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La carreta
1940's play follows a family of Puerto Rican "jíbaros" (rural peasants) that, in an effort to find better opportunities, end up moving to the United States.
The story is divided in three acts, each focusing on a specific location. The first act begins with the family preparing to move from the countryside to San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, in search of a "better life". The second act takes place a year later in the La Perla slum of San Juan, where the family has moved. The final act takes place yet another year apart, in The Bronx, New York, where opportunity turns to tragedy.
The story is divided in three acts, each focusing on a specific location. The first act begins with the family preparing to move from the countryside to San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, in search of a "better life". The second act takes place a year later in the La Perla slum of San Juan, where the family has moved. The final act takes place yet another year apart, in The Bronx, New York, where opportunity turns to tragedy.
First published January 1, 1969
About the author
René Marqués
25 books37 followersRenowned Puerto Rican short story writer and playwright. Member of what was known in Puerto Rico as "The Generation of the 40's", a group of intellectuals headed by Lorenzo Homar.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
June 20, 2015
Obviamente como obligación "tediosa" habia leído esta obra multiples veces para cumplir con "X" clase. Sin embargo esta fue la primera vez que la leo porque verdaderamente quise. Es una excelente obra. En esencia es un breve estudio de la diaspora puertorriqueña de los 50's, una crítica indirectamente a la industralizacion, el sueño americano y sobre todo una crítica al jíbaro mismo. Esa ilusión por el porvenir que en muchas ocasiones es solo una ilusión y nada más. Es un tanto "preachy" en ocasiones y quizá para algunos las cosas pasan muy rápido (sin tener un buen build-up emocional). Sin embargo, me la disfruté muchísimo, definitivamente es un clásico de la literatura puertorriqueña, pero, más que es un estudio La Carreta ironicamente refleja la realidad de muchos puertorriqueños actualmente.
May 10, 2017
Wow, que duro, acabando de terminar esta clásica obra puertorriqueña "La Carreta" de René Marqués y me ha hecho llorar. La triste realidad de muchos que dejan y sacrifican todo para encontrar una vida mejor y no la logran encontrar. Realidad que se puede aplicar al antes,y al ahora, y en cualquier país. Hace mucho tiempo leí este libro, en la escuela pero en realidad no lo recordaba. Es buenísimo pero también muy triste. ¡Lo recomiendo!
Wow, difficult to swallow, just finished this classic Puerto,Rican play, "La Carreta" by René Marqués and it made me cry. It's a sad reality of many where they leave and sacrifice everything to find a better life but that they are unable to find. A reality that can be applied in early days, today and/or with any country. I read this many years ago in school but barely remembered it. It is an excellent choice even though it is very sad, but highly recommend it!
Wow, difficult to swallow, just finished this classic Puerto,Rican play, "La Carreta" by René Marqués and it made me cry. It's a sad reality of many where they leave and sacrifice everything to find a better life but that they are unable to find. A reality that can be applied in early days, today and/or with any country. I read this many years ago in school but barely remembered it. It is an excellent choice even though it is very sad, but highly recommend it!
June 20, 2017
shit i'm crying. this was actually really great and i think that it's my favorite read from this school year. again, it has to do with puerto ricans, but this one adds a little bit of the so-called "american dream." i really liked the messages behind it. i love that the dialogue was written phonetically. the characters were great. i really liked it
November 10, 2014
Read this book many years ago... Loved it then, love it still. Takes place around the time of Puerto Rico's industrialization and how people struggled for a better way of life or "the american dream" so dearly sold to the "jibaros" and still is to many others.
It is a classic and it tells the story of many, hope you enjoy!
It is a classic and it tells the story of many, hope you enjoy!
July 29, 2019
Me encantaría ver la obra en vivo después de haberla leído para una clase. Se trata de la emigración de campesinos puertorriqueños a la ciudad de San Juan a causa de la industrialización del país y también las olas migratorias de puertorriqueños que fueron a vivir en Nueva York en los años 50-70. Una obra excelente que examina las consecuencias de tales cambios en la sociedad boricua.
