Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Many of the compelling virtues as well as the dispiriting lows of Pedrero's theater writing are revealed in these one-act plays. The poetic realism that characterizes her works may occasionally lose its fluid, colloquial freshness in Zatlin's dutifully correct translation, but the unifying theme of frustration born of defective human communication is a solid binding force in each piece. The Color of August (El color de agosto, 1989), which focuses on the intense relationship of a Madrid artist and her former model, is dramatically forceful. It convincingly conveys a conflict of contemporary women struggling with issues of passion, deceit, and latent lesbianism. It offers a harvest of symbolic and psychological meanings that warrant a section (sadly neglected in this publication) devoted to critical analysis. The least successful play is The Voucher (Resguardo personal, 1988), an insipid and untidy piece of tasteless trivialization. Bridging the sublime and ridiculous is A Night Divided (La noche dividida, 1989), which brings together an improbable pair of lonely, despairing people marred by dependency and alienation. All three plays will appeal to readers and actors interested in feminist studies: Pedrero's female protagonists are agonizingly alive and committed; their male counterparts are flat, boring, and revolting. Upper-division undergraduate and up. D. R. McKay; University of Colorado at Colorado Springs