Play Audiobook Sample
The Gods of Tango: A Novel Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
From one of the leading lights of contemporary Latin American literature—a lush, lyrical, deeply moving story of a young woman whose passion for the early sounds of tango becomes a force of profound and unexpected change.
February 1913: seventeen-year-old Leda, carrying only a small trunk and her father’s cherished violin, leaves her Italian village for a new home, and a new husband, in Argentina. Arriving in Buenos Aires, she discovers that he has been killed, but she remains: living in a tenement, without friends or family, on the brink of destitution. Still, she is seduced by the music that underscores life in the city: tango, born from lower-class immigrant voices, now the illicit, scandalous dance of brothels and cabarets. Leda eventually acts on a long-held desire to master the violin, knowing that she can never play in public as a woman. She cuts off her hair, binds her breasts, and becomes “Dante,” a young man who joins a troupe of tango musicians bent on conquering the salons of high society. Now, gradually, the lines between Leda and Dante begin to blur, and feelings that she has long kept suppressed reveal themselves, jeopardizing not only her musical career, but her life.
Richly evocative of place and time, its prose suffused with the rhythms of the tango, its narrative at once resonant and gripping, this is De Robertis’s most accomplished novel yet.
Download and start listening now!
“De Robertis brings a beautiful voice to the history and intensity of the tango in this coming-of-age romance of early-twentieth-century Buenos Aires…None of the passion is lost in De Robertis’ narration. Character differentiation is almost flawless, and De Robertis’ accent adds much to the flavor of the setting and the characters. The transvestite star of the story, Leda/Dante, is well handled as she switches between genders. De Robertis’ narration is so good that, while there are technically no voicings, each character seems almost as distinct as those performed by a narrator using multiple voices.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
-
“A rousing tale of sex, violence, exhilaration, poverty, luck, and redemption…De Robertis is as ambitious and audacious as her beguiling protagonist.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“Sensuous, thoughtful, and beautifully rendered.”
— Huffington Post -
“Ambitious…De Robertis masterfully navigates the sensuous world of Buenos Aires’ rich musical heritage and writes bravely and compassionately.”
— Bustle.com -
“There is something inherently alluring about the tango…[The Gods of Tango] captures that allure in a rich feast of history and human drama…Leda/Dante’s strength of character finds a perfect home in De Robertis’ strong narrative.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Makes for a poetic read, with De Robertis penning effortlessly lyrical sentences. The novel is true to its time and manages to be engrossing and believable…Beautifully written.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“A plea to embrace ‘the bright jagged thing you really are,’ and…De Robertis captures the enormity of that struggle.”
— Kirkus Reviews
Awards
-
An Oprah Pick of 10 Titles to Pick Up Now
The Gods of Tango Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About Carolina De Robertis
Carolina de Robertis is the author of five novels, including Cantoras, winner of a Stonewall Book Award and a Reading Women Award and a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and a Lambda Literary Award; it was also selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and she has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Italy’s Rhegium Julii Prize, and numerous other honors. An author of Uruguayan origins, she teaches at San Francisco State University.