Want to read
February 8, 2012read it in school, can't remember much, thought it was boring but then again is not a book any kid can find interesting. on the other hand i do understand why they make us read it at schools since its a classic. I'll be reading it again to see what I make of it now.
September 8, 2015
Aunque apoyo mi cultura, no voy a mentir, no me gustó. En fin, a pesar de todo el Sr. Marqués escribe muy bien y sí, entendí su punto, de tanto que lo repitió en 170 páginas, no se me va a olvidar.
March 19, 2022
My brother has repeatedly asked me over the phone: “What is the best book you’ve read about Puerto Rico?”
I know the type of answer he was searching for and felt just as disappointed as he when I tried to explain the choices. Of course, there are many books that I have enjoyed such as Enrique Laguerre’s La Llamarada, which captures the Puerto Rican landscape with that peculiar romanticism that we have since lost, and one could go on with other titles: Cuentos del Cedro by Miguel Meléndez Muñoz, El Gíbaro by Manuel A. Alonso, and La Charca by Manuel Zeno Gandía. These books are served with your rice, beans and plantains, a staple to any literature class that bears on the island.
I sift through all of these in my mind before replying to my brother: “La Carreta by René Marquez.”
“La Carreta?” my brother returned, with a trace of skepticism behind his voice.
I know he is familiar with the book, which is really a play in three acts, and I suspect that he was hoping I would give him the title to some yet undiscovered novel. I understand him, as I had sifted through the previous titles, hoping to produce such a title, and the closest I can get is to the books by the woefully overlooked Enrique Laguerre.
But I am not sorry to disappoint him with my answer, and I will always stand by it
La Carreta is quite simply the only book that conveys the spirit of my island so achingly tragic with all its idiosyncrasies, almost impossible to translate and yet I have transcribed my first fevered attempt and draft to my computer, as I wish to preserve my effort before I grow too old.
“No other book,” I explain to my brother, who is busily painting on the other side of the line, “No other book captures our people— nuestra gente.”
“Me estarás cogiendo de pendejo.”
“No really,” and I mean it.
As I completed my third reading of La Caretta, I found so much that struck those common chords all Puerto Rican families share, regardless of social class or strata. Luis, out of all the characters struck a little too close to home. Moody, lacking direction, seeking to improve life, and stirring in his own tragedy with the family he loves and wishes dearly to belong. His sense of belonging is lacking, and this is a void that eggs him on.
Juanita is refreshingly sincere, who matures from her frivolous novelas, with all the pain of a girl who is subject to the interest of men. I fell in love with her. She is simple, but easily fooled. She sees through the pretentious Protestant and does not allow herself to become the object of a lonely romantic. She emerges stronger in the end and gives the tragedy a hopeful end.
Then there is Doña Gabriela, who reminded me of my own mother. An embodiment of security and of home. Maternal, yet stronger in the absence of a father. She is the Puerto Rican embodiment of the Pieta of the Virgin Mary. She is of the old ways, and only desires happiness for her hijos, and mostly for the one who is not her own.
The play is full of regionalisms, so chock full, that indeed I understand why it has never been translated or paraphrased for the Puerto Rican diaspora or presented in a suitable text for the English world. One may as well attempt to translate English regional, expressions, from anywhere in the world, and somehow imbue inflection and all into a standard Spanish text. To translate a book, so regionally inflected, is more difficult than translating poetry, that at worst what we obtain in the end, is a mere shadow or at best a paraphrase of sorts.
I am currently in the middle of completing my Apocryphal Romances series, which blends my Puerto Rican heritage with that of my Celtic past into an apocryphal or alternate world, wherein lies an island known as Manzanas. The mirror of such a world lies somewhere between King Arthur’s resting place, Avalon, and my native Puerto Rico. As I continued to write my romances, my mind kept wandering back to La Carreta, in an old, tattered school copy printed from the year I was born—1967. The copyright goes back to 1963, the year Kennedy was shot and one year before the Beatles invaded America.
