Review by Booklist Review
Spanish film director Almodóvar presents stories that are mostly not about Almodóvar himself but rather feature characters in which readers will see reflections of the director. In "Too Many Gender Swaps," for example, a writer-director restages Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire; in the author's Oscar-winning film, All about My Mother, the play has an essential role. "The Mirror Ceremony" portrays a mysterious Count who sleeps on the floor and uses thick face cream if he has to venture outside during the day; in the film Broken Embraces a film director invents a story about vampires. "The Last Dream" is a fragment of memoir about the death of the author's mother. Is Almodóvar telling us his life story via fiction and snippets of memoir? No, not really. It's more that he's giving us a glimpse into his mind (or perhaps his soul), not telling us his life story--that would almost be too mundane for this iconoclastic director--but rather showing us who he is and has been. Fans of Almodóvar's films should seek this out and read it carefully.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In an introduction, Spanish filmmaker Almodóvar (Patty Diphusa and Other Writings) describes this dynamic collection, which blends fiction and essays, as a "fragmented autobiography" and a "complement to my cinematographic works." The best entries have a confessional tone. These include two works of fiction--"The Visit," about a woman's encounter with an abusive priest, which formed the spine of his film Bad Education, and "Confessions of a Sex Symbol," which recounts a migraine experienced by porn star Patty Diphusa, a character who featured in Almodóvar's previous collection. In the strikingly personal title essay, he observes, "I learned much from my mother, without either of us realizing." The author's complex feelings about filmmaking form the basis for the story "Too Many Gender Swaps," about two lovers, a director and actor, and their mutually parasitic creative partnership. Not everything works here. "The Mirror Ceremony" is a stiff riff on Dracula, and "Joanna, the Beautiful Madwoman," a "Sleeping Beauty"--esque fable, is a snooze. But there are plenty of insights into Almodóvar's creative process peppered throughout ("To write, you must refuse yourself to others"). The director's fans will find much to admire in this potpourri of ideas and images. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The noted Spanish director delivers a series of contes à clef, giving his merrily transgressive takes on life a good literary workout. "This collection of stories (I call everything a story, I don't distinguish between genres) demonstrates the intimate relationship between what I write, what I film, and what I live," writes Almodóvar, the creator of films such asAll About My Mother andWomen on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. The declaration is a touch cryptic, but what follows is often strange and sometimes shocking, as with his opening story, "The Visit," in which the putative sister of a man molested by priests in boyhood confronts one of them; he accuses her of dressing like a prostitute, to which she retorts, "I don't particularly like the way you dress either." For those who know Almodóvar's films, the surprise ending won't come entirely as a surprise. In another story, an actor, León, desperate for a project, contemplates a top-to-bottom rewriting of the classicL'Amore, Roberto Rossellini's adaptation of a play by Jean Cocteau, its star the luminous Anna Magnani; in León's vision, it will become a love story between men: "The lover is bisexual....Bisexuality is the great neglected topic of the sexual revolution." It doesn't play out. Perhaps the most eccentric tale portrays an aristocratic vampire who comes calling on, again, a priest whose blood flows after self-flagellation; says the vampire, who could have sunk his teeth into the scenario but professes no interest in "vampirizing," "I am like your mystics; I like to be alone, left to follow my own devices and desires." Jesus, Barabbas, the singer Chavela, Isabella and Ferdinand, and, yes, the vampire all show up in these oddly delightful stories, no one doing quite what they're expected to do. Sometimes surreal, sometimes prurient, sometimes discomfiting--and every page worth reading. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
