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The Man Who Loved Dogs: A Novel (2009)

by Leonardo Padura Fuentes(Favorite Author)

4.45 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0374201749 (ISBN13: 9780374201746)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

review 1: Poderosa la literatura que nos arrasa e ilumina con su prosa. Padura ha escrito una novela-río, una ficción histórica que se constituye en uno de los mejores libros aparecidos en el siglo XXI sobre la historia "pervertida, sepultada, escamoteada, reescrita y vuelta a escribir" del sueño mayor del siglo XX -la utopía igualitaria- y su reconversión en pesadilla de amplia escala y largo alcance. Trotsky y Mercader, víctima y verdugo/víctima, se encontraron con la Historia en Coyoacán, y es en torno a ese climax, anticipado en el cable de prensa que abre la novela, que se dispara y organiza todo el relato. Padura se mete en ambas pieles y, capítulo a capítulo, nos sumerge en los anhelos, frustraciones, deseos, triunfos, debilidades y fracasos de dos hombres singular... morees. De Trotsky terminaremos teniendo una idea muy acabada de lo que fueron sus once años de exilio itinerante. De Mercader conociendo su fascinante y espantosa trayectoria (de retoño de la alta burguesía catalana a sicario de Stalin, y más), sus múltiples identidades, su derrotero por diversas geografías y épocas, su calvario en vida. El tercer hombre es Iván, escritor cubano caído en desgracia y arrastrado por el amor a los perros a un ejercicio de memoria peligroso. La historia de su vía crucis atraviesa todo el libro y lo resignifica. Padura ha escrito la más feroz, lúcida y dolorosa reflexión sobre el poder y su capacidad para aniquilar sueños y vidas aquí, allá y en todas partes. Obra maestra por donde se la mire.
review 2: This is one of the most rewarding books that I have read in a long time. During the weeks I needed to make it through the 700+ pages of El hombre que amaba a los perros, I was inspired to do outside reading on the different topics discussed in the novel and listen to interviews that Padura gave about it. In particular, there is a two-part interview (together the parts last about an hour) that I found on Youtube, done by an Argentine TV show, that I think really enhances the experience of reading this novel (warning: it does have a spoiler about “the man that loved dogs” being Mercader).El hombre que amaba a los perros has three distinct threads that it moves between (similar to the films Crash or Amores perros, but the threads don’t all happen within the same time period): one follows Leon Trotsky as he begins (and ultimately ends) his exile from Soviet Russia, the second follows his eventual assassin, Ramon Mercader, and the third follows a Cuban man named Ivan who befriends Mercader during his time in Cuba and eventually writes the text that is El hombre que amaba a los perros. There is a fourth narrator, at the very end, but it’s not really worth getting into.I think that Padura does an incredible job with the Trotsky thread and he is the most compelling character for most of the novel. It is a sympathetic portrayal, although we do see the man’s flaws. He cheats on his wife with Frida Kahlo, is often unwilling to accept that others do not possess his obsessive devotion to his work, and is often blind to the negative effects that this obsession has on those around or connected to him. To someone with no experience of Communism as a liberating force, Trotsky seems idealistic to a fault and he alternates between giving some people (the wrong people) too much leeway and dismissing others from his circle for what seems like a small reason.Through Trotsky’s part of the novel, we get a view of history from his perspective (albeit a fictitious version), which is not frequently cited in the post-Soviet West. We can an idea of how frustrating it was to see one’s utopian dream stolen and turned into a weapon of mass destruction. Of course, it can (and should) be argued and Lenin and Trotsky were also instruments of destruction while they had power. Padura has Trotsky briefly wrestle with that type of question, but the character eventually decides that his actions were justified while those of Stalin were not. Mercader’s portrayal follows a course opposite of Trotsky’s: at first he is not a very likeable character but he becomes much more filled out and interesting as the story progresses. Through him the reader sees the Spanish Civil War from the perspective of the losing side. Padura’s description of Barcelona as the last Republican bastion is particularly interesting during our current period of strong Catalonian nationalism/separatism. We also get a view that contrasts sharply with Trotsky’s: Stalin is (for a long time) god in Mercader’s eyes. Or, at least he is god in the eyes of those that hold sway over Mercader. Although they are obviously at odds, Padura draws many parallels between these two men, such as both seeing their idealistic dreams for their home countries corrupted, both being subject to forces beyond their control, both being defined by their devotion to a cause, and both loving dogs (the title character could, convincingly, be either Mercader or Trotsky). Later on, we also get a view of the corrupt Soviet Union’s insides: Mercader’s longtime superior officer in the intelligence service, who, like his protégé Mercader, serves a long jail sentence, is also another very interesting character. Ivan, a completely fictitious creation of Padura’s, stuck out to me most as a window into Cuba’s history. Of course, his personal experience and suffering is moving. However, he’s more of a synecdoche: the story arc of his life is his country’s arc. His disillusionment is that of Cuba upon realizing that Communism does not bring utopia. His suffering after the fall of the USSR is that of his nation. His death is the passing on of Cuba’s once-vibrant dream of an island utopia. Also, he also loves dogs (a third candidate for being the title character).I have previously read one of Padura’s Mario Conde detective novels, Vientos de Cuaresma, and, through writing a research paper about it, I have become fairly familiar with his detective fiction. I really enjoyed Vientos, and plan to read more of his Conde novels. However, El hombre que amaba a los perros goes way beyond the detective books: I think that this novel reaches heights often inaccessible to “genre” stories. It requires some dedication and effort, but El hombre que amaba a los perros rewards its readers. less

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