Malinche Audiobook By Laura Esquivel cover art

Malinche

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Malinche

By: Laura Esquivel
Narrated by: Maria Conchita Alonso
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When Malinalli, a member of the tribe conquered by the Aztec warriors, first meets Cortes, she, like many, believes that he is the reincarnated forefather god of her tribe. Naturally, she assumes that her task is to help Cortes destroy the Aztec empire and free her people. The two fall passionately in love, but Malinalli gradually comes to realize that Cortes' thirst for conquest is all too human. He is willing to destroy anyone, even his own men, even their own love.

Throughout Mexican history, Malinalli has been reviled for her betrayal of the Indian people. However, recent historical research has shown that her role was much more complex; she was the mediator between two cultures, Hispanic and Native American, and two languages, Spanish and Nahuatl.

Bursting with lyricism and vivid imagery, Malinche finally unveils the truth behind this legendary love affair.

©2006 Laura Esquivel (P)2006 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Romance Mexico Ancient History Latin America

Critic reviews

"Esquivel details richly imagined complications for a woman trapped between the ancient Mexicas civilization and the Spaniards." (Publishers Weekly)

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Maria Conchita Alonso is the perfect choice for the voice of Malinche.
The story has a beautiful pace to it. A halting cadence that makes you lean in to it.

Transporting

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It’s the second book I read by Laura Esquivel, this one has an intensity to it, it’s deep and every sentence seems to have several layers of meaning. Rich, touching, and poetic. A novel to savour.

Poetic and profound

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The story is engrossing. The weaving of history with the inner lives, philosophies, and cosmologies of the characters is masterful. So much rich detail! Definitely bears repeat listening.

Exquisite

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I love how the main character Malanani speaks so poetically describing her gods, nature, and culture. I love this author and she one of my favorites. If you read like water for chocolate, you will not be disappointed in this book.

Very poetic

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Esquicel delivers a powerful and human portrait of a highly mythologized figure. She also delivers some truly interesting insights into the motivation of such a character. That said there were times when the style of the story fell flat. Also some of the dialogue between the characters felt...very stilted. Perhaps something was lost in the translation

Interesting but Something Lost in Translation

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Beautiful story about the other side of history and the hardships that Native Americans went through.

Beautiful Book

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This book is one I will read over and over again. I ended the book with chills. I am inspired by this telling of Malinalli’s story.

What a beautiful story!

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This book confused me. The timeline was messy and difficult for me to follow. The writing (I read a translation) seemed kind of childish or YA like at times, which I like, but the plot and subject felt adult. So I was confused about the genre the whole time. Which usually I don’t get too bogged down with but here I was confused.

It dealt with heavy subjects such as abuse and rape but it didn’t really seem to deal with them—partly because of the jump in timeline.

The writing felt forcefully poetic sometime and unnaturally so, but again maybe something was lost in translation.

I don’t know a ton about Malinche but I know she’s controversial and I suspect some would take issue with how she or Cortez are presented.

Not my favorite.

Not my cup of tea

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