La mujer infinita. Una mirada desde el presente a la intensa vida de Tina Modotti. (The Infinite Woman

Novelist and screenwriter Valenzuela creates a novel about one of the most fascinating and charismatic figures of the 20th century: Tina Modotti, actress, photographer, and member of Diego Rivera's Communist coterie in 1920s Mexico. Initially indifferent to the task of writing a screenplay about Modotti, Pablo Cárdenas is visited by her ghost, who narrates the events surrounding her brief, tragic affair with Cuban dissident Julio Mella (most of which seems to have occurred in bed). Modotti's ghost is less muse than possessive spirit whose intensity completely overwhelms Pablo and forces him into madness. Each chapter of this novel features a dizzying maelstrom of scenes that toggle between the present and 1929. A segment of the screenplay cuts to Eva, the actress playing Modotti in Pablo's film, then to Modotti's life, then to Pablo and/or his boyfriend Tom. The result is a plot-driven page-turner that holds the reader rapt, which fortunately encourages glossing over the superfluous digressions (the entire plotline involving Eva), parallels (Gay Pride and Community rally), and numerous repetitions. This novel may provoke interest in Modotti for a new generation and even prompt circulation of Poniatowka's classic, Tinísima. Recommended for bookstores and public libraries.—Carolyn Kost, Stevenson Sch. Lib., Pebble Beach, CA