Sultry Moon

by Mempo Giardinelli

Book Overview

This dark novel narrates a history of obsession with sex and crime in Argentina in 1977 under a dictatorship where anti-subversive fighting and torture are the order of the day. From the first pages... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0935480927
• ISBN13: 9780935480924
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Latin American Literary Review Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Compulsively readable tale of crime and punishment

I love short books that pack a wallop, pull you in and just refuse to let you go, demand that you read them at one sitting - I think of "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thornton Wilder, "Night Flight" by Antione de Saint Exupery, and "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink. I have now added "Sultry Moon" by the Argentine writer Mempo Giardinelli to this exclusive club. This is a gripping tale of one man's fascination with crime - a fascination which leads him to commit several crimes during three days under the hot "sultry moon" during December 1977, in the early days of the Argentine military dictatorship, which is a background to this story but not its central focus. Ramiro, the central figure of the story, is drawn into a vortex of crime, conscience and punishment as ineluctably as was Raskolnikov in Dostoyevksy's "Crime and Punishment". Looking for something a little bit off the beaten track to grab you one rainy (or even sunny) afternoon? Go read this extraodinary book. I think you may be repulsed but you will definitely be fascinated.

If only every book was this good

It's no wonder this short little novel stood in the Argentine bestsellers list for about 27 WEEKS. I too read this book in one sitting, but not because of its lenght,(even though it helps)but but because its so good and so well written that I literaly went out and bought a copy for each of my friends for christmas last year and each one stated that it was the best gift they had recieved. The cover might be a bit tacky but hey never judge a book by its cover. there are so many things to say about this novel that there isn't enough room to write about it. All I have to say is buy it, it's worth every penny.

One of the best Latin American novels of our times.

No wonder the novel won the price for best novel in 1983 in Mexico....it is superbly well written, misterious, erotic and captivating.

Wonderful...more Giardinelli translations, please!

Read this in one sitting...Wonderful plot and great characters. This is what finding new authors is all about.

wonderful introduction to a marvelous argentine writer

i couldnt put this book down once i began to read it . it is part suspense novel part psychological examination of argentine exile . it is a heart breaking book , touching to those who cannot live in their countries and have and araceli folowing them everywhere