SANTA EVITA

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Good
Publisher: Doubleday
Publisher Place: London
Publisher Year: 1996
Edition: First Edition

Description: 371 pages. Jacket is in general good condition. There is some light reading wear and a tear to top corner present, but still a presentable copy. Book is in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: From one of Latin Americas finest writers comes a mesmerizing novel about the life and death of Eva Peron which casts a whole new light on the 20th century obsession with fame and reveals the power that the symbol of Evita had on Argentina. Industry Reviews Ingenious but exhausting fiction - essentially a continuation of Martinezs The Peron Novel (1988) - that examines the mercurial and enigmatic figure of Evita, the "poverty-stricken second-rate actress" who became both heroine and saint to Argentinas populace. The narrator journalist, who is not distinguished from the author himself, tells the epically absurd (and true) story of the peregrinations of "Evita" Perons embalmed corpse - back and forth across the oceans, in and out of the possession of "Peronists" eager to preserve her legacy and representatives of the military junta that drove Juan Peron into exile and now wish to demonstrate her mortality and corruptibility. Despite a flexible structure and the presence of several interesting subsidiary characters (Evas hairdresser, the celebrated embalmer who made her his "masterpiece," and especially the harassed Colonel, who is assigned the task of finding and burying her), the story consists largely of ever more detailed expositions of the same recurring essentials: Evas popularity with the common folk who believed her to be their savior, later representations of her in stories by Latin American authors and the musical Evita, the macabre comedy of preserving (and replicating) her body, and her lingering effect on those who knew her or became involved in the effort to manage her image after her death. Perhaps it is simply a subject that doesnt travel well. In Argentina, Evitas body is a matter that clearly possesses the stature of myth. In any case, Martinezs novel is overlong, hectic, and something of a chore to get through. (Kirkus Reviews)

ISBN: 9780385408752