I translated or rather paraphrased the play into a prose novelette quickly, as I wanted to somehow bring this beautiful story into English, though I know I'll never publish it. I can give no higher compliment to a book other than to say that I wish to preserve my own translation of it, and to imbue my own writings with that spirit of family and the land that Marquez has so heart wrenchingly captured in his play (if I could but see a performance).
I know the type of answer he was searching for and felt just as disappointed as he when I tried to explain the choices. Of course, there are many books that I have enjoyed such as Enrique Laguerre’s La Llamarada, which captures the Puerto Rican landscape with that peculiar romanticism that we have since lost, and one could go on with other titles: Cuentos del Cedro by Miguel Meléndez Muñoz, El Gíbaro by Manuel A. Alonso, and La Charca by Manuel Zeno Gandía. These books are served with your rice, beans and plantains, a staple to any literature class that bears on the island.
I sift through all of these in my mind before replying to my brother: “La Carreta by René Marquez.”
“La Carreta?” my brother returned, with a trace of skepticism behind his voice.
I know he is familiar with the book, which is really a play in three acts, and I suspect that he was hoping I would give him the title to some yet undiscovered novel. I understand him, as I had sifted through the previous titles, hoping to produce such a title, and the closest I can get is to the books by the woefully overlooked Enrique Laguerre.
But I am not sorry to disappoint him with my answer, and I will always stand by it
La Carreta is quite simply the only book that conveys the spirit of my island so achingly tragic with all its idiosyncrasies, almost impossible to translate and yet I have transcribed my first fevered attempt and draft to my computer, as I wish to preserve my effort before I grow too old.
“No other book,” I explain to my brother, who is busily painting on the other side of the line, “No other book captures our people— nuestra gente.”
“Me estarás cogiendo de pendejo.”
“No really,” and I mean it.
As I completed my third reading of La Caretta, I found so much that struck those common chords all Puerto Rican families share, regardless of social class or strata. Luis, out of all the characters struck a little too close to home. Moody, lacking direction, seeking to improve life, and stirring in his own tragedy with the family he loves and wishes dearly to belong. His sense of belonging is lacking, and this is a void that eggs him on.
Juanita is refreshingly sincere, who matures from her frivolous novelas, with all the pain of a girl who is subject to the interest of men. I fell in love with her. She is simple, but easily fooled. She sees through the pretentious Protestant and does not allow herself to become the object of a lonely romantic. She emerges stronger in the end and gives the tragedy a hopeful end.
Then there is Doña Gabriela, who reminded me of my own mother. An embodiment of security and of home. Maternal, yet stronger in the absence of a father. She is the Puerto Rican embodiment of the Pieta of the Virgin Mary. She is of the old ways, and only desires happiness for her hijos, and mostly for the one who is not her own.
The play is full of regionalisms, so chock full, that indeed I understand why it has never been translated or paraphrased for the Puerto Rican diaspora or presented in a suitable text for the English world. One may as well attempt to translate English regional, expressions, from anywhere in the world, and somehow imbue inflection and all into a standard Spanish text. To translate a book, so regionally inflected, is more difficult than translating poetry, that at worst what we obtain in the end, is a mere shadow or at best a paraphrase of sorts.
I am currently in the middle of completing my Apocryphal Romances series, which blends my Puerto Rican heritage with that of my Celtic past into an apocryphal or alternate world, wherein lies an island known as Manzanas. The mirror of such a world lies somewhere between King Arthur’s resting place, Avalon, and my native Puerto Rico. As I continued to write my romances, my mind kept wandering back to La Carreta, in an old, tattered school copy printed from the year I was born—1967. The copyright goes back to 1963, the year Kennedy was shot and one year before the Beatles invaded America.
I translated or rather paraphrased the play into a prose novelette quickly, as I wanted to somehow bring this beautiful story into English, though I know I'll never publish it. I can give no higher compliment to a book other than to say that I wish to preserve my own translation of it, and to imbue my own writings with that spirit of family and the land that Marquez has so heart wrenchingly captured in his play (if I could but see a performance).
