Secret of the Bulls

by José Raul Bernardo

Book Overview

'Esta cautivadora novela de la Cuba de antano se merece una amplia acogida debido a su suntuosa narrative. Los panoramas, los sonidos, y los aromas de La Habana transportaran a los lectores a una... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684818175
• ISBN13: 9780684818177
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 299 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A tantalizing glimpse into another culture

This book drips with the richness of Cuban culture, burns with the fiery passion of the characters, and dazzles with the vividly described beauty of the exotic locales. You'll find yourself hooked from the prologue, as the author introduces his main characters, Maximiliano the butcher's son, and Delores, daughter of a wealthy landowner, and the love that ignites them from their very first meeting. Turning her back on her family, Delores elopes with her one true love, standing by him through good times, fires and hurricanes, infidelity and adultery, bending like the royal palm trees and then rebounding tall and proud to hold her family together. The story skillfully weaves its way between the lives of their children - Mani, heir apparent to the trade, who carries on his brawny shoulders the fears and mistakes of the past; Merced the eldest, headstrong and artistic; Gustavo the shy poet and Marguita the youngest. While Merced's marriage ends disastrously, and Gustavo fights to keep his together, Mani remains in awe of the fearsome animals that race down the Street of the Bulls in their last run before they end up on his slab, tenderly and skillfully converted to prime cuts for the waiting and appreciative customers. Full of local culture, nosy neighbors, steamy seduction and time honored male rituals of honor, this story is never boring, but subtly brings out the strength of the Cuban woman and the importance of family. Amanda Richards, July 2, 2005

Sexual awareness and the stereo typical demands upon us

Bernardo writes a good novel that makes one aware of the cultural traits that make up one culture and are transmitted to another. Also, he writes about the need to hide our sexual orientation when the climate around is unforgiving. Overall a good read, Bernardo lives in New York and has had a chance to experience the Cuban American reality.

Easy read for intermediate-level spanish student

A delightful story written in a very straight-forward grammar style. Anyone who has studied Spanish through the subjunctive tenses can read and enjoy this book, and build vocabulary at the same time.

Un libro de que nos transporta a la epoca colonial cubana.

Aunque las faltas de tipografia fueron claramente visibles, la novela en si es una historia en donde nosotros mismos nos vemos algunas veces como Dolores, Merced y hasta como una de las mulatas de Mani. El autor, con una abilidad simple, nos muestra las cosas intimas del amor, el erotismo, los celos, la familia, y los suenos posibles e imposibles de todos los personajes.

A Brilliant Tapestry of the Human Condition

In his fictional debut, Bernardo resurrects prerevolutionary Cuba replete with the sights, sounds, and odors of Havana's barrios, as well as its earthy lifestyle. He follows the fortunes of the butcher Maximiliano and his well-born wife, Dolores, who with their four children, come to the capital to make a new life after a hurricane destroys their entire village. Using the bulls of the title as a metaphor for the swaggering machismo of Cuban men, Bernardo turns this family saga into a brilliant tapestry of the human condition. Love, gossip, jealousy, fear, wisdom, sacrifice and death all swirl around Maximiliano and Dolores as their children grow up, leave home, and come to terms with their individual natures. The dignity with which the author imbues his characters and his engaging conversational style make for a wonderful novel. It should be a hit in most fiction collections. çopyright, LIBRARY JOURNAL, February 1, 1996.