- Taschenbuch: 384 Seiten
- Verlag: Arrow; Auflage: New edition (15. Januar 2004)
- Sprache: Englisch
- ISBN-10: 0099416557
- ISBN-13: 978-0099416555
- Größe und/oder Gewicht: 19,6 x 13 x 3 cm
- Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung: 5.0 von 5 Sternen Alle Rezensionen anzeigen (2 Kundenrezensionen)
- Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 162.911 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)
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At The Tomb Of The Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay
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Produktbeschreibungen
Amazon.co.uk
At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig chronicles the history of Paraguay from the discovery and conquest of the primitive tribes in the seventeenth century to the string of tin pot dictators who have dominated the country ever since. John Gimlette first visited Paraguay as the Falklands war erupted. He's been back several times since and writes with affection, bewilderment and a wry humour about this most bizarre, bloodthirsty and fascinating of countries.
It's a tale of unbelievable corruption and cruelty, idealism and ignorance. European Jesuits converted the cannibals and set up Arcadian communes only to have them crushed by their own rapacious countrymen. German Anabaptists escaped to Paraguay to set up religious communes while other Germans washed up in Paraguay and ended up supporting Hitler and sheltering Nazi criminals after the war.
Gimlette records it all with verve, precision and a rollicking sense of timing. He has presented us with a page-turner of a travel book that mixes culture and criminality, decadence and despair with a bizarre flair that must approximate the country itself. --Dwight Longenecker -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Taschenbuch .
From Booklist
If some Americans can't locate Canada on a map, it's likely many haven't even heard of Paraguay. Yet this California-sized South American country has endured an astonishing run of totalitarianism, instability, and war. Travel writer and attorney Gimlette shares that chilling history, drawing anecdotes from survivors and descendants as he explores the country. While his own doings seem unavoidably flat compared to the outrages he relates (one war killed four-fifths of the country's population, and 9 out of 10 men), it is interesting to glimpse the country today, which is happier yet still a place where the black market dwarfs the gross national product. Gimlette's prose has an almost cartoonish cast at times (a past ruler of "the hookwormed rabble" is "rutting, greasy-pawed"), yet sometimes he turns a perfect phrase ("They already had chimneys and now they wanted fireplaces"). Moreover, he conveys, though he can't explain, a national character that it doesn't seem cliched to call inscrutable. Fascinating and compulsively readable. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
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3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe|Von Amazon bestätigter Kauf
All in all, this is a very interesting book. I have learned more about my country's history from this book than I did in all my years in Paraguayan schools. It is a must read for all Paraguayans and everyone in general, why for everyone in general? Well, it has many historical facts about Americans, Germans, Australians, Italians, English, Indians, Jesuits, South Americans, the Nazis, etc. and their relationship to Paraguay. It has been wonderfully researched and is full of awesome facts and numbers. I can only recommend this book; it also has lots of old pictures and funny passages. The book is not perfect, it contains lots of misspelled Spanish and Guarani words and proper names, something that doesn't belong to any book. What I personally dislike the most is the fact that the author gave the book the weirdest title. I have never met anyone that has ever heard of those inflatable pigs, it was probably some kind of Pokemon/Tamaguchi wave that lasted for a few days, and he dedicated the book's title to it... What I also didn't like are some of his generalizations and comments about him being home sick or missing the UK when he couldn't find a real English Bar in Paraguay.
Format:Taschenbuch
The book is highly readable, as it is nicely written and the topic is strong, i.e. the story of Paraguay. Although I agree that the book title nearly deterred me from buying the book, luckily I bought it anyway and did not regret it. Gimlettes interweaves his own experience on his Argentine exile with reports on various issues (like nazi war criminals or presidential architecture) and with the Paraguayan history (were the book really becomes strong), which consisted of many huge and devastating wars for such a small nation.
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51 Rezensionen
21 von 22 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
View from the tomb
24. Mai 2004
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
As an American resident of Paraguay for over a year, I found At The Tomb a compelling, essential read. A bit over the top, but probably the only truly comprehensive history of Paraguay in any language, and chock full of insights into what makes this place tick - or not. That said, the reader must bear in mind that Mr. Gimlette is not a professional historian and tends to take liberties with facts that would never pass an academic review. The most questionable example is his assertion that of a total population of 1.3M at the beginning of the War with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in 1864,only 221,079 survived when it ended in 1870 - an impossibly high number even for that horrific war - a number with origins more in Paraguayan national myth than solid research. In most aspects though, Gimlette does a remarkabel job of revealing the layers of historical and cultural paradox that produced Paraguay. Having lived over 20 of my 48 years outside the US in Europe, Asia and Latin America, Paraguay is undoubtedly the most bizarre place I have ever been to and many thanks to John for helping me to understand it.
10 von 10 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Entertaining Read, But Left Me Wanting More
22. Februar 2008
Format:Taschenbuch
John Gimlette's book is a good book that wanders between social travelogue and anecdotal history. He moves very easily through a very insular segment of Paraguayan society [mostly upper-class and foreign ex pats]. His writing, while tending toward florid prose, is spot on for his subject. The narrative keeps you on your toes as it And he has a critical eye for the absurdities of the situations he finds himself in. It is travel writing focused on some of the people of a place, rather than the place itself.
