The Man Who Loved Dogs: A Novel
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
A gripping novel about the assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940
In The Man Who Loved Dogs, Leonardo Padura brings a noir sensibility to one of the most fascinating and complex political narratives of the past hundred years: the assassination of Leon Trotsky by Ramón Mercader.
The story revolves around Iván Cárdenas Maturell, who in his youth was the great hope of modern Cuban literature—until he dared to write a story that was deemed counterrevolutionary. When we meet him years later in Havana, Iván is a loser: a humbled and defeated man with a quiet, unremarkable life who earns his modest living as a proofreader at a veterinary magazine. One afternoon, he meets a mysterious foreigner in the company of two Russian wolfhounds. This is "the man who loved dogs," and as the pair grow closer, Iván begins to understand that his new friend is hiding a terrible secret.
Moving seamlessly between Iván's life in Cuba, Ramón's early years in Spain and France, and Trotsky's long years of exile, The Man Who Loved Dogs is Padura's most ambitious and brilliantly executed novel yet. This is a story about political ideals tested and characters broken, a multilayered epic that effortlessly weaves together three different plot threads— Trotsky in exile, Ramón in pursuit, Iván in frustrated stasis—to bring emotional truth to historical fact.
A novel whose reach is matched only by its astonishing successes on the page, The Man Who Loved Dogs lays bare the human cost of abstract ideals and the insidious, corrosive effects of life under a repressive political regime.
Leonardo Padura
Leonardo Padura was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1955. A novelist, journalist, and critic, he is the author of several novels, two volumes of short stories, and several nonfiction collections. His novels featuring the detective Mario Conde have been translated into many languages and have won literary prizes around the world. The Man Who Loved Dogs was a finalist for the Book of the Year Award in Spain. Padura lives in Havana.
Read more from Leonardo Padura
Havana Blue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Havana Black: A Lieutenant Mario Conde Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kill the Ámpaya! The Best Latin American Baseball Fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrab a Snake by the Tail: A Murder in Havana's Chinatown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heretics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Man Who Loved Dogs
Related ebooks
Heretics: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Also Rises Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSerotonin: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Feast of the Goat: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God's Favorite: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mayakovsky Tapes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Know Not What They Do Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Night of Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A God in Every Stone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Salmon Fishing in the Yemen: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where Angels Fear to Tread Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Songs for the Butcher's Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tijuana Straits: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homage to Catalonia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Idiot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Reich: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stone Raft Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Red Sky in the Morning Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Crosses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Killed Palomino Molero?: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Black Book: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Darkroom of Damocles: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under the Volcano: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Succesor: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Disoriented Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hill of Evil Counsel: Three Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Noir For You
I Know Who You Are: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Galaxy's Isaac Asimov Collection Volume 1: A Compilation from Galaxy Science Fiction Issues Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Richard Matheson Thrillers: I Am Legend, Someone is Bleeding, Ride the Nightmare, Fury on Sunday Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Please See Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Father of Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Drowning Kind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Curse of the Reaper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Begin at the End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Serial Killer’s Wife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bridesmaid: The addictive psychological thriller that everyone is talking about Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Summer House: A highly addictive psychological thriller from TOP 10 BESTSELLER Keri Beevis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best American Noir of the Century Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sideways: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Supernatural Noir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Temper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forgotten Sci-Fi Classics: A Compilation from Galaxy Science Fiction Issues Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Little Men Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Smilla's Sense of Snow: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5New Orleans Noir: The Classics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eddie and the Cruisers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Committed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razzmatazz: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At Home in the Dark Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blizzard 96 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Serial Killer’s Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Librarian: The unforgettable, completely addictive psychological thriller from bestseller Valerie Keogh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil Himself: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Girl in Seat 2A: THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Man Who Loved Dogs
4 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Long and complex,almost poetic,life,pathos,conflicts , the beauty of truth and the darkness of deceit. His best writing by far!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A fictional account of Stalin’s marginalization and eventual assassination of Leon Trotsky by Ramon Mercader del Rio, a Catalan revolutionary. The story moves from Spain to Paris, Moscow, Mexico and Cuba and covers a lot of history. Padura, best known as a novelist, says the story “falls somewhere between verifiable history and fiction.”He also manages to paint a picture – as in most of his novels – of the ugliness of a repressive society. As a Cuban still residing on the island it’s pretty impressive.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Simply brilliant. Padura's best work yet - a veritable chef d'oeuvre. History, politics, true events all intertwined in such a fashion as to make this book unputdownable. So much to think about - this book turns so many ideas on their heads. Recommend it to anyone who is interested in Soviet history (Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky - of course - Communism), Cuba, the Spanish Civil War, Mexico, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. And the translation by Anna Kushner is phenomenal - reading this book you would never know it was translated. She is seamless and her translation feel so natural!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This fictionalized account of the last years of Leon Trotsky as an exile from the Soviet Union he helped to catalyze and of his historical assassin is a fascinating read. The characters are convincingly portrayed, and it is possible to empathize with them all — to a degree. The manner in which Padura presents each of the main characters as a fluidity of multiple identities does justice to literature, history, and psychology. He depicts events with graphic clarity. While whatever degree of truth (it is tempting to put quotation marks around the word) the author attains in his attributions of feelings, thoughts, or motivations to the historical figures is unknowable, the book is deeply and broadly thought-provoking.
1 person found this helpful