Kiss of the Spider Woman

Since there are already so many reviews for this excellent book, I will limit my contribution to a few comments on the footnotes. They are not mere postmodern flourish, nor are they superfluous. They function in several ways. First, they mark a certain reception of psychoanalytic theory in Argentina. Secondly, although in the beginning they correspond to the story (in the tradition way that footnotes do -- as elaboration on a point that cannot be contained in the narrative) they begin to loose their direct correspondence as the story continues. This "unraveling" corresponds to the unraveling of the framing device (most importantly the telling of stories), which traditionally is a narrative structure that functions to hold sexual desire at bay. In other words, the footnotes lose their hold as the characters become closer, sharing more personal facets of their lives, and eventually becoming sexual. In this way the footnotes subtend the narrative in such a way as to track sexual desire and the confusing and contradictory aspects (and theories) that attend to it. I think it is essential to read the footnotes along with the narrative since they add to Puig's experimental narrative style. If they are confusing, that is the point. Unexpected desire, like love, always is.

This book was recommended to my by a very enthusiastic friend, and I must say, having finished the book, I understand why. Roughly, the story is about two men in prison: Luis Molina, the homosexual window dresser, and Valentin Arruiga Paz. That, however, only begins to describe it. It's also about movies: Molina tells the plots of movies, partially to pass the time, partially because these movies -- living these movies -- is his escape. He prefers the movies from the forties and fifties, with the real divas, short hair, lots of blood-red lipstick . . . The movies aren't just time-passers, either: they reflect the events of the book.

The style is one of the most outstanding features of the book. It is almost entirely in dialogue, with some brief spates into play-format and a couple of police reports. It varies with the setting. There are also a couple of sections in stream-of-consciousness, where one receives Molina's movies as he thinks of them, no bothering with sentences. It all contributes to a wonderful effect.

I have, however, heard, that although this is the only translation available, it isn't the best. For example, Molina refers to himself as a woman throughout the book in the Spanish version. Although this isn't as possible in English, one could have made more of an effort, to preserve the feel of the original.

So go learn Spanish (if you don't know it already) -- but read this first!

We tend to divide ourselves into groups: male, female, gay, straight, conservative, liberal... KOTSW reminds us that, underneath all of the labels, we are all human, and we can all change for the better when we want to. The simple power and beauty of this story overwhelmes me each time I re-read it. Puig created a pure microcosmos with his tale, and let it develop beautifully. I've gone through two copies in English, and my Spanish copy is in tatters. KOTSW is one of the most important stories of the latter half of the century, and should not go ignored.

This is a beautiful book, and I must say that it is much better than the movie. From watching the movie, you get the sense that Molina tells the movies only to pass the time and entertain himself, while the fact that Molina IS the movies that he relates - that he lives the movies in his mind, that they have always been an escape for him, an escape from the prison in which he always finds himself, whether physical or societal - is emphasized much more significantly in the novel.

This is a story of immediate feeling and passion, of the harshness and smallness of life, the desire for transcendence through the love of and for another, and the power that the imagination ultimately has over reality. In the end, Valentin gives in to Molina's philosophy, unable to stand the cruelty and torture that he undergoes as a jailed revolutionary. And for Molina, you feel that even though his one true experience of love was momentary, it was enough to give his life meaning.

Kiss of the Spider Woman was a book I had always wanted to read but never did. Then a friend was studying it in his university, and when he finished it, he loaned the book to me. Unfortunately the continuity of the story was interrupted when I reached the halfway point because he asked for the book back for a number of weeks (he needed it for finals). So I think the book is definitely not one of the sort you can start and then pick back up again in a few months. You need to have some concentration to be engaged in the story. It also helps to have some background and context to place the story in.
Almost the entire story takes place in a jail cell between a revolutionary, Valentin, and a homosexual window dresser, Molina, who has been put there to attempt to learn secrets from his cell mate to undermine the revolution. As the story progresses, though, a very strong bond between the two inmates develops. Molina tells stories about films he has seen in order to pass their time together, and they begin to discuss the films, then philosophy and finally life. They share a very reluctant, slow-growing friendship but eventually grow quite close, intimately close. Their friendship is unlikely but is developed with great consideration by Puig, making it believable and plausible throughout each stage. The two men learn to care about one another and show immense compassion for one another.
The movie descriptions are what bind the two together, bring out their common elements. Valentin grows sad at the end of each movie, having grown attached to the characters, much as the reader does with this book. They debate, "It can be a vice, always trying to escape from reality like that, it's like taking drugs or something. Because, listen to me, reality, I mean your reality, isn't restricted by this cell we live in." Always the idea comes again-their dreams, hopes and feelings live on outside the cell and within the cell they are still free because they cannot be oppressed there.
The story develops further through the use of simple conversations between the two men. You learn that Molina sees himself as a man and believes in traditional values: two people falling in love and marrying for a lifetime. Valentin, who is young and considers himself revolutionary, believes marriage and monogamy are wrong, bourgeois deception. Valentin exclaims, "There's no way I can live for the moment because my life is dedicated to political struggle, or, you know, political action, let's call it. Follow me? I can put up with everything in here, which is quite a lot... but it's nothing if you think about torture..."
At some point both men grow sick from the food but refuse to go to the infirmary. Although some of these moments during the mens' illnesses are rather disgusting, they are plot devices to illustrate the growing compassion and intimacy between the two men. While one is quite embarrassed at having gone to the bathroom in his trousers, the other reassures him that it is fine, he will help him clean himself. While Valentin is ill he exposes his "bourgeois inside" revealing that he is still truly in love with Marta, his one true love who left the revolution to love him. He does not really love the woman for whom he left Marta. He went with the second woman because she was the leader of their revolutionary movement.
Prisoners are allowed to have provisions brought to them by family once a week, but Molina's mother is sick and cannot come. Valentin will not tell his mother she can come because he does not want her to feel obligated.
During Valentin's illness we discover that Molina is working with the prison to get Valentin to divulge revolutionary secrets to him. It appears that Molina originally went along with that plan in order to win freedom for himself, but eventually comes to care so much for Valentin that he does not really pursue information as ardently as he could. Molina gets the prison to provide provisions like what his mother would bring in order to fool Valentin into believing his mother is better. He also lets Valentin know that he may soon be getting out of prison. During this period of Molina nursing Valentin back to health, Valentin comes to trust Molina quite deeply, and eventually the two of them physically consummate their relationship, which becomes an ongoing occurrence. ("They no longer see themselves as men or women or themselves but as people who are `out of danger'").
Finally the day of Molina's release approaches, and he has agreed to do some things on the outside for Valentin. By this time it seems clear that he does not intend to give information to the prison officials. However, of course, the prison keeps Molina under surveillance once he has been released. The last film Molina tells Valentin about parallels their own situation in a sense. The film has a prostitute who is only a prostitute in order to feed the man she loves. This is remarkably similar to Molina's "selling his soul" to give the prison information... but he only does it to keep Valentin alive and healthy.
Molina eventually asks Valentin for a kiss-the one thing they have not shared. Molina is "a spider woman that traps men in her web". Molina tells Valentin, "Valentin, you and my mom are the two people that I've loved most in the world."
And they never see one another again. Naturally a story like this has no happy ending to offer. But the book is so well written and so engaging that you will not mind wiping a few tears from your eyes.