Pedro Juan used to be a reporter in Havana, but as life in Cuba and his own life begin to collapse around him, he gives up the farce of a daily job, and begins to "train himself to take nothing seriously". His training involves lots of sex, drugs, rum, jazz, beat literature and street philosophy.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'Grotesquely compelling... Pedro Juan Gutierrez appears destined to become a cult writer.' --Times Literary Supplement
'A tale of human ingenuity and hidden hopefulness overcoming near-insuperable odds.' --Guardian
'One of the sexiest books I have read in a long time.' --David Profumo, Literary Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
'A tale of human ingenuity and hidden hopefulness overcoming near-insuperable odds.' --Guardian
'One of the sexiest books I have read in a long time.' --David Profumo, Literary Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
About the Author
Pedro Juan Gutiérrez began his working life at the age of eleven, as an ice-cream vendor and newsboy. He is the author of Dirty Havana Trilogy, Tropical Animal and The Insatiable Spider Man, and several works of poetry. His latest novel, Our GG in Havana, was published by Faber in 2010.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Early that morning, there was a pink postcard sticking out of my mailbox, from Mark Pawson in London. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Early that morning, there was a pink postcard sticking out of my mailbox, from Mark Pawson in London. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
From the first page this book sucks you in to a whirlpool of sleaze and depravity that leaves you reeling. It is a tale consisting entirely of stolen moments and passing encounters, reading like a modern On The Road and planting the reader firmly in the tropical poverty stricken centre of Cuba, complete with all the sights, smells and sounds of a struggling third world capital city.
I found this book absolutely exhilarating and would recommend it to anyone interested in the human effects of poverty. Although it is at times coarse and some may consider it vulgar this is exactly where its strength lies, in its ability to completely humanize the effects of social and economic phenomena that we all know about, taking them out of an intellectual and even ethical/moral context and placing them starkly in the realms of experience.
It is inspiring, beautifully written and impossible to put down.
I found this book absolutely exhilarating and would recommend it to anyone interested in the human effects of poverty. Although it is at times coarse and some may consider it vulgar this is exactly where its strength lies, in its ability to completely humanize the effects of social and economic phenomena that we all know about, taking them out of an intellectual and even ethical/moral context and placing them starkly in the realms of experience.
It is inspiring, beautifully written and impossible to put down.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Compiled in short, unrelated, single-subject chapter form Guiterrez's book of his life on and around the streets of Cuba is as compelling and engrossing a book as I've read in a long time. He documents the mini-adventures and everyday people he undertakes them with with a frank emotion and colourful prose that I've not read since Orwell, and found just as attractive and personal. There are no punches pulled in the subject matter either which, considering the social, political and economic climates of Cuba throughout the early 90's, means that you are bombarded with everything from poverty, rape, murder, disease and despair, but Guiterrez infuses everything with such humour and compassion, and illustrates the people and places with such a vitality that all the horrors of the effects of Castro's regime and the USA's embargo's are absorbed into the everyday. A truly excellent portrayal of an extraordinary time and place.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Webb
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I lived in Havana from 1993 to 2000, I was a freelance press photographer. This book reminds so much of that time. Of course the book deals with Havana's low life.... .
No book I have ever read captures the spirit of Cuban street life as this one does.
Reccomended 100%
No book I have ever read captures the spirit of Cuban street life as this one does.
Reccomended 100%
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 35 reviews
3.7 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dirty.... correct, filthy more like!
But then again I was expecting a no holds barred, no sexual act unperformed read - well it said so on the cover. Read more
Published 2 months ago by stephen a elrick
2.0 out of 5 stars
Hugely overrated
I managed to reach page 178, then gave up in frustration at the repetition, lack of narrative satisfaction, and the constant teasing of the reader by the author that there is... Read more
Published 9 months ago by M. Daly
1.0 out of 5 stars
not worth the price, at any cost.
In over 40 years of reading of novels this is one of the worst I have ever started. I stuck with it until about page 60 before giving up. Read more
Published 13 months ago by a3minutewonder
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shocking, but the best book I've ever read
This really is something special and I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
It's a gritty account of the effects of poverty and predominantly the author's... Read more
It's a gritty account of the effects of poverty and predominantly the author's... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Cuban Music Fan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant but (and) dirty
This is a really enjoyable collection of short stories but not for everyone - they are really dirty! Read more
Published 23 months ago by MichaelR
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dirty Havana Trilogy
I bought this book as part of our 'book club'
80 pages in I gave up and I think that was a credit to me as most of our group gave up alot sooner! Read more
80 pages in I gave up and I think that was a credit to me as most of our group gave up alot sooner! Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2010 by Heidi
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get down and dirty.
One of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. It's a collection of short semi-autobiographical stories about life in Havana in the 90'. Lots of sex, rum and more sex. Read more
Published on 15 July 2010 by Jamrock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dirty Havana Trilogy
For me the most pornographic book I have ever read but also great insight into life in old Havana in the late 1990s. Especially interesting as we were visiting Cuba.
Published on 17 Mar 2009 by Cecily
5.0 out of 5 stars
Evocative and truthful
I lived in Cuba for a year in the mid 90's doing voluntary work. This is the only thing i've ever read that truly captures the squalor and desparation of daily life for many... Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2009 by Finch
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smell the Sewers
Perhaps there are more than two worlds running side by side.
One is a big house surrounded by a white picket fence with a clipped lawn, high powered sprinklers, flowers... Read more
One is a big house surrounded by a white picket fence with a clipped lawn, high powered sprinklers, flowers... Read more
Published on 2 July 2007 by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
