I'm stunned!I don't read poetry, I knew nothing about poems and poets. Yet I can identify poetic lines in every pages of this piece. Nope, not just regarding Inez herself, but Fuentes wrote everything from the language, the symphony, the war, even to the Nazi, poetically.Most condemned Hitler, but Fuentes condemned the Fuhrer with a style, at least for me, '... Your horror is true horror, it lacks grandeur, it's niggardly horror, because you don't understand , you will never be capable of understanding, that immortality, life, death, and sin are mirrors of our universal, internal soul, not your transitory and cruel external power...Faust places an unfamiliar mask on the man who doesn't recognise it but ends up adopting it. That is his triumph.'Ahh Inez, who are you actually? I always relates you to Marguerite. It's easy to know who is she -- 'I sinned, I pleasured, I suffered, I was forgiven, but I will not renounce the glory of my pleasure, the integrity of my freedom as a woman to enjoy sex, I have not sinned, you angels know it, you may be carrying me to paradise grudgingly but you have no choise but to accept the sexual joy I found in the arms of my lover..'That's when I remember Coelho's four classic archtype of women .. but no, Inez/Marguerite is not one of them. She's the Bitch type which defined by a friend of mine, Lamya, as: her search comes from her independence and aggression in pursuing her spiritual path. She fights for her cause with no care about the common opinion and lives off people's resentment and jealousy. She ridicules the Virgin, Saint, and Martyr, because she does NOT sacrifice herself; she expressed herself freely but sacrifices those who condemn and judge her.And who is Gabriel? He's a maestro, a conductor, an eminent one. He was a legend, yet arrogant as most famous artist did. He refused to record his pieces so there were only live performances. But is that really him? Or the boy who played the rough-made, ivory flute? .. 'A woman knows more about life, an sooner, than a man, who is slow to give up his childhood. Perpetual adolescent or, worse, age child. There are few immature women, but many children disguised as men.'***Sungguh membaca karya ini membuatku tertegun, antara kagum dan kebingungan bagaimana untuk bereaksi. Belum pernah aku membaca kutukan atas Hitler sepuitis yang dituliskan Fuentes, '..Horor yang kau ciptakan adalah kengerian sebenarnya, namun tanpa kebesaran, hanya sebatas horor karena kau tidak paham dan tidak akan pernah mampu untuk memahami bahwa keabadian, hidup, kematian, dan dosa adalah cermin dari keberadaan jiwa internal kita secara keseluruhan, bukan kekuasaan eksternalmu yang sementara dan kejam ... Faus menempatkan topeng yang tidak awam pada seorang pria yang tidak mengenalinya namun malah berakhir mengadopsinya. Itulah kemenangan utamanya.' Kebingunganku berlanjut saat Inez muncul, yang mana Inez yang mana Marguerite? Keduanya berbeda tapi terkadang mereka sama. Pribadi yang mengingatkanku pada empat tipe perempuan yang disebutkan Coelho dalam buku The Witch of Portobello .. tapi bukan salah satu dari empat itu, namun tipe kelima The Bitch yang menurut temanku Lamya, pencariannya datang dari kemerdekaan dan keagresifannya dalam mencari jalan spiritual. Dia memperjuangkan apa yang dia percaya tanpa mempedulikan opini umum dan hidup dengan kebencian dan iri dengki orang-orang di sekitarnya. Dia menertawakan tipe Virgin, Saint, dan Martyr, karena dia TIDAK mengorbankan dirinya sendiri; dia berani mengekspresikan diri dan mengorbankan mereka yang mengutuk dan menghakimi dirinya.Mungkin tepat bila menyebut buku ini tentang musik, kehidupan, kematian, cinta, yang disampaikan dengan cara membingungkan!
The beginnings of the first and second chapters were good. But they quickly dived after that and the rest of the book never recovered.If I had to describe this book in one word it would be: masturbation.It is obvious that the author is really enjoy himself writing out how passionate/obsessed the main character is about Inez and the opera, but it I am not having fun.Yeah, I get it. The main character was obsessed with the crystal seal, but that doesn't mean that the narrator also needs to be obsessed with the seal. One can write about how obsessed a character is without being obsessed one's self.Also at times it seems like the main character was a caricature of the passionate Latino. So much FIRE! and PASSION! and a lot of DESIRE! but it just never was directed in any real coherent way, rambling about a non-existent person in a picture and don't get me started on that weird Adam and Eve narrative done in second person.I just don't understand what he was going for. It seems like the author just got some ideas in his head and ran with it without ever thinking if it made sense or if it would ever translate to the reader. So that is why I call it masturbation since this novella seemed to be for the benefit of the author, not necessarily for the reader.This is my second attempt at enjoying a Carlos Fuentes novel, and both times he has let me down. Sure I have heard that The Years with Laura Diaz was good, maybe his earlier work is much better since I have only read his more recent work, but I don't know if I want to waste any more time with this guy.
What do You think about Inez (2004)?
Un tinar dirijor genial, indragostit, in timpul bombardamentelor din al doilea razboi mondial, de o instrumentista superba, personaj paradoxal, topind forta si slabiciunea extrema, senzualitatea agresiva si indiferenta. Mai e insa si o alta poveste, tot despre cautari si regasiri succesive, un alt cuplu, nu chiar primordial, dar pe aproape, intr-o lume proaspata si violenta in care dragostea e tot una cu supravietuirea. Un roman in care secolul XX si lumea primitiva isi dau mana dincolo de istorie. Legatura... o sfera de cristal si inca ceva, va las sa gasiti voi ce.
—Teo
No es lo que acostumbro de Carlos Fuentes pero creo que ha sido un buen experimento. El libro es algo snob, con una gran floritura, una prosa muy armoniosa. Es un libro aceptable con un romance que intriga muy poco. La historia se centra en el curioso romance de Gabriel Atlan-Ferrara director de orquesta e Inez Resenzweig. Todo con un tono algo teatral, armonioso, no por nada "La Condenación de Fausto" es citada y descrita durante toda la obra. Es un amor que va más allá del tiempo, es un amor no consumado. Es una historia buena pero confieso que me vi perdida más de una vez en la idea que quería expresar Fuentes en este libro, sin mencionar que realmente no me intrigó ni emocionó, nunca hubo una gran emoción de mi parte. A lo que si doy crédito es la introspección en la que te absorben los capítulos que remontan a la prehistoria. No puedo decir mucho de este libro porque mi capacidad no da para más, no es un libro que recomiende a nadie. Es una lectura amena pero no es nada especial, sólo algo impresionante en sus palabras y nada más.Hubieron partes que disfruté por eso merece su crédito, pero hasta ahí.
—Fernanda
Had mixed feelings about the book. I loved the tale of the famed ohchestra conductor and the Mexican diva...it played on the Mestopheles tale (the Central opera is the Damnation of Faust by Berlioz). However when it came to blending the tale of the first natives, I found that tale rather odd and the blending of the main story felt almost too disjointed, or at best a real stretch to unite. His characters, like all of Fuentes' characters are very strong, almost operatic in tone so it was an enjoyable read despite the oddity of the twin stories.
—David
