196 Books: Chile

The Postman by Antonio Skármeta 

I've always liked the shape of Chile (it's the part in color, for anyone who's not super familiar with South America. I'm not.) 

Suuummaryyyy (from the back of the book):
"The inspiration for the Oscar-winning movie Il Postino, this classic novel established Antonio Skármeta's reputation as one of South America's most beloved storytellers. Set in the colorful, ebullient years preceding the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, The Postman tells of the hapless postman Mario and his desire for the lovely Beatriz. Boisterously funny and passionate, it is an unforgettable story of young love, ignited by the poetry of Pablo Neruda."

First off, every time I picked up, looked at, or thought about this book, the song Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes started playing in my head. And whenever I read Pablo Neruda's name, it switched to the line from Rent's La Vie Boheme that basically just says his name. Those ear worms were slightly distracting trying to read, but fun in general. 

This was yet another book where a male author apparently has no experience with a real life woman. Let me unveil this cringy description of Beatriz: "She had curly, wind-tossed brown hair, melancholic yet self-confident brown eyes as round as ripe cherries, a neckline that swept into breasts sadistically oppressed by that white blouse two sizes too small, nipples that took their stand even when covered, and one of those waists fit to grab and dance the tango with..." For God's sake, is she a Barbie doll?! Then later on there are sex scenes that end in screaming so loud that the whole town hears. I mean come on. It's ridiculous. As much as I enjoy reading these books from different countries, I'm so sick of women being written about as nothing but one dimensional sex objects. 

Another part that was weird about this book is that the prologue and epilogue make it seem like Mario and Beatriz were real people that he met, but I guess they weren't. Rude, Skármeta. I believed your logues. And there also may have been an original movie that the book is based on that led to another movie? I can't keep it straight. 

Lastly, it had a really unsatisfying ending. I hate endings that leave you hanging; I want a resolution. This ended with Mario getting in the car with some of Pinochet's people. Did they kill him? Did he switch to their side? WHO KNOWS. I sure don't. When I first started the book I thought that maybe I'd want to watch the movie after, but I don't think I will. I'm also not that into poetry, I don't really get it. Luckily there wasn't a ton of it in there, mostly metaphors. Hmm. It's also interesting to me when I read a book that has won a bunch of awards and is hailed as such an amazing classic and I just think it's kind of meh. Are they just not my style? Am I not deep enough to get them? Are the books really not that great? This challenge should not give me this question of confidence. Now I'm mad at it. No worries. The next one should be pretty good.