Week 3 – Second Half of Cumandá

 

When reading the second half of Cumandá, I noticed a shift in tone and content.  The flowery, descriptive prose of the first half gave way to more action, plot and character development.  A quick look at my classmate’s blogs this week shows that others noticed a similar change between the novel’s first and second halves.  I wrote about enjoying the first ten chapters, and especially the description of the indigenous plants and landscapes as well as the tribes and people of
Ecuador.  Still, even though Mera’s writing style is still very descriptive in the latter half of the novel, it would have probably gotten tiresome if it had continued with the long passages of description without moving along the central plot, the one concerning Cumandá and Carlos.  I enjoyed reading as the plot progressed, but I was quite confident from early on that Cumandá would die before the end of the story.  I guess her death made sense for the story, and it made her character a romantic tragic heroine.  Anyways, I have enjoyed reading Cumandá, but I have to admit I am already looking forward to reading the poetry of Neruda.