Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Utrecht IJzer cop. 2005
User reviews
LibraryThing member tootstorm
Wha' the hell exactly is this?
It wasn't so long ago I was browsing a nearby used book shop, and this title, this tight little 120-page spine, caught my attention, and here I plucked it out and stared at this pretty wicked-looking cover: a simple drawing of a man sitting on a donkey, looking dang
Platero and I: An Andalusian Elegy is a short series of extraordinarily tiny vignettes, most of which are less than a page long, and accompanied by a simple drawing, of life in a small village located in southern Spain named Moguer around from 1904-1911 if I'm not mistaken. It held my attention for a whole of 20 minutes where I was thinking "Woah, mannnn, this is some pretty rad stuff...so darned goofy, lookit that donkey go prance about!" before I was bored, and quickly wanted it to end, which it did, quickly. There is no story for the reader to follow, really...just Juan chilling with his Platero, watching kids play in the village, or throw rocks at a dead horse who's just trying to relax, maybe decay a little, watching the excitement spring up when the toreadors come to fight, recalling from memory his friends and neighbors from Moguer, et cetera.
Apparently, this book is filled with sharp social commentary...none of which I got, most likely because I didn't grow up in Spain circa 1910 or ever study its history.
I am being too negative. The writing here is genuinely good, very poetic, sometimes sublime, but I only ever felt "what's the point?" and not at all surprised everything Jiménez has written is now out-of-print.
50%, baby.
[81 copies at time of review...]
It wasn't so long ago I was browsing a nearby used book shop, and this title, this tight little 120-page spine, caught my attention, and here I plucked it out and stared at this pretty wicked-looking cover: a simple drawing of a man sitting on a donkey, looking dang
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depressed, and inside many a drawing, nearly one for every page...of a donkey, a person, a flower, a dead horse among scattered rocks, an advertisement for a bull fight...All these things aroused my interest, and glancing at the 38-cent price, and the poetic language within, I took this mother ****er home with me. Platero and I: An Andalusian Elegy is a short series of extraordinarily tiny vignettes, most of which are less than a page long, and accompanied by a simple drawing, of life in a small village located in southern Spain named Moguer around from 1904-1911 if I'm not mistaken. It held my attention for a whole of 20 minutes where I was thinking "Woah, mannnn, this is some pretty rad stuff...so darned goofy, lookit that donkey go prance about!" before I was bored, and quickly wanted it to end, which it did, quickly. There is no story for the reader to follow, really...just Juan chilling with his Platero, watching kids play in the village, or throw rocks at a dead horse who's just trying to relax, maybe decay a little, watching the excitement spring up when the toreadors come to fight, recalling from memory his friends and neighbors from Moguer, et cetera.
Apparently, this book is filled with sharp social commentary...none of which I got, most likely because I didn't grow up in Spain circa 1910 or ever study its history.
I am being too negative. The writing here is genuinely good, very poetic, sometimes sublime, but I only ever felt "what's the point?" and not at all surprised everything Jiménez has written is now out-of-print.
50%, baby.
[81 copies at time of review...]
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LibraryThing member baswood
A magical book that transports the reader, through the eyes of a poet, to a small town in Southern Andalucía (Spain). Jiminez writes about a life shared with his best friend: Platero a young donkey. It is a simple life in tune with nature as the two friends go about their daily business and
The little stories take the form of vignettes rarely more than 300 words each and although in prose form have the feel of a sonnet. Typically they are three or four paragraphs long with the first paragraph setting the scene: introducing the main character, which might be human, or an animal or the countryside and usually referring to Platero. The second paragraph enhances the subject and tells the story; there is usually a change of direction in the third paragraph as Jiminez concludes his story with some more thoughts of his own or imagines how Platero might be feeling. Some of the stories are simple, perhaps with some humour, others can delve deeper into the imagination, with a note of sadness that lingers long after the story has finished, while some evoke a feeling of overwhelming well being. The reader travels with Jiminez and Platero feeling the colours, feeling the warmth of their friendship and feeling the world around them.
Most of the stories were published in 1914 and so describe a timeless existence before the inroads of the 20th century. There is a peace and simplicity about their lives that reaches out and makes one yearn to be part of it, least it does for me when I am at my most wistful. I am going to keep this book on my reading desk and dip into these stories when I want to revel in the special atmosphere of Jiminez prose: food for the soul perhaps, food for our lives that miss so much of what the poet tells us. A four star read.
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Jiminez tells his little stories, which are imbued with colour, with the changing seasons and the characters in the town and the surrounding countryside.The little stories take the form of vignettes rarely more than 300 words each and although in prose form have the feel of a sonnet. Typically they are three or four paragraphs long with the first paragraph setting the scene: introducing the main character, which might be human, or an animal or the countryside and usually referring to Platero. The second paragraph enhances the subject and tells the story; there is usually a change of direction in the third paragraph as Jiminez concludes his story with some more thoughts of his own or imagines how Platero might be feeling. Some of the stories are simple, perhaps with some humour, others can delve deeper into the imagination, with a note of sadness that lingers long after the story has finished, while some evoke a feeling of overwhelming well being. The reader travels with Jiminez and Platero feeling the colours, feeling the warmth of their friendship and feeling the world around them.
Most of the stories were published in 1914 and so describe a timeless existence before the inroads of the 20th century. There is a peace and simplicity about their lives that reaches out and makes one yearn to be part of it, least it does for me when I am at my most wistful. I am going to keep this book on my reading desk and dip into these stories when I want to revel in the special atmosphere of Jiminez prose: food for the soul perhaps, food for our lives that miss so much of what the poet tells us. A four star read.
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LibraryThing member hbergander
This book should be compulsory reading in Catalonia. For to learn, what contemplation in the best Mediterranean sense means and is good for. And the book teaches more: A certain generosity, which, a hundred years ago has been and still is nowadays, in spite of the common poorness, in Andalusia a
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matter of course. At the other end of Spain, in the rich Catalonia, generosity is something like a foreign word. Show Less
LibraryThing member sometimeunderwater
Simple and warm. Like you Platero!
LibraryThing member ltbxf4
Sweet, poignant. Lovely brief essays, impressionistic, proses poems. I didn't like it initially, but persevered and came to like it very much quite quickly.
Subjects
Awards
IBBY Honour Book (1996)
Américas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature (Commended Title — 1994)
CCBC Choices (1994)
Language
Original language
Spanish
Original publication date
1914
1956 (English: Roberts)
ISBN
9074328660 / 9789074328661