May 2009: The Crystal Frontier (Fuentes)

Post date: Jan 07, 2010 10:58:1 PM

About 10 of us gathered May 20, 2009 to discuss Carlos Fuentes' The Crystal Frontier -- most of us read the translation, but at least one made it through much of the original Spanish. We appreciated Fuentes' political views portrayed in the stories more than we enjoyed the literature itself: the novel consists of nine short stories, some of whose characters affect the lives of characters in other stories, but the narrative threads were subtle. Several readers did not enjoy the stories enough to finish the book, though at least one liked the book -- and that makes for a good discussion!

Although we touched on the concept of a borderland, and how people exist on neither/both sides of a divide such as the Mexico/USA border, our conversation meandered away from the specifics of the book to experiences of Mexican dental care, the beauty of the Spanish language with its "buenas tardes" compared to our English "hi," and on to upcoming EBSC events (next month's faculty-spearker book club) and Smith's engineering program and reunion! Sherrill was back for her 25th and Nancy for her 50th, and they both commented on how articulate, pleasant, and interactive the Smith students they met were. (Surprisingly, we did not discuss the previous day's local election.)

Thanks to Kathryn for hosting our May meeting!