Author: Fuentes, Carlos.
Publisher: Debolsillo
Pages:368
Love blinded us once again, although our hope was that it would illuminate us. -Carlos Fuentes The ghosts of the past and present coexist in the five novels that make up this work by Carlos Fuentes. The pain of memory and love without a future constitute the world of the mysterious characters in "Constancia," "La desdichada," "El prisionero de Las Lomas," "Viva mi fama," and "Gente de razón." In "Constancia," the ghosts of a Russian family, murdered by Francoist soldiers while trying to embark for the United States, reunite after forty years. In "La desdichada," an enigmatic mannequin in the shape of a woman is acquired by two high school students to keep them company. Little by little, La Desdichada will make them confront each other to compete for her love and companionship. In "El prisionero de Las Lomas," the successful lawyer Nicolás Sarmiento forces General Prisciliano Nieves to bequeath him his house and fortune in exchange for not revealing the secret that elevated him as the Hero of Santa Eulalia. "Viva mi fama" tells the ill-fated loves of Rubén Oliva and Elisia Rodríguez, the "private" of the bullfighter Pedro Romero, who died in his bed without even a scratch from a bull. Finally, in "Gente de razón," the brothers José María and Carlos María Vélez, renowned architects, follow the precepts instilled in them by their professor Santiago Ferguson: each building is a living being with a history.