Jaime ManriqueCritiques

This novel tells the story of Lucas, whose mother left his violent father and managed to make a life for the two of them, and of Ignacio, son of indigenous subsistence farmers, both of whom showed an aptitude for learning which led to them being given the opportunity to go to a Catholic boarding school with the promise of being able to attend university and become priests. When they meet, they quickly become close friends, and then discover a love that would keep them together for the rest of their lives.

Colombia during the nineties and early 2000s was a violent place with many rural areas under the control of guerrilla groups and the military matching them in ruthlessness and corruption. As Lucas and Ignacio grow up in Catholic boarding schools and then go to university, Lucas grows stronger in his faith and Ignacio's fierce intelligence has him exploring the history of liberation theology. After they are ordained, they are sent into different neighborhoods in Bogota. Ignacio is sent to the most crime-ridden and poor parish, where he works hard to improve the lives of his parishioners and where he learns about the "false positives," and tries to get that story out into the world. Both his activism and his homosexuality put Ignacio into great danger.

This is a novel with a lot going on, so much so that it sometimes feels like a summary. The passages where Manrique slows down and describes the setting or the relationship between the men, the writing is beautiful and the story a lovely, if melancholic one.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. I thought the themes and storylines of this book were rich and intriguing, but just not completely fleshed out. The main story is of two gay priests Lucas and Ignacio....for which we receive great detail of Lucas' early life, but once he meets Ignacio, it seems we learn more from Ignacio's point of view from then to the end of the story. The "false positives" portion of the story was intriguing but without any resolution. The book just seemed to end abruptly,

3.5. I was captivated by this book - the acceptance of the Catholic Church as a place for gay men made so much sense to me! The characters are very likable and I was interested in both of them throughout the novel. I enjoyed Manrique's writing style.

In Colombia, both sensitive Lucas and angry Ignacio accept from an early age that the priesthood offers the only path to a productive adulthood for intelligent homosexual boys like themselves. After entering the seminary as adolescents, they make a powerful and deep connection that becomes a strong sexual relationship that continues off and on for their entire lives. But can their love withstand the threats of daily life in their war-torn country and the tensions produced by their conflicting personalities? And what future can there be in a place where violence colors every aspect of life?

This book describes a Catholic establishment that looks the other way at homosexual and drug-abusing priests, but is unwilling to stand up to the political leaders who have mired the people in poverty and violence. Both Ignacio and Lucas are interesting, vital characters who manage to do some good despite the forces opposing them, but who are often overwhelmed by the scale of the problems they cannot solve single-handedly. Author Manrique, a poet, includes several very powerful descriptive scenes of haunting violence as well as moments of beauty, and does a great job of articulating the despair and the affection his characters feel. I would have liked to see less narrative distance between the reader and the story and more in-the-moment writing, as I felt these were the strongest parts of the book. The final chapter was quite moving.½

A richly observed novel that follows two friends on their road to priesthood in violent and conservative Colombia. One of the only “legal” ways to escape poverty is to pursue priesthood whether your passion is driven in that direction. Lucas is a white-looking mestizo from a farming family whose pleasing personality leans to being compliant to the norms while darker skinned Ignacio is descendant of the Bari indigenous is more headstrong and challenging.

As their friendship turns intimate, the two friends learn to use their opposite personalities to support and protect each other.
This is more a love story than a thriller though there is a far amount of drug-fueled violence.

This storyline is intimate, raw, and harrowing as conveys a strong sense of place and time.

The reader observes the church being secretly being permissive of homosexuality among priests as long as they are discrete, how the church as power is only the sanctuary for poor people who get caught too often in the cross-fire between the gangs and the guerillas and the paramilitaries.

Sobering, but too often uneven in plot this book will appeal to those interested in homosexual love during this time.

I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers group. I found the book to be an intense and moving love story about the 11 year relationship between two gay Catholic priests. It hits on many important and timely themes. Homosexuality, promiscuity, AIDS, politics and corruptness in the Catholic church and Columbia, insurgency, poverty, and love. Most importantly, faithfulness and lack of faithfulness in a relationship as well as sacred vows. How can a man justify being faithful to his priestly vows while being openly gay? The answer to that remains with Lucas and Ignacio, the two men in this story. If a reader is looking for a happy story or a happy ending, they will not find it in this book. However, it was a book I didn't want to put down because I was curious how all the loose ends would be tied up. They are tied up, yes, but in an unfortunate distressing manner.