March 18, 2019
Nunca pensé que iba a leer La Carreta y me iba a encantar tanto.
Estoy haciendo mi práctica docente y tengo que enseñarles esta novela a mis estudiantes pero antes, tenía que leerla. Honestamente, no quería y me tomó un poco acostumbrarme a la manera en que está escrita pero una vez llegamos a la segunda estampa, me comenzó a gustar muchísimo. La tercera estampa la leí en nada porque quería saber qué iba a pasar con los personajes, me puse sentimental al final y todo. La disfruté como no pensé que iba a ser posible. Los personajes eran reales y 100% puertorriqueños, la historia era interesante y dramática sin ser exagerada, la moraleja al final me dejó pensando y apreciando más mi país y mi cultura. La recomiendo al 100% y por supuesto, pienso seguir enseñándola en mis clases.
Estoy haciendo mi práctica docente y tengo que enseñarles esta novela a mis estudiantes pero antes, tenía que leerla. Honestamente, no quería y me tomó un poco acostumbrarme a la manera en que está escrita pero una vez llegamos a la segunda estampa, me comenzó a gustar muchísimo. La tercera estampa la leí en nada porque quería saber qué iba a pasar con los personajes, me puse sentimental al final y todo. La disfruté como no pensé que iba a ser posible. Los personajes eran reales y 100% puertorriqueños, la historia era interesante y dramática sin ser exagerada, la moraleja al final me dejó pensando y apreciando más mi país y mi cultura. La recomiendo al 100% y por supuesto, pienso seguir enseñándola en mis clases.
September 28, 2024
Contiene un lenguaje auténtico.
Esta pieza de teatro trata sobre una familia puertorriqueña que abandona su aldea para tener una vida mejor, hasta mudarse hacia Nueva York para perseguir el “american dream”.
Los temas centrales de esta obra son la migración, la familia, y el hombre errante (en este caso sería Luis, el hijo mayor). Es una comedia, pero contiene un final trágico.
René Marqués optó por un lenguaje auténtico, puesto que lo escribió en puertorriqueño. Al principio me resultó algo difícil leerlo, pero leyendo en voz alta me ayudó mucho y disfruté de la lectura al máximo. Además, también aparecen anglicismos, lo que nos muestra un cambio en el habla de algunos personajes.
Para mí, es una de las mejores piezas de teatro que he leído.
Esta pieza de teatro trata sobre una familia puertorriqueña que abandona su aldea para tener una vida mejor, hasta mudarse hacia Nueva York para perseguir el “american dream”.
Los temas centrales de esta obra son la migración, la familia, y el hombre errante (en este caso sería Luis, el hijo mayor). Es una comedia, pero contiene un final trágico.
René Marqués optó por un lenguaje auténtico, puesto que lo escribió en puertorriqueño. Al principio me resultó algo difícil leerlo, pero leyendo en voz alta me ayudó mucho y disfruté de la lectura al máximo. Además, también aparecen anglicismos, lo que nos muestra un cambio en el habla de algunos personajes.
Para mí, es una de las mejores piezas de teatro que he leído.
May 9, 2018
La historia de la migración puertorriqueña aún sigue como tema del cotidiano en nuestro ambiente. Increíble como todos los personajes son tan completos que es imposible que uno no se sienta acorde. Me ha tocado de cerca.
June 21, 2020
A work of stunning genius. Simple and profound. I am waiting for a Broadway producer to bring this classic Puerto Rican storyworld to the modern stage. It would also translate beautifully to a film.
October 27, 2021
It was a pretty good read, I was kind of biased on it since I was comparing it a lot to another “jibaro” book called Yuyo, but as I got into the 2nd act it got really good and the ending is heart wrenching and leaves an impression on you, overall solid book in my opinion
January 30, 2022
Honestamente esto es tan malo me quiero matar. La forma q está escrita es tan insoportable como q ok entiendo q son puertorriqueños pero no tienes q escribir así. Solamente e leído una página y no puedo. Pero tengo q leer esto para la escuela así que no tengo remedio.
