Reviews for The transformations of Araucania from Valdivia's letters to Vivar's chronicle

The average rating for The transformations of Araucania from Valdivia's letters to Vivar's chronicle based on 23 reviews is 4.3478260869565 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-12-28 00:00:00 James Maddox I found this book thanks to Douglas Fairbanks, whose book Laugh and Live I read recently. He wrote that keeping the mind active as well as the body was important, and mentioned a few books he thought of as worthwhile. Theodore Roosevelt's four volume work The Winning of the West was a favorite on that list, and when I went to see if it was available at Gutenberg (yes, and the four volumes are now on my Someday List) I noticed this title about Brazil. It appealed to me because I needed a book set

Review # 2 was written on 2017-03-09 00:00:00 Colin Bell Born in 1915 to great wealth in Seattle, Moritz Thomsen died miserably poor in the tropics, of cholera, in 1991. He served as a bombardier in WWII, farmed in California, and at age 44 gave it all up to join the recently-formed Peace Corps. His book about that experience, Living Poor, is ranked as one of the best Peace Corps memoirs ever written. When his service was over, he chose to remain. He started a farm with an Ecuadorian friend, but that too ended in defeat. By then Thomsen was 63, and hi

Review # 3 was written on 2013-01-12 00:00:00 Pat McCaffrey Travelling. Travelling is the saddest pleasure. This is one of the joys of reading: that one day, after reading a lot of stuff of similar genre, you�ll have the luck of stumbling upon one which presents views you agree with, or those which had been at the back of your mind for a long time but which you�ve failed to articulate with the clarity and color you feel it needs to be presented to be truly appreciated. The author was an American, born to a rich family, his father having inherited what was

Review # 4 was written on 2017-06-22 00:00:00 Ranada Grossman This is a book about a journey on two levels, it is based in reality travelling through Brazil, but the bulk of the journey is done in Moritz's head as he relives important moments of his past. Moritz has been kicked off his farm by his partner Ramon due to Moritz becoming ill, now he is in exile in Quito with nothing to do, so he decides it is time to travel down/up the amazon, something he has always wanted to do. That is all we are told, you feel sorry for this old man, and disgusted with the

Review # 5 was written on 2019-06-21 00:00:00 Jae Blog Mortiz had not really had the easiest of upbringings, he had a tumultuous relationship with his tyrannical and extremely wealthy father, he saw combat in World War Two serving as a bombardier, farmed in California and at the age of 44 volunteered to join the Peace Corps and went to Ecuador where he was an agricultural expert in the small fishing town of Green River. He left the Corps after four years but was to remain in the country for 35 years. He bought a farm with a man called Ramon which was

Review # 6 was written on 2020-05-24 00:00:00 Delcine Johnson Although he died in 1991, Moritz Thomsen is a new writer to me and I've swiftly devoured all of his books since being recommended to him. "The Saddest Pleasure" just might be my favourite. Like all good travel books, it's a mix of genres that include memoir, history, anthropology, a little bit of homespun philosophy and a wealth of references to other fine writers all presented through the prism of the writer's world view. Thomsen is a misanthrope much like my other favourite travel writer, Paul

Review # 7 was written on 2015-12-24 00:00:00 Tracie Duskin I must have bought this book secondhand in London years ago, and found it unread in a box of books. I was immediately interested because of the coincidence that I'm also 63 (like Thomsen when he wrote it) and I also own and live on a farm in Latin America. At first, however, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy his very reflective journey through Brazil, but I found it more and more interesting as he reflected on his experiences in L America, his relationaships with the community around his farm a

Review # 8 was written on 2011-05-01 00:00:00 Green Squall **** 2015 January 02 **** Just finished this book for the second time. Still just as good nearly three years after I read it the first time. I can still echo the same review as before. Do I have anything to add? Maybe a touch about the need to have a depth of introspection in one's life. Travel can assist, especially when done as Moritz Thomsen did here, which is to say, alone. The need for solitude, for being out of one's comfort zone, in order to question that which has always been taken for gr

Review # 9 was written on 2011-10-26 00:00:00 Morgana Spake Stop it, I love it ! I had heard neither of book nor author when I unexpectedly received this book from a friend. She mentioned its being a book which presented a strong sense of place. It is indeed that, but rather more as well. Moritz Thomsen lived in Ecuador for a number of years, but then, for various reasons, launched on an extended voyage around Brazil, from Rio up the coast, around to B�lem, and then along the Amazon to Manaus. The real voyage, however, was along the twisted, frazzled bywa

