Status
Available
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Publication
New York : Harper & Row, 1978.
Description
Cabrera Infante's masterpiece, Three Trapped Tigers is one of the most playful books to reach the U.S. from Cuba. Filled with puns, wordplay, lists upon lists, and Sternean typography--such as the section entitled "Some Revelations," which consists of several blank pages--this novel has been praised as a more modern, sexier, funnier, Cuban Ulysses. Centering on the recollections of a man separated from both his country and his youth, Cabrera Infante creates an enchanting vision of life and the many colorful characters found in steamy Havana's pre-Castro cabaret society.
User reviews
LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
Tedious, drab, lifeless, insipid, vapid, tiresome, morose,exhausting, laborious, arduous, lacklustre, humourless and just plain boring.
The first line may give you a rough idea as to how much I enjoyed this book. In fact if I could have given it a minus score I probably would have, it gets 1 simply
The story such as it is, is little more than a group of friends recalling anecdotes about their late night jaunts around a Havana's pre-Castro nightclubs. OK I get that it is full of puns, allusions and clever word-games but it was just dull, dull,dull.
Why oh why did I not listen to that little voice that on page 10,20,50,75,100,130,200,343 said just give in because come the end of the book I was no wiser than when I first started just a lot greye
The first line may give you a rough idea as to how much I enjoyed this book. In fact if I could have given it a minus score I probably would have, it gets 1 simply
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because it is finally over and done with.The story such as it is, is little more than a group of friends recalling anecdotes about their late night jaunts around a Havana's pre-Castro nightclubs. OK I get that it is full of puns, allusions and clever word-games but it was just dull, dull,dull.
Why oh why did I not listen to that little voice that on page 10,20,50,75,100,130,200,343 said just give in because come the end of the book I was no wiser than when I first started just a lot greye
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LibraryThing member delphica
(#15 in the 2006 book challenge)
Whoa, I needed the Cliff notes for this one. I was impressed by the concept, but I figure I grasped about 30% of what was going on. This is one of those books that has about a million chapters, each from the point of view of a different character and you're left on
Grade: A+
Recommended: To people who find the entire idea of pre-Castro Havana mesmerizing (hey, I find it mesmerizing), and ... hmmm, sometimes I have this thing where in my mind, I fancy myself a tres sophisticated reader despite the fact that more often than not, I'm reading something like "The Black Stallion Returns" in my free time, and I like it, in a vaguely masochistic way, when I have to read something that is both good, and takes me down a peg at the same time. Anyone who can relate to that might enjoy this one.
Whoa, I needed the Cliff notes for this one. I was impressed by the concept, but I figure I grasped about 30% of what was going on. This is one of those books that has about a million chapters, each from the point of view of a different character and you're left on
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your own to piece together how everyone overlaps. Cabrera is writing about nightclub culture in pre-Castro Havana, always a plus. The entire book is resting on this extremely elaborate wordplay, just in case the shifting perspectives weren't enough. I read it in English, and I was constantly pondering the translation -- was it going for meaning or sound-alike puns or what exactly? Usually I don't like it when I feel very aware of the presence of a translator, but in this case, I liked it in an odd way and might send him a fan letter.Grade: A+
Recommended: To people who find the entire idea of pre-Castro Havana mesmerizing (hey, I find it mesmerizing), and ... hmmm, sometimes I have this thing where in my mind, I fancy myself a tres sophisticated reader despite the fact that more often than not, I'm reading something like "The Black Stallion Returns" in my free time, and I like it, in a vaguely masochistic way, when I have to read something that is both good, and takes me down a peg at the same time. Anyone who can relate to that might enjoy this one.
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LibraryThing member hbergander
The glittering nightlife of three youngsters in Havana shortly after Castro's revolution. The book was classified as counterrevolutionary, its author as a traitor. He was excluded from the writer's organization and had to leave Cuba.
LibraryThing member jonfaith
I was dizzy and short of breath when I finally saw this on the shelves at Twice-Told back in my Boom days. My vertigo may have been induced by the fact that I lived on espresso and spent all food money on books and cds. Those were strange times of death-trap automobiles and working two full-time
The friendship displayed in the Three Trapped Tigers was beyond moving. The erudition itself was arresting but the emotional bond within the text captured me. I have felt those sinuous bonds throughout my life but this was a confirmation, especially at such a vulnerable juncture. One's youth is so vulnerable, later it becomes simply debatable.
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jobs to remain poor but literate. The friendship displayed in the Three Trapped Tigers was beyond moving. The erudition itself was arresting but the emotional bond within the text captured me. I have felt those sinuous bonds throughout my life but this was a confirmation, especially at such a vulnerable juncture. One's youth is so vulnerable, later it becomes simply debatable.
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Awards
Language
Original publication date
1966
ISBN
0060906367 / 9780060906368
Local notes
OCLC = 814
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