She seemed to be genuinely afraid of people who cleaned the houses of others One day I asked her if she could tell me why They can know all about you, but you don t know anything about them I was thinking that s what our relationship is likeis is an unusual and jagged little love story about a bookstore owner who becomes obsessed with a beautiful and enigmatic shoplifter he watches her steal from him on several different visits, dutifully cataloging a list of the titles missing from his shelves [...]

Severina is a novella about a beautiful young woman who steals books and the co owner of a bookstore she steals from who falls in love with her It s basically a minimalist love story with some musings of books here and there I imagine that if you took the time to jot down, think about and maybe read all of the books that the young thief steals that you would wind up fairly well read and maybe open up some elements to the story, but the majority of the books probably aren t available in America, [...]

Long raven black hair, attractive, seductive, no identity She travels with an elderly man supposedly her grandfather, with a fake I.D They live by and for books She steals books wherever she goes They read them He watches her Can t take his eyes off her By the cash register he notes which books were taken, when Does nothing about it Crossing the boundary between pleasure and the imagination of desire s hope, he becomes infatuated with her, falls in love She returns his favors Deception is the de [...]

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a slim, bibliocentric novella about a book proprietor and his infatuation with the elusive young woman who thieves his wares, severina is an enticing little tale by guatemalan author translator and paul bowles s literary executor rodrigo rey rosa the seventh of his works to be translated into english, severina weds a love of books and reading with the intrigue and passion of amorous desire and longing rey rosa s story is an alluring one perhaps all the accessible and charming to anyone who s ev [...]

A pretty flawless story, well told A man swept into a dream, only slightly magically For the first time in my life, I was embarking on a purely sentimental adventure Lest you think this devolves into romantic schmaltz, a few lines later he is reading Dario Executioners of ideals have afflicted the Earth, mankind is imprisoned in a well of darkness along with the violent mastiffs of hatred and war.Severina, and her traveling companion, whose role remains undefined for a frustrating while, sound l [...]

Seleccion este libro por dos razones un autor guatemalteco joven altamente recomendado y el tema, el amor entre dos amantes de los libros, el due o de una librer a y una ladrona de libros.Por una parte sent mucha envidia del protagonista due o de la librer a, junto con otros amigos, no como negocio, si no como manera de garantizar el acceso a los libros que quer an un modelo extremo de existencia, con la absoluta libertad, una forma radical de realizar un ideal que yo mismo me hab a propuesto un [...]

A bookshop owner and this book s narrator notices that one of his customers, a beautiful young woman who he has fallen for on first sight, is stealing books from him Instead of immediately challenging her, and afraid of frightening her away, he starts to feed her habit When he does finally confront her, they fall into a relationship of sorts, but while their connections are, physically, everything he desires, emotionally she remains cut off, and an entire mystery to him Bit by bit, he comes to k [...]

Mia am dzi lu niejszy poranek, wi c do niadania przeczyta am Severin i niewiele z tego wynik o Sympatyczna opowiastka, ale nie poruszy a mnie specjalnie Pan Rey Rosa napisa jednak par innych ksi ek, wi c dam mu jeszcze kiedy szans

This wonderful short novel has such a captivating prose that it will have you turning the pages diligently until its end It is almost like a lived dream in which the limits between reality and unreality blur I will have to agree with Roberto Bola o s comment on this one Reading Rey Rosa is not only learning how to write, but also an invitation to let yourself be drawn by sinister or fantastic stories I m glad to hear that there are Guatemalan compatriots obtaining a privileged spot in contempora [...]

Una historia de amor por los libros de seres libres, y una historia de amor de un hombre por una mujer En algunos momentos me ha resultado muy bueno.

Chris Andrews turns in another able translation of a formidable Latin American author, this time Rodrigo Rey Rosa, rather than Roberto Bola o Andrews, Rey Rosa, and Bola o share a taste for the improbable romance, the femme fatale literary than criminal, but given an apparent fondness for noir sensibilities, a necessary confluence of both , the woman who remains eternally inscrutable and desirable In Severina, a bookstore owner falls in love with a woman who is beautiful, intelligent, and a thi [...]

Me fij en ella la primera vez que entr , y desde entonces sospech que era una ladrona, aunque esa vez no se llev nada Con esa primera l nea, Rodrigo Rey Rosa me captur , sin soltarme hasta cerrar el libro Severina es la historia de una ladrona de libros y del librero que se enamora de ella Amar a Severina es jugar con fuego por momentos da calor y por otros, quema De ella sabemos poco y lo que sabemos lo ponemos en duda, pero lo que est claro es que se trata de una seductora ind mita y fascinant [...]

rey rosa is guatemala s most exciting modern writer , i think this story set in guat city about a sketchy couple and the book store owner who falls in love with them and yes, you guessed it, fatally.

