Suppose your father is the black sheep in his Mexican bourgeois family and he marries a lower class woman, who becomes your mother. Then your father's sister, who has dutifully married a suitable but impotent man, decides to take you and raise you as her own, relegating your father to the background and your mother back to the slums. You are brought up in Catholic piety close to the bosom of your aunt who is called Mama Asuncion. As you reach puberty you begin to figure out who's who in your home.So Jaime Ceballos, sole heir to the family's wealth, spends his teens in secret rebellion and religious confusion. The whole story of this novel is the price Jaime must pay to grow up into a young man with a "good conscience."The tale of an idealistic youth being won back into the fold of respectable, if essentially dishonest family tradition, is not new nor is it confined to any particular culture. What stands out in Fuentes's second novel is the vivid depiction of both Jaime's inner life and the environment of a provincial Mexican city.The dangerous brew of Spanish descendants, Catholicism, native Indians, and class warfare, produces a colorful yet cautionary example of the ways nothing ever changes but nothing stays the same.
Fantastic novel. Very short, but rich with meaning and description. Seems slow in the beginning, but by the end you realize that every passage was essential for the story.Steeped in Catholicism, and Mexican Culture. I am not a Christian, but was not turned off by any of it. The religion is also an essential element of the story, the development of the character, and for Fuentes' cultural commentary.The setting of the novel is Guanajuato. Historically the area is significant for Mexico. The region is rich with silver, and thus one of the first places conquered by Spain. Two of the populist revolutionary uprisings originated here, and yet ironically the region is also culturally conservative with a significant European influence. Doing a little research on the history will help the reader access more of the novel's meaning. The novel stands well enough on its own, but I realized that due to my ignorance of the history much of the symbolism was lost on me.The core of the tale is Jaime Ceballos, an adolescent coming of age, while coming to grips with the oppressive weight of his family, their expectations for him, and his frustration with their hypocrisy.
What do You think about The Good Conscience (1987)?
This book was terrible. I hated it, and I like most books. It was as if Carlos Fuentes was just writing a spark notes version of an already terrible movie, without explaining what the heck is going on. The relationships between people are either infuriating, disgusting, or just plain weird. I couldn't relate to any of the characters. I was never able to get into the book, and in the end, there was not even a point- it just basically said that no matter what you do everything is pointless. I mean, that would normally be okay, but this was just said in such a way that he might as well have not written the book in the first place. Horribly depressing, and I would not recommend anyone reading this unless they have a thing for existential weird books with no point and a terrible writing style.
—Ruby Lindgren
Alright, this book was...? Honestly, I started to like Jaime, but...he killed the cat. I guess this book is kind of good...in a sense. Rodolfo's quote on page 124 was amazing though, but not in the context of the book. "How different we are from what we could be." Speaks wonders. I won't rate this because I have mixed feelings. The flagellation? What in the world...? Yeah, yeah it means something plot wise...but...nevermind that thenHe started to be really interesting when he was talking to Obre
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This book starts out pretty boring and I almost quit reading it but the first chapter is just a lot of background and set-up. I'd say this book does the best job of putting forth an argument for true Christianity ("take up your cross and follw me", etc), though it does so mainly by pointing out that most practitioners of Christianity are hypocrites and self-deceivers (which I obviously agree with). There are quite a few memorable moments in here and I'd definitely recommend it. It's only about 140 pages long so it's a quick read.
—Zach Freeman
