Pablo Neruda: A Passion for Life

This is a well written book covering Neruda's life en total without pulling any punches regarding his idiosyncracies. Fascinating accounts of his travels, personal life, and political exile.

The biography is excellent. All the gore and the glory of a magnificent poet, a magnificent poet. So impressed was I, that while having innumerable books by Neruda, and his posthumously published memoirs, I still went out and obtained Obras Completas through a bookstore in Madrid. I have summered on Isla Negra and had the good fortune of meeting Matilde. The author does an outstanding job of giving us the most objective portrait of Neruda, not hiding the blemishes. Neruda was always a boy with a huge heart and lots of love for most (mostly women). Quite sad that a poetic voice like this is gone. Sad also that in his politics Neruda was myopic. The radical left, the radical right, what's the difference? He could never see that point. The author brings this issue out as well with verisimilitude.

More than thirty years ago, I gave a copy of Neruda's "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair to the woman who would later become my wife. All these years later, I still read Neruda's poems aloud to her, and I am still nourished in the autumn of my own life by the rich array of poetry that this great writer produced from his adolescence to old age. Adam Feinstein produces a loving, yet unflinching, portrait of Neruda. Here is a man whose generosity and determination saved the lives of hundreds of refugees from war-torn Spain. Yet here, too, is the man who abandoned his first wife and their developmentally delayed daughter, betrayed all of his wives, and shamefully continued to embrace Stalin's legacy long after many of his peers were humbled by the recognition of Stalin's evil. What I most enjoyed about Feinstein's biography, however, is the way in which Neruda's poetry is charted in the context of his adult developmental. Learning about the broad changes in Neruda's path through his life, the failed marriages, the political career, the aging poet, helps place all his works in a context that enriches the reader's experience of the poetry. In the end, however, we are left with a mystery: the biographical details of Neruda's life cannot explain the greatness of his poetry. This childlike, vain, and self-absorbed man was also a stunning genius, whose passion for life will illuminate the lives of others for centuries.

Reviewer: A reader from London, UK United Kingdom

Not many writers lead such a colourful life as Neruda. The Chilean Nobel prize winner was not only a diplomat, a world class poet, and a lover of many women--- he had three wives and many mistresses---he was also a supporter of the Republican cause in Spain, responsible for rescuing many of Franco's enemies, and a staunch left-winger who wanted to write for the many rather than the few . . He was forced to flee for his life over the Andes on a donkey when the Chilean government became a tyranny, and was close to Allende at the time of his death. Feinstein tells the story judiciously; he honestly addresses the poet's continuing support for Communism, even after Stalin's crimes were widely known , and does not attempt to palliate his many infidelities. What comes through is Neruda's passion for life, and Feinstein's passion for his subject. A riveting read.

Pablo Neruda, of whom Garcia` marquez has called"the greatest poet of the 20th century-in any language",has never had a full length biography in english.Until now.the man Neruda that Mr.Feinstein portrays is an often selfish,self absorbed genuis,who invented his own myth and ferociously hung on to it until his death,a couple of weeks after the murderous coup that took the life and lifeblood of his beloved Chile,and installed the US puppet regime of the neo-fascist Augusto pinochet. In his memoirs, Neruda never mentions his abandonment of his wife and handicapped child, not her subsequent death during WWII.His long held Stalinist beliefs,which in his memoirs he speaks of ruefully, are fully exposed here by Mr feinstein, though he seems to lack any historical prespective on this issue.His philandering is also brought to light[ad nauseum,actually} before meeting Matilde,his third wife[and by most accounts, the second love of his life,after his country} People who only have been introcduced to Neruda through the wonderful film Il Postino might be shocked at the great poets behaviour.[BTW,the novel Il Postino,a novella,actually is well worth reading,and is far darker then the film]All of the greats of the 20th century are here: Garcia Lorca,Sartre,Picasso,Nazim Hikmet,Mistral,Borges`.Nerudas life was often like a movie,surreal and silly. What Mr feinstein doesnt grasp,despite his copius research, is how such a bob vivant,political radical,philandereer inveterate collector,could have written like a slumming angel,for if anything,Gracia Marquez is quite correct.Canto general is a classic on the same level as Leaves of Grass[whose author was also deeply flawed,no?}Residence on earth,20 ,love poems and a song of despair[written as a very young man, which is covered very well in this book]The touching,brilliant 100 love songs for his wife[then mistress] matilde is not fully explored as i would have liked. I am biased,i admit.I read neruda every day,we have a woodcut of him over our kitchen table, my husband wears a wrist watch bearing Nerudas image,so we obviously love him. I found watching his satue crumble painful, and another lesson in hero worship. This book, successfully portrays Pablo Neruda in a;;his glory [and not so glorious ways] and gives, at last a full blooded portrait of this great treasure of the americas. Highly Recommedded