My Tender Matador: A Novel - Softcover

Lemebel, Pedro

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802141870 ISBN 13: 9780802141873

Publisher: Grove Press, 2005

Synopsis

Centered around the 1986 attempt on the life of Augusto Pinochet, an event that changed Chile forever, My Tender Matador is one of the most explosive, controversial, and popular novels to have been published in that country in decades. It is spring 1986 in the city of Santiago, and Augusto Pinochet is losing his grip on power. In one of the city's many poor neighborhoods works the Queen of the Corner, a hopeless and lonely romantic who embroiders linens for the wealthy and listens to boleros to drown out the gunshots and rioting in the streets. Along comes Carlos, a young, handsome man who befriends the aging homosexual and uses his house to store mysterious boxes and hold clandestine meetings. My Tender Matador is an extraordinary novel of revolution and forbidden love, and a stirring portrait of Chile at an historical crossroads. By turns funny and profoundly moving, Pedro Lemebel's lyrical prose offers an intimate window into the mind of Pinochet himself as the world of Carlos and the Queen prepares to collide with the dictator's own in a fantastic and unexpected way.

About this title

From Booklist

Chile and its capital, Santiago, were in turmoil in 1986. The Pinochet regime was under fire from within, and the country was rife with activists, strikes, and riots. Lemebel crafts a wonderful snapshot of this period of Chile's history--pairing fictional characters against real ones. The Queen of the Corner is a cross-dressing, effeminate gay man who embroiders for a living and harbors an unrequited love for Carlos, a handsome young revolutionary from the university. At first, Carlos only wishes to store mysterious boxes at the Queen's house. Then late-night "study meetings" with his compatriots from the university become more and more frequent. Deftly woven into the stories of the fictional characters are the activities of the paranoid Pinochet himself and his fashion-obsessed wife. The Queen eventually comes to realize that his house is serving as a front for the revolutionaries, and a touching tale of love and danger emerges. Lemebel's tender story of a time of great unrest provides an extremely engaging read and a portrait of love and loss under a cruel dictator. Michael Spinella
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Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802141870
• ISBN 13: 9780802141873
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176