I remember reading this book in school and just FALLING IN LOVE. Until today my friends and I say "I´am in comala" when we are tired or feeling really bad... gosh, I have to read it again.

El poder de Pedro Páramo radica en su belleza del uso del lenguaje. Es un manejo inocente de la muerte, que nos da imágenes de nosotros mismos. Es una obra maestra

Yes! Pedro Paramo is one of the great underrated novels of the 20th Century. I read it in high school in Mexico, it is required reading much like Moby Dick, or Lord of the Flies is in the US. Also read Rulfo's collection of short stories "El Llano en Llamas" (The Burning Plain).

"ominous...dreamlike cloud of mortality." Yep that about describes most Latin American literature 😁

That a really good book, i have to say that in Mexico is a classic and we have to read it in high school, even it's kinda hard to understand and process all the symbolic narrative, i reread it and always amazed me it's amazing.

Not only personal misery, but rural misery in post-Civil war Mexico. Juan Rulfo saw these tragedies first hand and wrote extensively about it. Check out "The Burning Plain" if you liked Pedro Páramo.

Pedro Páramo by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo is one of the masterpieces of Latin American literature, it is considered the novel that inaugurated the literary subgenre of "Magical Realism in Latin America". Juan Rulfo's work finally gave me the path I was looking for to continue with my books,” Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez confessed in an interview.

7:40 Paramo is indeed a sort of no man's land. And "Pedro" being Peter, comes from the greek word for "Stone", which gives the ending to the novel a lot more weight.

You sir have a new subscriber. I think this is THE review of Pedro Paramo in english. There are other ones but they arent as elocuent and professionals as you sir. I'm from Mexico and I am very found to this book. I read it when I was doing my Social Service in the Museum of History (social service is when you help in an organism without any pay) cuz there's was nothing much to do from time to time and I read it in the library of the in museum, which was builded in the late XIX, so you can imagine I felt that I was in Comala and adding more to the experience it was in January so it was cold and all the museum was making noises of the old materials. Sorry for the bad english. Keep it up with the awesome reviews

Cliff, I recomend you "Juan, I forget I don't remember" (Del olvido al no me acuerdo), a documentary from Juan Rulfo's son about his father, it has the essence of Pedro Páramo but in the lenguage of cinema, is a real joy, greetings from Chile!

I re-read Pedro Páramo this June and I thought how strange it was your channel didn't have a review of it. Now the circle is complete! Awesome haunting book. BTW, there's a pretty awesome song called Pueblo Blanco, by catalan singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat, which describes a ghost town that's very reminescent of Comala. Strongly recommend it (and him).

I love that you're always recommending books and authors that i've NEVER heard of. Your channel is excellent Cliff. This summer I made my way through Stoner and The Tunnel. Both were just sublime, and stoner in particular was one of the most sobering reading experiences of my life. Slight tangent here, but what product do you use in your hair, I love your style!

I've just read another Mexican novel: The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela, it's about a gang of thieves that see themselves involved in the Mexican Revolution at the beginning of the xx Century. It's...Amazing. It feels like a blend of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and a political satirical novel.

One of the books that changed my life. Uno de los libros que me cambio la vida. Eternamente agradecido Juan Rulfo.

Pedro Paramo, brings the memory of that perfume of wet earth and crickets on the nights that my mother and an aunt told us stories of fright, noise of voices, dishes that break, relatives far away from spur and horse, people looking hidden treasures of the revolution

I was waiting for this. I'm here, ready to read Rulfo. Thank you as always for the inspiring review, sir.

Loved it so much. This book is magic. Thanks for the recommendation. Have read it four times.

I just read this, and I have to say it was one the most interesting books that I have read. I will definitely reread and reread again.

It would be awesome to see you review some Krasznahorkai. Susan Sontag called him “the contemporary Hungarian master of the apocalypse who inspires comparison with Gogol and Melville.” Also, two of Bela Tarr’s movies are based off Krasznahorkai’s novels. I think you would really like his work. If you want to start with something short from him to test the waters look into “The Last Wolf.”

I wish you had mentioned that comal was a town that represented purgatory. That is a big theme that heightens the importance of religion in Mexican culture. The barren hot atmosphere sets the oppressive tone of the town.

Beautifully put. What shocked me the most about this novel is how simple it is in its constituent blocks, yet how complex it is in the aggregate. [Spoiler alert] And that part where a buried Juan talks to the other townfolks buried in the graves next to him, that is a stroke of magical realism genius. [Question] Isn't the first ghost that Juan Preciado meets, Abundio, the same who killed Pedro Paramo? Basically, Juan's half-brother?

yesss! been waiting. ready with a cup of coffee to listen to this.

I adore Pedro Paramo

I remember reading Perdo Páramo a couple of years ago and feeling similarly, but I also was not in the right mind. The interesting thing though is that I then moved on to Bolaño and spent a good deal of time with him. I enjoy being able to see where my mind is via the books that I connect with at different points in my life, and I feel like this is such a good example (the silence and the noise). The language in what we consume and how this feeds into our understanding of the world, and how the world feeds into our understanding of language -a tautology, I suppose.

I'm sold, have to read this.

Solid discussion....finished reading it last night and starting to re-read again today...

Great book, great review. Complex, powerful and haunting short novel. Love it!

This pairs nicely with the Audiobook I created on Patreon kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jpypoLmS1pmqoZ8.html

Probably my favorite book of all time. Great review.

greatest channel of all time

Dude, that Gibson in the background... wow, beautiful!

I'm buddy reading this, now. I wonder if I could write a novel about Portland? Great review!

Hope your doing well have to plow through more gothic horror during October although I seem to have trouble with short story's also thanks for the McCartney recommendations.

I love this book. I am glad you reviewed it.

One of my favorite books, great review. :)

Juan Rulfo used beautiful language that bordered on poetry in Pedro Páramo. What sublime imagery lives in the phrase ‘the echo of shadows’. He painted an otherworld reality in Pedro Páramo where spirits spoke to each other; spirits spoke to the living, and the living to the dead. He shone a light into a world without gravity. A world where words carried no weight; the consequences had died with the plaintiff. My time in Sayula started me again thinking about reality in the terms of a massive series of partially intersecting subjective constructs; far from the objective universe we were taught in school. Yes, cousin. Your world and my world intersects, but only in our minds. Amazingly on this trip I discovered a secret. I discovered what appears to be the reason or idea behind las animas, the spirits. Interestingly enough the spirits are not the product of catholic syncretism nor are they necessarily the product of pre-Hispanic culture (although las animas quite probably existed then). And the spirits are not a literary creation; although it is the literary arts that keeps the tradition alive in the public conscience. No, none of these things. Las animas exist because they - the spirits - are called into existence. Let me explain. My new friend, Maria told me on Wednesday that her father sometimes spoke to his deceased father while driving, inviting ‘papa come sit on the seat beside me’. That same day she told me that she often speaks to her [deceased] grandmother and grandfather, sometimes praying asking advice, sometimes just telling them she loved them and missed them. Is any wonder that both of them have visited her in her dreams? So think about Juan Rulfo for a minute. He was the product of the same upbringing as Maria and her father. Don’t you think he was told by his mother and father to pray to God about his ancestors? Don’t you think he prayed to them when he needed advice? And that he often thought of them and told them he loved them much like Maria? Of course he did. Furthermore, I posit he heard all the stories from his mother, father, aunts and uncles and grandparents (especially the God fearing women) concerning all the rites and rituals (my words) about respect, love, honor and duty to the ancestors. So I leave you with my observation that Juan Rulfo in Pedro Páramo simply (or better said, poetically and sublimely) wrote about what he knew, what he had experienced.

excellent!!! book review!! somebody told me to read that book many times too!

Thanks for the review.

I read Pedro Paramo for the first time at my 20 y.o and same with you, I got bored. Revisited the book 4 years later and I really regret my decision to skip the story. It was brilliant. And also, a great review btw. Thanks.

yes life can be tragic and what he describes is based on Mexico's real episode in history, the "The Cristero war" also during the time Emiliano Zapata lived. It's a fiction novel that also gives a non-fiction symbolic account of peoples experiences during Mexican war times. He transports the reader to what it feels to be religious, poor, in wartime and for women "a sinner" ..... it's a very raw viceral novel that guides the reader shockingly (how did Rulfo do it?) into not another person but the soul of another person! on top one of a deceased person still mourning! it's fascinating

I'm not a reader, nor probably ever will be... but I really enjoy the enthusiasm in your reviews... and the way you bring your love of reading to your viewers... It's inspirational, emotive and visually palpable at the same time... and your tribute makes every discarded page by the author worthwhile...

any chance you could be reviewing some Jack Donovan anytime soon?

Any chance of reviewing some Philip K. Dick?

Do: Las enseñanzas de Don Juan - Carlos Castaneda

Conociendo mas del autor y de este libro.Pedro Paramo

A great review of a great book. Thank you! Would love to hear your thoughts on "The Invention of Morel" by Adolfo Bioy Casares (a friend of Borges).

You should check out 'sudden death'

didn't know you liked slow movies. in that case I would recomend you a film by Scott Barley called Sleep Has Her House. he has mentioned Bataille as one of his Main influences and is a really gorgeous pieace. another really dark one is Pedro Costa's Horse Money

This sounds alot like The Invention of Morel. Another great phantasmic Latin American novel. I think you'd like it.

It seems that the book has really got you. You seem to be enjoying the roar of silence and time in thoughts.

Borges and Rulfo were good friends, they admired each other greatly.

Why did you delete the audiobook?

mate I think you would really like Roberto Arlt. Los siete locos for example. Saludos cordiales.

Finished it last week. Definitely one of those books that the more you think about the it the more depressing it becomes.

Great video, as always. I recommend you to read, if you really enjoy magic realism and rural stories, Drums for Rancas ( Redoble por Rancas) by Manuel Scorza. You will love it! Anyway great video, so accurate and deep. Thanks!

you will like this: Three Trapped Tigers

What should I read next, Against the day by Tomas Pynchon, Underworld by Don Delillo, The Karamazov Brothers by Dostoyevsky and Infinite Jest by DFW.

Una vez Juan Rulfo adentro se abre un espacio menos certero en la cabeza.

Kathy Acker - Blood and Guts in High School

The memes/tweets we have in latin american interwebs about "i went to comala to...." are on point. If you understand spanish look them up.

Hello there! I just finished the book and I think yours is the best review I've seen, you've managed to express many things that i had inside myself rewarding this book Anyways I think it would be great for you to read EL LLANO EN LLAMAS, i liked it even more than Pedro Páramo and it's full of short and powerful stories. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Mexico City!

"Diles que no me maten!" XD

Amazing book

Aura by Carlos Fuentes is really amazing too ✌️

Gabriel García Márquez some time, please.

You should read Bestiario

As long as there is literature Juvan Rulfo and his book pedro Paramo will survive

A very good review m friend.

one of my fav tooooo! the sequence of the narrative is one of the most amazing things there and i dont think there is any need to put them in so called right time line or whatever to understand the story. The magic is to feel the story in pieces and read them as a poem.

Clifford you need to read The Blind Owl. You ll explode. Am sure you ll make a huge review out of it

Good luck

Ill give you a concern, use Colombian coffe: is arab and it tastes so good.

Splendid review of a similarly splendid book. I counter-recommend The Tin Drum by Günter Grass.

Missed ya Cliff!

By any chance could you review Haruki Murakami?

Do checkout and review "Craig Zahler" appreciated

Brother you should have remember the lines 😆

Pleasantly boring? Not sure about that one.

someone’s channel is fading awayyyyyyyyy...

The only happy ending of the story is that Pedro Paramo finally reunited with Susana in the afterlife 😊

Dude, your spoiler at the 8 min mark just made me abandon this channel

Surreal might be the word you were looking for, although, also generic.