I received this book from LTER. This could have been a great book, but unfortunately wasn’t. I thought the story line was compelling with so many facets. Two young men studying for the priesthood in Columbia, struggling with their sexuality, trying to discover their place in the world and trying to make a difference despite gangs, corruption, drugs, extreme poverty, etc. But something was lacking, and halfway through I decided it was the translation from Spanish. It just didn’t sound right at times, which was really frustrating. I found the writing itself to be a distraction. It is still a good book and it covers many important issues.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was really excited to read this book. It's about 2 men in Columbia, who are priests, and their relationship through their lives. It had a wonderful premise and so much potential. It really lacked in character development, which was so unfortunate. It was told as if someone was reading the evening news,instead of with feeling and emotion. I thought as I was reading it that I wanted to know more about what the characters were thinking so I could feel it right along with them. It just wasn't the case. I respect all authors who put their ideas and talent "out there" but this just fell flat for me. One small tidbit that I did have a connection with is that one of the characters had the same name as my son. While it may be a more common name in Columbia, it's rare here in the United States. I read a lot and I've never come across a character with the same name. I found that pretty cool. I know that might be silly to include in my review but sometimes when we find connections, it makes aspects of the story even more interesting. Happy reading. I hope that if you read this book, you enjoy it more than I did.

I found myself genuinely confused by this book while reading it. I wanted to love it as a queer person and a scholar of religion; it is a fascinating story. it was not boring, just oddly written. Manrique's writing style was so unusual that I wondered if it was the result of poor translation from Spanish to English. The writing is at times abrupt, and often has non-sequiturs and sentences that seemingly come out of left field or feel out of order. The book has the potential to be incredibly moving, but the author relies on strict, plain narration and does not "show" emotion with examples. Instead of providing examples as to why a character is sad, he would just write, " Lucas was upset by the conversation." This makes the book read like it was written for a younger audience, but the subject matter is certainly adult. Sometimes there were more shocking sentences thrown into paragraphs with no plot build-up. Overall, the story is interesting, but it was hard to focus on it given the writing. With such topics like being closeted in the church, poverty, and war-related trauma, there is great opportunity to get into the heads of the characters that is not being taken advantage of.

Story of two men, becoming Catholic priests in Columbia. They are both gay and become lovers. The story intertwines the Church, the gay culture as well as the political unrest of Columbia. The story itself has great potential but I found parts of it at the beginning almost pornographic and detracting. I almost stopped reading it because of that. Wished it had been better edited.

Out of the sensitive mind of author, Jaime Manrique, comes this short, tender novel which gives the reader a wee bit of Romeo and Juliet with the Catholic Church as the stage. There is nothing cheery about Manrique's novel, but it is true to its characters and to its portrayal of the country, Colombia. Against the background of drug trafficking, guerrilla warfare, corrupt politicians, and a questionable government, two young men study to be priests. One is Lucas, the son of farmers, and the other is Ignacio, the son of a poor family of indigenous people. Lucas feels called to a religious profession after experiencing a near miracle in which his arm was saved rather than amputated. Ignacio is pushed toward a religious life by being an excellent student and to please his parents who have chosen this vocation for him. Throughout their years studying together and later years working as ordained priests, the two men question their callings in view of their own individual beliefs in God and their own interpretations and questions about life.

Manrique chose well to focus the novel more on the bond between the two men rather than on the turmoil of Colombia during this time period. If the book had gotten bogged down in politics and warfare, the reader might have gotten lost. Not that the horrors happening in Colombia weren't important or relevant, but rather because they were so complicated. As a priest, Lucas prefers to ignore the killings, the displacement of people, the violence and terror permeating the countryside. He prefers, simply, to leave it to God. Ignacio, on the other hand, has always questioned the Church even though he has long been a part of it. In his role as priest, he becomes a champion of the people, inspiration to the poor, a guide for children, and a hero in his own right. Ignacio is not afraid. His fearlessness frightens Lucas who works in a different area and ministers to a different population. Lucas seeks peace and stability through the Church whereas Ignacio sees the Church as a vehicle for change within the community and the country.

