Juan Preciado travels to the village of Comala to find his father, Pedro Paramo, as his dying mother asked him. He arrives to find a ghost town, full of whispering voices of the dead. As he moves through the streets, he hears the story of Pedro Paramo himself: a ruthless landowner who took the land, women, and lives of his neighbors, and who loved only Susana San Juan. Juan Rulfo uses a fragmented structure that shifts between time and between voices, so the reader assembles the story as a puzzle. It is short, and later writers cited it as a founding text of magical realism.
It suits readers interested in Latin American literature and in the roots of Garcia Marquez.
Deep, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Literary Connoisseur. Which reader are you?
- Language
- ML
