Bad Times in Buenos Aires
by Miranda France
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Book Summary Information
Author: Miranda FranceEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-01-07
ISBN: 0753805510
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Orion mass market paperback
Book Reviews of Bad Times in Buenos Aires
Book Review: Stumbling on the Tango Dance Floor
Summary: 4 Stars
Buenos Aires! The Latin Paris! Or so its residents like to think. To the annoyance of their South American neighbors, Argentines seem to believe that their country is a large chunk of land that split off from Europe and just happened to float down south of the equator.
The history of Argentine does not wholly undermine such a mindset. At the turn of the 20th Century, it was the 6th wealthiest country on the planet, with a potential as rich as the soil of the Pampas. Now, it is an economic basket case. What happened? And what is life in Buenos Aires like, living in the shadow of failed potential? Miranda France, an Englishwomen who spent several years in Buenos Aires in the mid-1990s, lets us know in BAD TIMES IN BUENOS AIRES, a fun and entertaining book. Though, to be honest, the title is a bit misleading. Despite the daily inconveniences and foibles of the city, there were good times to be had, as well.
Much of the book is composed of France's personal anecdotes of her own life in the Buenos Aires. She tells of the endless frustrations with poor telephone service and long lines for everything. She also provides us with a glimpse into the soul of the Argentine people. After the failed economic policies of Peronism, followed by the military dictatorships and the `Dirty War,' the city and its citizens seem enveloped in an all encompassing melancholy. The zeitgeist reminds me a great deal of that described in Orhan Pamuk's excellent book ISTANBUL, in which the residents of that metropolis live continually in the shadow of a once great, but now gone, empire.
Perhaps as a result, Buenos Aires now has about three times the psychoanalysts as New York City, the profession probably being more common than that of a shoe shine boy. Even the tango, the only dance specifically condemned by a Pope, reflects the sadness of the two dancers and the environment in which the dance came to fruition.
France captures the mood of the city and its people excellently and relays it to us entertainingly. That she is English probably makes her experiences that much more interesting, as the Argentines seem at once intrigued by the British, especially its royals, while at the same time acutely pained by the sting of having lost the Falkland War to those same Brits. If the residents of Buenos Aires are ambiguous about Europeans to begin with, France no doubt felt the ambiguity even more.
BAD TIMES IN BUENOS AIRES is not a difficult book. Its quirky title should be a clue that the book seeks to entertain as well as inform, and, for the most part, it succeeds. If you are intrigued with the more distant corners of our globe, those places where things do not necessarily always go so smoothly, then you should definitely check it out.
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