Manrique writes well of romance and, through that view, is able to critique Catholicism in a way that is easily accessible for the reader. Most readers of romance do not want to have to wade through pages of religious analysis, yet in LIKE THIS AFTERNOON FOREVER, Manrique is able to balance religion and romance, keeping them centered in the novel, one not overtaking the other. As for the relationship between Lucas and Ignacio, Manrique develops it in a believable way, and it is, indeed, the bones of the entire book. A book built on love. Many readers will think about the connection between Lucas and Ignacio long after reading the book and closing the final page. There is something about their romance that is so true, so honest, and so real that it becomes spellbinding and goes beyond the book itself.

Comparing the Spanish version to the English version of this novel, it appears that reading it in Spanish would be preferable - not because the English edition is missing anything - perhaps because Spanish is the language of Colombia, the language of Lucas and Ignacio. If one can read it in Spanish, do. If not, the English version will be just fine. And remember, Manrique has accomplished what he set out to do in LIKE THIS AFTERNOON FOREVER. Besides giving us one of the best book titles of the year, he has given his own heart and soul to accomplishing a very true feeling and the telling of a difficult love story. Readers who appreciate LIKE THIS AFTERNOON FOREVER might also like Lawrence Scott's book AELRED'S SIN and/or Colm Toibin's THE STORY OF THE NIGHT, both similar examples of this type of gay literature.

I had never heard of Manuela Saenz before picking up this book. Her story is fascinating: The illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Peruvian mother and an already-married Spanish father, she survived convent school, social scandal, and a bad marriage to become the mistress of Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America. Unfortunately, he predeceased her, she was cheated out of her inheritance, and Manuela ended her years in poverty and was buried anonymously in a mass grave for plague victims.

That being said… this book left a lot to be desired. The writing was stilted and choppy, the dialogue was unbelievable, the “sex scenes” were laughable… oh my gosh I could list so many things. Mainly though, the problem was no emotional connection with Manuela. She just didn’t seem real. Neither did her slaves, Natan and Jonotas, whose chapters were narrated in exactly the same “voice” as Manuela, and seemed completely unnecessary. I want to learn more about Manuela Saenz and hope there is a better book about her out there.

Al comenzar a leer esta novela biográfica basada en la vida de Miguel de Cervantes, autor de El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, muchos lectores creerán que las aventuras por las que atraviesa el protagonista son pura ficción. Sin embargo, el libro está basado en hechos reales y en eventos históricos ocurridos en la España del siglo XVI.

A veces conmovedora, a veces cómica y grotesca, El Callejón provee claves que sugieren cómo Cervantes posiblemente creó a los personajes de Don Quijote basándose en sus propias experiencias de vida. Hasta el mismo emerge en la narración con un parecido inconfundible al Quijote que encontramos en su gran novela. Pero más que todo, este es un Cervantes obsesionado por lograr un triunfo literario que parece imposible realizar. Entre sus obstáculos para lograrlo esta Luis Lara, un amigo de infancia que, consumido por la envidia y los celos, luego se convierte en su peor enemigo.

Jaime Manrique ha logrado una gran novela que educa, entretiene y ofrece una nueva interpretación de una vida literaria extraordinaria que merece ser examinada.--Ricardo Antoni

Brilliant, spellbinding from beginning to end, makes you think you're living in an extension of the universe imagined by Cervantes in Don Quixote.

The book has alternating chapters. Half of them are in the first person by Cervantes and tell his life story from birth to death, focusing on his fleeing from Spain following a bar room brawl, coming to Italy, fighting in the battle of Lepanto, and his time in captivity in Algiers. Many of the elements and characters he encounters are refashioned into Don Quixote, although the persiod when he was in and out of jail and writing his masterpiece basically take place off stage.

The other half of the chapters are primarily by what I believe is a fictional character, Luis Lara, a wealthy aristocrat who befriends Cervantes, ultimately becomes obsessively jealous of him, and writes the famous, false Don Quixote Part II--an unauthorized sequel to Don Quixote that appeared prior to Cervantes own continuation. Luis is fascinating because he feels his greater education and literary background make him superior to Cervantes gutter humor. The final chapter is narrated by Luis's servant--which gives yet another perspective on the entire story.

Cervantes Street can be read as a fast-paced adventure story, a running commentary on Don Quixote, a historical biopic, or an interesting piece of speculative fiction. The writing itself is extremely good and is sprinkled throughout with borrowing from Don Quixote and other Cervantes writing which are woven effortlessly into the original novel itself.

