Product Description

In 1993 Miranda France moved to South America, drawn to Buenos Aires as the intellectual hub of the continent, with its wealth of writers and its romantic, passionate and tragic history. She found that is was all these things, but it was also a terrible place to live. The inhabitants of Buenos Aires are famously unhappy. All over South America they are known for their arrogance, their fixation of Europe and their moodiness. Very soon, Miranda France encounters' bronca' - the simmering and barely controllable rage that is a staple feature of life in the Argentinian capital. She finds that 'bronca' has deep roots: the violence and racism of the first European settlers; the dictatorships, especially in the 1970s when so many 'disappeared'; even Evita Peron, for there was no rage to rival Evita's.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61435 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

About the Author
Miranda France was born in 1966 and was brought up in East Anglia and Sussex. She read Spainsh and Latin American Studies at Edinburgh University, which included a year in Madrid. In the early 1990s she lived in Brazil and Edinburgh and then Buenos Aires, and in 1996 she won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize for a piece about her time in Buenos Aires. Her first book, Bad Times in Buenos Aires, was published in 1998. She lives with her husband and young son in London

Customer Reviews

Lively, amusing and moving account of life in Buenos Aires
Miranda France's first book is a neat, informative and sometimes amusing introduction to Buenos Aires: its history, culture and people. Whilst I started off with only a general curiosity for Argentina, my interest has been much awakened by the author's vivid and thoroughly researched accounts. France takes the reader through her experiences in Buenos Aires by focusing on a series of different aspects of the city and its culture: Evita, the Falklands, the 'Dirty War' and the preoccupation with self analysis provide several examples. This approach is made interesting through the way France depicts the time she spent there, shown through meetings with many different people. These range from neighbours, to workers in cafes and stalls, to more prominent members of Buenos Aires society - with a chilling revelation made by one person that she talks to featured towards the end of the book.

However, what comes across more than anything is the sadness which seems so deeply built into Buenos Aires: the 'disappeared', the story of Evita, the origins of tango, and Argentine 'bronca' all reflect a (seemingly) unsettled culture which, ultimately, France herself becomes caught up in. In the end, it is this that wills her back home, though she must now look back with much affection.

This is a superb first picture of a city and country many of us do not know much about. 'Bad Times in Buenos Aires' is a treat to read, and despite what the title suggests, may even encourage one or two readers to go and see (and experience) it for themselves Definitely a recommended book for anyone who enjoys good travel writing.

Life in Buenos Aires
A vivid evocation of life today in Buenos Aires as experienced by an expatriate English woman. Ms France is especially good at describing the petty frustrations of life in the city where nothing ever works first time and everything takes three times longer than it should.

Ms France obviously loves the city and its people but finds herself being unable to bear living there any longer. As someone who has worked in Buenos Aires as an expatriate, I can agree whole heartedly with this and the rest of the book.

best guide
I read this on the plane going over to BA and it couldn't have been a better introduction. MF writes beautifully and poignantly about a city she cares and worries about. The beleaguered history of Argentina is set against contemporary anecdote and experience and thanks to her I started off at a distinct advantage when I explored the city and later the country.