It all makes for an extremely entertaining read. I found myself laughing out loud several times. He has a wonderful knack for illustrative storytelling. He can make you feel like you know someone with a few sentences. His accounts of the Mennonites and other separatist "foreign" groups in Paraguay are hilarious. And he obviously moves comfortably within the other world that is Asuncion's upper class. But I also wished that he had applied his wit to the regular mestizo Paraguayans who make up the vast majority of the populous.
I have lived off and on in rural Central Paraguay for 10 years and I for one would have loved to read something that includes their experiences and history. But Gimlette remains exclusively focused on the upper echelons of Paraguayan society and the ex pat pretenders to such status. He seems to view ordinary Paraguayans as the inscrutable heirs of the strange savages his countrymen encountered centuries ago. Maybe he doesn't speak Guarani, but I've yet to encounter a Paraguayan who wouldn't turn themselves inside out to try to share their stories with a foreigner, even if they have to do it in Spanish.
Because of its narrow focus, his book neglects to tell the reader anything about the Paraguay they will see and hear if they ever ventured there. We read nothing about chipa sold from baskets carried atop the sellers head [with no hands!], or the never ending parade of mobile vendors selling everything from chewing gun to tools and medicine aboard the buses. He doesn't talk about how you can walk up to any strangers house and sit down to tea; Or about the local buses with adolescent boys and bulky cargo riding on the roofs. There's nothing about the brutal honesty of the Paraguayan people, or how welcoming they are to strangers. There are hundreds of such experiences and images missing from this book. And I for one, wish that I could have seen them through Gimlette's eyes. But it seems that for him, like for his wealthy friends, the "common" Paraguayan is not worth notice, just another part of the surroundings, nameless, and story-less. It's that blindness that keeps this book from being superb.
Although it doesn't present a complete picture of Paraguay, this book does an excellent job of presenting one aspect of Paraguayan society and part of it's distant history. The narrator's voice is entertaining and throughly English. The book's main weakness as a travelogue is in its inability to show us more of Paraguay than the author's upper-class friends.
It all makes for an extremely entertaining read. I found myself laughing out loud several times. He has a wonderful knack for illustrative storytelling. He can make you feel like you know someone with a few sentences. His accounts of the Mennonites and other separatist "foreign" groups in Paraguay are hilarious. And he obviously moves comfortably within the other world that is Asuncion's upper class. But I also wished that he had applied his wit to the regular mestizo Paraguayans who make up the vast majority of the populous.
I have lived off and on in rural Central Paraguay for 10 years and I for one would have loved to read something that includes their experiences and history. But Gimlette remains exclusively focused on the upper echelons of Paraguayan society and the ex pat pretenders to such status. He seems to view ordinary Paraguayans as the inscrutable heirs of the strange savages his countrymen encountered centuries ago. Maybe he doesn't speak Guarani, but I've yet to encounter a Paraguayan who wouldn't turn themselves inside out to try to share their stories with a foreigner, even if they have to do it in Spanish.
Because of its narrow focus, his book neglects to tell the reader anything about the Paraguay they will see and hear if they ever ventured there. We read nothing about chipa sold from baskets carried atop the sellers head [with no hands!], or the never ending parade of mobile vendors selling everything from chewing gun to tools and medicine aboard the buses. He doesn't talk about how you can walk up to any strangers house and sit down to tea; Or about the local buses with adolescent boys and bulky cargo riding on the roofs. There's nothing about the brutal honesty of the Paraguayan people, or how welcoming they are to strangers. There are hundreds of such experiences and images missing from this book. And I for one, wish that I could have seen them through Gimlette's eyes. But it seems that for him, like for his wealthy friends, the "common" Paraguayan is not worth notice, just another part of the surroundings, nameless, and story-less. It's that blindness that keeps this book from being superb.
Although it doesn't present a complete picture of Paraguay, this book does an excellent job of presenting one aspect of Paraguayan society and part of it's distant history. The narrator's voice is entertaining and throughly English. The book's main weakness as a travelogue is in its inability to show us more of Paraguay than the author's upper-class friends.
16 von 18 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
John Gimlette : At the tomb of the inflatable pig
11. Februar 2004
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
One of the most fascinating books on one of the most fascinating
countries in South America.John Gimlette has tremendous knowledge
of his subject. He conveys his impressions as a traveller,he gives historical background and he is sarcastic and funny.This book is a pleasure to read, it is captivating.
It might not be " politically correct" at times, but describing
a brutal dictator who devastated his country in " politically correct" terms, I'd like to know what they are...
Having been to Paraguay, it re-awakend an interest in that country again.I have adopted Paraguay as my special subject and
pursue it with a passion. I stop short only on Guarani as a
language, but even that language fascinates me.
John Gimlette must be congratulated on this book, as an avid traveller and reader of travel books, this book is outstanding.
It is almost a measure as to how travel books should be written,
but then, we all have our special tastes and likes.
countries in South America.John Gimlette has tremendous knowledge
of his subject. He conveys his impressions as a traveller,he gives historical background and he is sarcastic and funny.This book is a pleasure to read, it is captivating.
It might not be " politically correct" at times, but describing
a brutal dictator who devastated his country in " politically correct" terms, I'd like to know what they are...
Having been to Paraguay, it re-awakend an interest in that country again.I have adopted Paraguay as my special subject and
pursue it with a passion. I stop short only on Guarani as a
language, but even that language fascinates me.
John Gimlette must be congratulated on this book, as an avid traveller and reader of travel books, this book is outstanding.
It is almost a measure as to how travel books should be written,
but then, we all have our special tastes and likes.
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