Pedro Paramo
by Juan Rulfo
Finished a classic Latin American book, Pedro Paramo, written by Juan Rulfo. It is a difficult story to understand initially until you recognize that it goes from past to present throughout and involves various first-person narrators. It begins with Juan Preciado traveling to find the whereabouts of his absent father, whom his mother asked to visit while she was on her deathbed. She noted that his father had much debt to pay to her and that her son should inherit it. While on his journey to Comala (the village in Mexico), Juan meets a man named Abundio who offers to take him to the village of his father. When he gets there, he is told to meet with an elderly woman who is a native of the land. She informs him that the man he was traveling to find is dead and that the land is full of spirits from the past. We learn of several stories from the various spirits, including Pedro Paramo’s leadership of the village, his womanizing ways and how the one woman he loved rebuffs him, which culminates in him turning his back on the village. This ultimately leads to the ‘death’ of the village as his true love has no interest in him. If one can get through the back and forth stories, it is a beautifully written, full of sadness and unfulfilled dreams. A book that inspired many writers in Latin America.
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