Bookshops are infested with ideas Books are quivering, murmuring creatures That s what one of my business partners used to say He was a poet, quite a clever guy though not as clever as he thought , and likeable enough There s something to it the three little Russian books stood there on the shelf next to the cash register for several days, murmuring, quivering, preserving her memory, but she didn t return Those were eventful days, or rather I heard that they d been eventful there was a rash of l [...]

A memorable tale I ve been reading Rey Rosa s work off and on since the 1980s when I often visited Tangier This is a remarkable piece of writing I m completely happy with it It even provided me the occasion to re read a A Paul Bowles short story Thank you, Rodrigo

Reading the world in books Guatemala

In his introduction to Rodrigo Rey Rosa s Severina Yale University Press, 112 pages , poet and translator Chris Andrews writes that for readers expecting the baroque exuberance of fellow Guatemalan writer Miguel Angel Asturias, Rey Rosa s fiction will come as a surprise Not only does Rey Rosa eschew the colorful language of his predecessor for restrained and economical prose, he allows dreams, fantasies, and hallucinations to regularly puncture his character s worlds In this respect, Andrews ob [...]

The Book ThiefRodrigo Rey Rosa was an unknown name to me until I picked up this book at random in the library and, after reading the text, consulted the very helpful introduction by the translator Chris Andrews Born in 1958, he is regarded as Guatemala s leading literary author, holding a place in the center of the younger generation of Latin American writers Even persuasive than that are the names of three late great writers associated with his work Paul Bowles, who translated three of his ear [...]

So, usually, when I read, I try to always read a book in Spanish and then a book in English maybe you had already noticed However, sometimes, it is hard for me to find books in Spanish to read And I m not saying there aren t some excellent Latin American and Spanish Speaking writers of course there are but sometimes I find it hard to balance classic or pseudo modern like 70 s 80 s writing with contemporary ones So well, here and in some future entries, I ll try to incorporate a bit contemporar [...]

Ayer le esta novela porque me produjo curiosidad la historia que gira en torno a un n cleo que son los libros, hay libros por todas partes, libros robados, regalados, pagados, prestados, libros escritos al margen del mismo libro, libros que se leen en voz alta, libros como el cuento de Bowles, escrito de modo que se puede leer de atr s para adelante Es el encuentro entre un librero y una ladrona de libros pero no la ladrona de libros al estilo de la novela de Markus Zusak, que me pareci extraord [...]

Una historia dichosa que juega con la fantas a de muchos lectores opino yo La idea de tener una librer a y encontrarse con un ser querido y desconocido que vive para los libros en una manera absurda y adolescente ladrona de libros Clasificar a cada personajes de este libro como uno Detective Salvaje m s sin titubear no titube cuando el librero abri la narrativa Rosa tiene una sencillez, tanto como C sar Aira, de presentar una historia que le hace la mente del lector disparar conclusiones y conex [...]

I broke the rule and judged the book by its cover In this case, a simply beautiful, colorful cover of polish hardcover edition Not knowing anything about the inside I decided to purchase this book what s , via internet It s a pleasure to read this rather short story of a pretty girl stealing books from bookshops in Guatemala It has a flavor of South American magical realism, a little bit of Murakami meets Almodovar atmosphere Anyone who s into books and bookstores so most of us, users will defin [...]

A short novella about a bookstore owner who falls in love with a mysterious woman who steals books from his store This book is written by a Guatamalean writer I was hoping the story would have insight to that culture but it doesn t other than mentioning that the woman is afraid of the Mayan housekeepers for a reason which is unknown The ending was interesting I think this is a good book if you like short stories and don t mind really knowing the backgrounds of characters.

More of an intriguing short story in quick, blunt prose that reminded me of Hemingway I did like the title character but I m not sure I ever connected w the narrator I enjoyed reading a book set in Central America though, and it made me want to investigate novels written in this part of the world

El librero bibli filo conoce a una bella mujer, que parece formar parte, con su se or mayor de una secta secreta que vive para los libros La novela tiene la fluidez y calidad literaria conocida de Rey Rosa, uno de los pocos escritores contempor neos que conservan la calidad sin clich s, desbordes ni experimentaciones tan frecuentes en la literatura latinoamericana actual.

Definitivamente un delirio amoroso pero me pareci que por momentos se apresur a cambiar de escena y no termina de completar los momentos que vive el protagonista lo cual hizo pocos cre ble el proceso del delirio Me dar otra oportunidad de leer a Rey Rosa No me quiero quedar con esta primera impresi n Regular No me pareci justo pagar 10 por ella Sorry.

The twists and turns of the incredible story leave the reader awestruck, waiting for some kind of cataclysm to befall the lovers Janet Mary Livesey, University of OklahomaThis book was reviewed in the March 2015 issue of World Literature Today Read the full review by visiting our website bit 1MmYugM

I wasn t all that into it It wasn t as poetic as I d like such a short story to be And I m not really into the theme of fetishization of books That said, it was still interesting and I wanted to finish it.

This was a charming book about obsession After reading the novel I was left with an aching desire to find another path into the fictional world, to spend the summer renting a room in a pensi n in Guatemala City, to see what might happen.