Reading it is sending me right back to Don Quixote for a third time.

Is there anything more annoying than a man writing a romance novel...without being aware that he has, in fact, written a bodice ripper? This is a profoundly silly book that takes the lives of Bolivar and his mistress, Manuela Saenz, and reduces it to a few confused battle scenes, some chaotic political infighting, and a few frolics in the bathtub. Manrique never seems to understand his characters, or to provide them with psychological depth; Manuela comes off as the typical foot-stomping feisty heroine, devoid of introspection (or common sense), and Bolivar a wooden figure whose actions, so critical to the development of South America, are left unexplained. The two slave women's narratives, who might have added some well-needed perspective, are completely interchangeable, and serve as nothing more than a thin Greek chorus. A melancholy coda (though marred with some confused timeline shifts), when Manuela is exiled in Peru, is very well-written, and saves this from a one star. Even that is wrecked by a ridiculous ending (an homage to Carpentier, whom I discovered I don't really care for) that Manrique just can't pull off. Pity--there was--and is--a great novel to be written in the lives of the Liberator and La Saenz, but the reader won't find it here.

And yup, the sex scenes are really overwrought!

A while back I read a book review where the reviewer said he'd never been able to get past the first few chapters of Don Quijote, but thought that Manrique's book was the right introduction to Cervantes' masterpiece. it piqued my interest, even though I've read Don Quijote several times in my lifetime. I am glad I went ahead and read this book.

This is a somewhat true and at times very humorous narration of the life of Cervantes. The story follows the interconnected lives of two writers- Miguel de Cervantes himself and the presumed author of the apocryphal second part of Don Quijote that led Cervantes to actually write his own sequel. The lives of these two authors are told in the first person in intercepted chapters. Cervantes' known life events are told by Manrique very well, embelished vividly in many interesting ways. He captures his continuous struggles to make a living and become a successful and well known author, while often getting in trouble with the law. And Manrique invents Luis Lara, the character who writes the second Don Quijote under the name of Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda. He adds the interesting twist that both Miguel and Luis were friends in their youth, even though Luis was a nobleman while Cervantes was a commoner of (questionable) Jewish origin. But Luis comes to hate Miguel and spends the rest of his life thinking of ways to destroy Miguel.½

Brilliant, spellbinding from beginning to end, makes you think you're living in an extension of the universe imagined by Cervantes in Don Quixote.

The book has alternating chapters. Half of them are in the first person by Cervantes and tell his life story from birth to death, focusing on his fleeing from Spain following a bar room brawl, coming to Italy, fighting in the battle of Lepanto, and his time in captivity in Algiers. Many of the elements and characters he encounters are refashioned into Don Quixote, although the persiod when he was in and out of jail and writing his masterpiece basically take place off stage.

The other half of the chapters are primarily by what I believe is a fictional character, Luis Lara, a wealthy aristocrat who befriends Cervantes, ultimately becomes obsessively jealous of him, and writes the famous, false Don Quixote Part II--an unauthorized sequel to Don Quixote that appeared prior to Cervantes own continuation. Luis is fascinating because he feels his greater education and literary background make him superior to Cervantes gutter humor. The final chapter is narrated by Luis's servant--which gives yet another perspective on the entire story.

Cervantes Street can be read as a fast-paced adventure story, a running commentary on Don Quixote, a historical biopic, or an interesting piece of speculative fiction. The writing itself is extremely good and is sprinkled throughout with borrowing from Don Quixote and other Cervantes writing which are woven effortlessly into the original novel itself.

Reading it is sending me right back to Don Quixote for a third time.

Jaime Manrique's Cervantes Street (Akashic Books, 2012) is a grand old-fashioned picaresque tale with some modern twists thrown in. Manrique has ably reconstructed the Golden Age of Spain, telling the story of one the world's greatest storytellers, Miguel de Cervantes. But there's more. Manrique has created here a vicious arch-rival in Luis de Lara, a man driven by a long-ago slight to destroy Cervantes and all he creates.

A very enjoyable send-up to the Quixote-esque novel.

I randomnly chose this book from the library because of all reasons, I loved the cover. It was an interesting read about South American history, Simon Bolivar and his lover. I enjoyed learning about this place and time in history and reading about a strong woman character, but the novel itself was very monotonous. The descriptions of the different towns in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, etc. did make me want to travel to see them for myself.