libro mas que para hacer un reporte, y si de todos modos te lo fusilas del internet, de perdida lee el primer capítulo de esta novelaza para presumir que leiste al mejor escritor que haya parido México.
Si no te gusta, no lo entendiste.
Si no le entendiste, eres un ignorante.
Si después de leerlo prefieres a Cuauhtémoc Sánchez, eres un pendejo.
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