September 12, 2018
Esta porqueria de aplicación nisiquiera me deja leerla😡😡😡
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2022
I loved it. I acted as Don Chago last year and had the most fun out off any book I read last year❤️
Read
February 13, 2023school read
February 20, 2023
Nunca me había enamorado tanto una obra literaria puertorriqueña. Los sentimientos, las escenas, los personajes y su manera de hablar… todo en esta obra es perfecta.
July 8, 2023
Me gusto mucho. Tiene mucho drama pero tambien muestra mucho sobre como vivian los puertorriqueños antes y la importancia de nuestra patria.
November 17, 2023
De mis favoritos, por siempre. Si brincaste el charco y anhelas regresar, sabiendo que no eres la misma persona, esta obra es para ti. Para nojotroh.
October 13, 2024
La esencia de una familia puertorriqueña buscando un mejor porvenir y siempre encontrando las desventajas, desigualdades y desgracias.
October 16, 2024
The Story was fascinating
June 7, 2018
Que bella (y horrible) historia... he revisitado esta obra para mi clase de dirección y ha sido lo mejor que me ha pasado este mes. Recuerdo haberla visto por primera vez en Bellas Artes de Santurce y quede estupefacto, abarrotado, pero despierto. Y aún ahora, encuentro cosas nuevas en la narrativa de este señor... Chicos, esta obra es súper importante, y ahora más que esta sucediendo de nuevo en nuestra isla.
March 10, 2017
Tremenda. Te muestra como vivían y las situaciones que pasaban los jibaros puertoriqueños en sus tiempos. Lo que las mujeres pasaban por causa del machismo y las obligaciones del hombre por este. Lo más que me gustó es que los personajes se expresan como en la manera común en esos tiempos por no ir a la escuela, ya que, tenían que trabajar desde niño en el campo para poder sobrevivir. También, que las personas creían que ir a los Estados Unidos iba a resolver sus problemas económicos e iban a tener una mejor vida, algo que aún vemos, pero no es así. En fin, la recomiendo.
April 22, 2008
Tragic play that follows a Puerto Rican family from the mountains (act I) to la Perla, a slum in San Juan, (act II) to New York (act III). Each movement holds the promise of a brighter future for this family, but ends up bringing them closer to the tragic ending. The wise old grandfather delivers the message of the play: puertorriqueños would be better off if they stayed close to their land and didn't leave for the metropolis. It's written the way a Puerto Rican family from el campo might speak so "'e" instead of "de." "Má ná" for "más nada."
September 25, 2013
I read this play when I was a senior in high school. At first I thought I'd hate it with all my might. When I started reading it, I didn't expect it would catch my attention. And, to be honest, I might have liked a character or two but that was about it. When I got to the second stamp, things started to change. I found myself caught up on the play. I got to enjoy it after all. It certainly isn't one of my favorites, but I did enjoy it. It was fun and the characters were well developed. I'd like to see it on stage. Maybe it's better?
April 8, 2021
The first time I read this classic it was in high school. The first time I didn't understand the concept of the story, but I've to read it again for a project in College. I felt the reading was different and I began to like it. I read it again a few years ago to refresh my memory and I loved it. Its well written.
May 6, 2013
Cuando me asignaron leer este libro para la escuela pensaba que seria uno de los muchos aburridos que he tenido que leer. Pero desde las primeras paginas me di cuenta que no era asi y terminó gustandome. Estuvo bastante bueno.
February 13, 2008
Written in Puerto Rican, this drama is an allegory of the loss of Puerto Rican identity because of the influence of U.S. culture on the Island.
October 3, 2008
I had to read this book for a class I'm taking on Puerto Rico. It's a pretty good play, full of the usual themes of family and tragedy and change and all that. Pretty good.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews