The Orange Tree

By: Carlos Fuentes, Alfred MacAdam - translator

Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes

In the five novellas that comprise The Orange Tree, Carlos Fuentes continues the passionate and imaginative reconstruction of past and present history that has distinguished Terra Nostra and The Campaign. From the story of Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean, to the fate of Hernan Cortes's two sons, to the destruction of the Spanish city of Numantia by the Romans and the annihilation of Hollywood by Acapulco, Fuentues couples the epic grandeur of the spiritual and the historical with the many pleasures of the flesh. In The Orange Tree, he remarks, "I gather together not only all my most immediate sensual pleasures - I see, touch, peel, bite, swallow - but also the most primordial sensations: my mother, wet nurses, breasts, the sphere, the world, the egg." The result is a sensitive exploration of cultural conflict that is also a feast for the senses.

©1994 Carlos Fuentes (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

A man’s perspective….

I enjoyed this story. Hearing about the Orange Tree in each of the storylines past/present was interesting. Also the cultural conflict kept me interested hearing from a man’s perspective…

The Sacred and the Profane

5 novellas of historical fiction, fantasy, & Hispanic identity; the first about Cortez's rebellious interpreter; the second, the sons of Cortez; then the Roman siege of Numantia; the death of a 1940s B actor; and Christopher Columbus signing the New World over to a mega-corp.
Fuentes was part of the Latin literary boom with Cortazar, Marquez, and Llosa. I love Fuentes approach, vacillating between the ugly and poetic, vulgar and divine.

An Odyssey

An exceptionally beautiful tale of hope and discovery. A true work of art. A must read.