Ángeles Mastretta

Stories about women and their husbands--and ex-husbands--examine the moments for a couple when their lives together confront the force of habit, and love reveals both its attractions and its contradictions.

Hay días en los que el viento de las horas se vuelve tan intenso que quedan para siempre marcados en nuestra memoria. Ángeles Mastretta nos hace partícipes del legado de esos días evocando los detalles más cotidianos y al mismo tiempo más preciados de este mundo palpitante y generoso que nos rodea. Aquí se reviven emociones que hacen que el tiempo se dilate y reflexiones en torno a grandes temas universales como la juventud, la belleza, el amor, la muerte y, sobre todo, el paso inevitable de los años. Es una celebración de la alegría de sentirse vivos, de la dicha extraordinaria de dejar que la vida pase, de la necesidad de disfrutar de los placeres de la existencia. Un recorrido por todos esos recuerdos que se presentan de manera inesperada y que traen consigo la más auténtica felicidad. "Voy y vengo de diciembre a diciembre, del mar a los volcanes, de los pájaros a los aviones, de las tortugas a los perros, de un viaje a otro, de la memoria al día en que vivo. De nada sino de eso habla este libro que entrego sin cautela a los ojos y la bondad de quienes lo acompañen", Ángeles Mastretta.

274 p. ; 23 cm

An introduction to the geography, history, economy, culture, government, and people of the very varied country of Mexico.

"A number-one international bestseller, Women with Big Eyes is Mexican novelist Angeles Mastretta's most widely read work, now available for the first time in an English translation. Each of the stories in this volume reveals a different woman, yet they are all linked by a single thread: the revelation that women share an unnamed force, whether it comes in the form of iron resolve, flaming passion, or simply the knowing and mystical ways to nurture a soul." "Meet the outrageous Aunt Leonor, who denies herself the forbidden fruit of love until almost too late; mysterious Aunt Cristina, whose famed marriage is rumored to be nothing more than fable; radiant Aunt Valeria, whose secret happiness is to "close your eyes and make of your husband whatever most appeals to you"; and sage Aunt Ofelia, a woman who never cries. Run off to the sea with stubborn Aunt Natalia, smuggle wine with scheming Aunt Elena, or escape a kidnapping with cheeky Aunt Elvira." "Mastretta's women are vibrant, sly, wise, earthy, and full of life, with stories that mesmerize. From these pages, they look back at you, into you, each representing an aspect of what it means to be a woman with big eyes, able to see the world for what it is, and wink at it, and to make an uncompromising life within it."--Jacket.

"Excellent, highly colloquial translation of Arráncame la vida (see HLAS 48:5193), set in post-revolutionary Mexico. Peden has created a sparkling, irreverent Catalina, Mastretta's first-person protagonist who narrates her coming of age through a marriage to a retired general much older than herself. No background information. For historical introduction, see Ann Wright's translation of this novel, Mexican bolero (HLAS 54:5031)"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.