Señora Rodríguez and Other WorldsSeñora Rodríguez dips into her purse and there's no telling what she'll come up with--a sticky lollipop, a phone bill, or a rosary; a reminder of daily life, a bit of family history, a personal talisman, or . . . who knows? . . . a token into another world altogether. Such are the surprises and possibilities, the unpredictability and warm familiarity of Martha Cerda's magical novel. Señora Rodriguez and her family are placed shoulder-to-shoulder and page-to-page with strangers, acquaintances, and a host of importune, if not impertinent, stories: the profound distortions wrought in a woman's life by the oppressive presence of her maid; the furor caused by a premenstrual pimple; the flashbacks and chaotic grief Judas Iscariot experiences at the moment of his death; the disruption surrounding the appearance of a supposed member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. A bestselling writer widely celebrated in her native Mexico, Martha Cerda defines her own turn along the path of Latin American magical realism. In this novel the feminine, the practical, and the earthy blend with the fantastic and phantasmagoric. Tragedy and playfulness, sophistication and naiveté mingle. What is at once a comedy of manners, a delightful collection of loosely related anecdotes, stories, sketches, and epiphanies, is also an artful entree into several literary and philosophical questions--the relationship between language and reality and the power of one to create and alter the other; the link between chaos and different forms of organization that pass for order. |
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Common terms and phrases
Adela afternoon Agamenón Alfonso Amanda answered arrived asked Aunt Clotilde Baby Rodríguez Barberena became blond bread pudding Carlitos Carlitos's chastity belt Clotilde's cockroaches compadre continued copy of Señora Don Manuel Doña door dream dress dry-roasted Duke University Esther everything eyes face feel felt fingers godfather going gringa hair hand happen heard husband inside Irma Jacinta Joaquín José kids Kleenex knew lady laugh Laura leave legs dangled live look Luis Lupita Mama Mariana married mirror morning mother mother-in-law never night nose opened Paco Papa patio Pedro Infante perhaps purse and began Ramón Raúl realized remember ríguez sandalwood scream Señor Rodríguez took Señora Rod Señora Rodríguez took shoes smile Sofía someone Susanita T-shirt tell Thanks for everything thing thought took the xerox Trini Trinidad turned twelfth line waiting wife woman xerox copy
Popular passages
Page 41 - Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who is the most beautiful in all the land?
Page 38 - I didn't know what to do, it was the first time I had been at a wake.
Page 45 - It took us a while to figure out what was going on; those men were fishermen and they had thrown a net across the bay.
Page 56 - He looked at his watch. It was seven o'clock in the morning.
Page 122 - The tragedy took on a life of its own. It became the subject of...