Betrayed By Rita Hayworth

Btrayed By Rita Hayworth (1968) is manuel Puig's celebrated first novel that was inspiration for Wong Kar-wai's masterpiece In The Mood For Love. In fact, I started on my reading quest of novels by Puig due to Wong's endorsement of them and his constant referrals of them in relation to his own oeuvre of films. However, this book like the other I have read The Buenos Aires Affair and Heartbreak Tango is a complex pastiche of un-objective fragmented narratives often told in stream of consciousness combined with other artifacts like letters, essays, one sided dialogues, and other novel conventions. Wong who employs a similar magpie approach to film making was drawn to this style of story telling, which does seem fresh and inventive, but also confusing and obscure at times. It focuses mainly on a young sensitive boy, Toto, in a provincial Argentinian town. It is a depiction of the boredom, petty gossip, and limited choices of the townsfolk of the late 30s and early 40s. Movies provide a choice for escape outside the two typical modes: the church and the state.