Exceptional dream-like novel that tells a story across generations in Guatemala. Each chapter documents one character in the linked story, from stories of the Spanish colonial power to the natives. The actions and consequences of history are charted from one character to another; stories from one generation become legends or myths in the next, and the belief systems are intertwined with a history that is brilliantly told. Asturias weaves mythology into fiction to create a story that resonates today with environmental issues, despite being written in the 1940s. Brilliantly paced. ( )

I can't fairly rate this, so I won't try. I'm not going to try reviewing it in Spanish either, even though I read it in that language. Or, you know, tried to. This novel is written in very idiosyncratic language, full of archaisms and (I assume) indigenous words. At the back of my Kindle edition was a glossary taking up 6% of the book (i.e. 26 pages), which gives me the impression that the language isn't easy for the majority of native Spanish speakers, either. Unfortunately, there are no actual links to the glossary from where these words appear in the text, making it a massive ordeal to check them – and if I had, it'd have taken me way longer to read this than two months, I can tell you. It seems that Amazon's pulled the book from sale since I bought it two years ago (although not from my library, evidently). I really hope they pulled it to fix this.

I am really not sure how this vibrantly non-standard Spanish was translated into English, but I guess I'd like to see. My university library theoretically has an English translation of this, and I went looking for it when I was about one-tenth of the way through this and realising I just could not understand it. Evidently the uni lost it because it wasn't on the shelf. So, I struggled through… and while I guess my Spanish got some good practice, I can barely tell you anything about this book that isn't in the Wikipedia summary of it. I can tell you about some of the language use, I guess…? Like once it used the verb "parlar" and I went on a great bout of research to discover what this word was doing in Castilian (the answer: it's a borrowing from Occitan, but in Castilian refers specifically to speaking indiscreetly, or in an otherwise mischievous manner. but it's very uncommon). I don't really remember quién parlaba o porqué, though. You see? I didn't absorb much of anything.

So… while this seems like a very interesting book to me… I did not gain anything by actually reading it and I really wish the English edition hadn't been out of print for decades. If I ever get my hands on one…

Me gustó mucho. En su tema y su trato de lo mítico, me recordó mucho a Cien años de soledad, aunque Márquez es más accesible que Asturias. Al principio pensé que era una especie de libro de cuentos, pero la forma en la que todas las historias se entrelazan después es sorprendente y magistral, con muchísima naturalidad. Muy recomendado, aunque se necesita tenerle bastante paciencia. ( )

Hombres de maíz constituye una incisiva denuncia de los devastadores efectos que el capitalismo y las grandes empresas internacionales tuvieron en las costumbres, creencias ancestrales, despersonalización e inseguridad de los campesinos guatemaltecos. ( )

¿Quién se atrevería a fijar con alfileres de academia el sortilegio que suscita esta escritura prodigiosa? Luis Alberto Crespo. ( )