impressive story told through the dialogue of two prisoners in a jail in an unnamed latin american country. a gay window dresser entertains his revolutionary cellmate by narrating movies he has seen, and over time an intimacy develops between them. interspersed are theory-laden footnotes about the origins of homosexuality. due to the format, a little tough to get into at first and even understand what’s going on, but it definitely rewards in the end. very smart.
i haven’t seen the movie. actually i’d read something that said Puig wasn’t really happy with it because it was too “conservative,” so after reading the book i wasn’t very inclined to search it out. you have swayed me to add it to my list.
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did you see the movie? i can’t remember how true to the book it was, since it’s been a while, but i enjoyed it–raul julia and william hurt are damn fine actors (were, in julia’s case).