Review # 10 was written on 2018-02-12 00:00:00 santiago borbon After being thrown off his small farm on the Rioverde located in northern Ecuador after years of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer and then as a local farmer by his local partner Ramon, the 63-year-old author, embarks on a desperate journey on a second river�this one is in Brazil. The trek proves to be a time of reckoning, assessing and reflecting on his life, which he perceived was coming to an end. This book would be the third of the author�s four literary masterpieces. The author had chosen t

Review # 11 was written on 2018-05-14 00:00:00 john Williams I used to favor Farm on the River of Emeralds, but now I think this is the better book. Thomsen tends to fall in the love him or hate him category of writers, and I straddle that line. I'm one of those people who feel he could have use some heavy editing. Still, at his best, he's fantastic. And this book -- an old expat's memoir/travel narrative -- starts and finishes strong. Also his best title, I think. I met Moritz in Ecuador a year before he died. This book had just come out and he asked me

Review # 12 was written on 2008-11-24 00:00:00 Spiros Bozikis Probably my most favorite book from a few years ago. Thomsen writes this one looking back on his years in South America. I can't capture it here, but his honesty and insights and ability to write are as good as any I've read. His three other books, "Living Poor," about his Peace Corps years, "Farm on the River Emerald," his attempt to live in Ecuador after his Peace Corps years, and "My Two Wars," his struggles with his father and WWII are all favorites of mine too.

Review # 13 was written on 2007-12-01 00:00:00 Paul Dehnert Loved Thomsen's brutal honesty about himself and a life trying to make a better world, recounted in an original travel book.

Review # 14 was written on 2019-07-03 00:00:00 James Reid Moritz is a sad and eloquent geezer spending his twilight years trying to make sense of his mid-life crisis that at age 45 made him join the Peace Corps in its infancy in the 1960s and remain in Ecuador as a 'peasant' farmer in an effort to shed his bourgeois past, which ultimately proved futile. His insights are keen but his outlook is bleak and depressing as he travels along coastal Brazil and eventually up the Amazon, all the while contemplating that other river upon which he used to live and

Review # 15 was written on 2011-12-16 00:00:00 Carlo Spoon He's somewhere between utterly realistic and cynical. My favorite thought was I hope we don't have free will otherwise, we're all nuts for the things we do. He believes the point of it all is doing something so well, no matter what it is, you lose yourself in it whether it's dancing, singing, or dropping bombs. A very good read on history, culture, and human nature.

Review # 16 was written on 2007-06-14 00:00:00 Juan Montalvo This book was different from his other book, Living Poor. I liked it a lot better and thought it was written better than the other.I think it was especially timely for me to read since it was at the end of my time in Ecuador and the author is wrapping up his time in Ecuador. It is a very reflective work.

Review # 17 was written on 2007-06-28 00:00:00 Mark Long there is so much beauty and sadness in this book. seeing the world through thomsen's eyes is a gift that i will never forget. the insight he provides into growing old, friendship, family, nature and community among many other things, is always spot-on, and at times illuminating. this is by far one of my favorite books.

Review # 18 was written on 2007-11-05 00:00:00 Shannon Moeser Sadly it took a monumental effort for me to get thru this book. I found it dark and depressing. Normally I would put it down, but I kept reading as it was a book club selection. I hope his other books are a little brighter and happier.

Review # 19 was written on 2015-11-26 00:00:00 Nicole Walley A This book is really excellent; about Thomsen's journeys around Brazil late in his life, including river trips. At times, the flashbacks can get a bit confusing, but very similar to Theroux. I love him and wish the libraries had his other titles!

Review # 20 was written on 2008-05-04 00:00:00 Robert Gordon I LOVED this book. Moritz Thomsen was a very wise and funny man. And if you have ever lived in Latin America, as a north-american, you will recognize and sympathize with his observations. Note that his accounts of his family history in the US are also wonderfully funny.

Review # 21 was written on 2013-12-07 00:00:00 Jaime ortiz definitely spotty and rambling, but some of his assessments as one of the first batch of Peace Corps volunteers in the 1970s are spot-on. Interesting as a travel read and as an analysis of the complicated politics between Latin America and the U.S.

Review # 22 was written on 2009-12-08 00:00:00 Renee Ross A great writer and for those who have been to Ecuador, you'll love it even more...

Review # 23 was written on 2008-10-14 00:00:00 Malcolm Turner NO