Carlos Fuentes

[Heteronym]

What do you think of this Mexican novelist? He's the author of novels such as Aura, The Old Gringo, Where The Air Is Clear and the titanic Terra Nostra, the only novel I've read by him. Based on it I think he's a remarkable novelist, an innovator experimenting practically on each chapter, possibly one of the best living novelists, and also one of the most difficult and challenging. The novel is about the intertwined history of Europe and Latin America, it's almost historical but also full of magical realism; it has a cast of characters to rival any 19th century tome. It's erudite and it covers hundreds of years of history, there are several characters with the same name and temporal distortions. Not an easy read. But I have to recognise it's ambitious and very well written.

[Leobloom]

I have The Death of Artemio Cruz and Terra Nostra, both of which are on my 'Read This Soon' list. I of course can't give a particularly worthwhile opinion of him, but I do know that he is greatly respected amongst Latin-American writers, and I've seen The Death of Artemio Cruz on some Top 100 Novels lists. I first heard about him in an interview with Roberto Bolano, who praised him greatly, and I've got most of my Latin-American books based on authors he has praised in interviews, so I already respect Fuentes greatly.
I read the first couple of pages of Terra Nostra a while back to see what it was like and it was incredible. The prose was beautiful and he takes 'magical realism' to a whole new level. After a page, buildings are alive, the Seine is flooding Paris... I look forward to reading it!

[Patrick_Bateman]

He should no longer be in the closer's role.


Ooops sorry that's Brian.

[mortalterror]

I read the first 40 pages of The Death of Artemio Cruz and he's definitely one of the best living writers.

[Arrowni]

Never liked him to be honest, he's not even among the top five living mexican writers as it is.

[marcolfo]

i read ''aura'' in school when i was about 15 years old and really liked it, it was the first book i read. i've read other books by him but i think aura is the best.

[Heteronym]

Never liked him to be honest, he's not even among the top five living mexican writers as it is.

Don't keep us in suspense any longer: who are they?

[marcolfo]

i'll propose Juan Rulfo as one of them, and Octavio Paz as well.

[Heteronym]

But they're both dead.

[Heteronym]

I've started A Change of Skin tonight, its first pages promise a very interesting novel.