Based around the life of real former President of Uruguay (2010-15), José Mujica, DeRobertis expertly jumps back and forth between his days as a guerrilla revolutionary leader fighting his country’s brutal military takeover, to his quiet days as a former President tending his garden and being interviewed by a reporter. Mujica was imprisoned for 14 years during the regime, and it is a frog that DeRobertis invents that he speaks to/with in order to retain his sanity and survival.

The President and the Frog explores the internal life and history of a retired president of an unnamed South American country, based in large part on the first revolutionary president of Uruguay. The novel is framed by a long and meaningful interview between the president and a nordic reporter. Their slow discovery of a strong intellectual and emotional connection pulls you into their thoughtful conversation, providing the foundation for the president's musings on an aspect of his past that he has never shared. The chapters interspersed with the interview show the president's time as an incarcerated revolutionary, where his interactions with a talking frog bring the novel solidly into magical realism. Some chapters dive deeper back, sharing the stories of his life that the president shares at the frog's insistence.

I loved this book, the simplicity and weirdness, the compassion and emotion, and the run-on-sentences of someone who thinks long and hard and centers the importance of the earth, commitment to healing it, and humility.

Carolina de Robertis writes about a retired president of an unnamed country (of course I assume Uruguay,) speaking to a Norwegian reporter about his history first as an insurgent, then as a prisoner, than as the poorest president in the world (as in he lived in his own home and did his own gardening.)

It's definitely a philosophical novel and the entire time he's trying not to tell the reporter about this frog that visited him when he was imprisoned, and... changed his life. (People who were surprised this wasn't on the ToB list - this would have been our second frogman!) They also discuss concern over the direction the USA has taken and what all of it means if you are paying attention.

I loved her novel Cantoras and it's a hard one to beat, but this is good for people who would welcome a quick philosophical or political read.

After loving Cantoras so much, I will read anything Carolina De Robertis writes, so I was super excited to get my hands on this new book! The President and the Frog is different from Cantoras and The Gods of Tango in that it’s less concrete and character-driven and more and abstract and philosophy-driven. While I prefer the former, I still really enjoyed this book, mainly because De Robertis’ writing is as exquisite as ever!

I received an ARC from Knopf via NetGalley and Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very quick but thought provoking read. The premise may sound strange but it just works. It's written well with an easy flow to it, making the chapters that jump from his past, his time in the hole (imprisoned), and his interview in his garden at age 82 actually quite seamless. It's a good book to quietly ponder the meaning of life within the context of politics.

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The President and the Frog by Carolina De Robertis is a political fiction story examining justice, leadership, and how we remember things. Ms. De Robertis is a published author who wrote several international bestsellers.

The ex-President of an unnamed Latin American country is being interviewed by a European journalist. While discussing his legacy, as well as the status of democracy around the globe, the President reminisces. He especially remembers his past as a revolutionary, a prisoner, and a guerilla.

The President, remembers a strange event he had in jail, but does not want to share it. While held in solitary confinement for a long time, the only creature ever to talk back to him was… a frog.

Previously, I have enjoyed reading the works of Carolina De Robertis very much, and am always on the lookout for one of her books. I was happy to receive a copy of the book, all in all, it did not disappoint.

The President and the Frog is a short book, a novella if you will, though it has a lot to say. The interviewer in this book seem to ask questions she cares about, certainly different from other reporters. The ex-President realizes that and surprisingly wonders if he should share his deepest secret – a talking frog

The symbolism is deep in the book, Europe, Trump’s America, Latin America and post WWII Asia are all present. This is a hopeful book, even though the themes of war and suffering is at the forefront.

Ms. De Robertis takes on several political ideologies. The novel itself does not mention names, or places. The author, however, does admit that she modeled the ex-President after Jose Mujica, Uruguay’s former President.

I did appreciate that the author managed to hit several hot-button topics without preaching. In an indirect way, Ms. De Robertis sends a message without hitting the reader over the head with it. Additionally, I wondered if the choice of a magical frog was due to the politicized internet meme of Pepe the Frog, appropriated by white supremacists, or was simply a coincidence.

I enjoyed the writing very much, it’s strong and delicate at the same time. Latin America’s literary device of magical realism, which the author used in Perla as well, shows its power in storytelling.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The President and the Frog is a quirky, funny, moving, and ultimately hopeful little novel. It won’t be for everyone, but I really liked it.

For you if: You like literary fiction, historical fiction, and fables.

FULL REVIEW:

First, thank you to Knopf for the gifted copy of this book! Like many others, I read and loved Cantoras, and so I jumped at the chance to read Caronlina De Robertis’ next novel. If you’re hoping for a similar story in The President and the Frog, you might be disappointed — the stories are very different — but her gorgeous writing and piercing insight into humanity is absolutely here.

Part historical fiction, part fable, The President and the Frog is about a man whose character is a fictionalized version of José Mujica, the former president of Uruguay. As he welcomes yet another reporter into his home, he finds himself ruminating on a story he’s never, in his years as an open book, told anyone: the visits from a talking, prescient frog during his solitary confinement as a political prisoner. We flash backward and forward in time, between the frog urging him to dig deep to find The One Thing, and the reporter who’s nervous about the global ramifications of climate change and the 2016 US election. What emerges is a story that offers a grounded form of hope and optimism in the face of grim reality.

The middle felt a little slow for me, but that’s because I’m not the kind of person to seek out historical fiction for the sake of the genre, and I know very little about the political history of Uruguay. I imagine that someone with a personal connection to the country or an interest in history in general would feel much differently. Still, I loved the beginning and the end of this book enough to have really liked this book overall. De Robertis has written us a funny, quirky, moving, and memorable tale that reminds us not only what it means to not only fight for the good, but also the struggle and importance of reminding ourselves why.

Finally: De Robertis narrated her own audiobook, which I listened to as I read. I really believe this added a lot to my reading experience — her rendition of the frog, in all his smart-ass wisdom, brought him to life in a way that I can’t imagine could have happened on the page alone.

If you like literary fiction, historical fiction, and fables (what a combo!), pick this one up.



CONTENT WARNINGS:
Confinement; Rape (alluded to)

4.5 Stars

CWs: Descriptions of imprisonment and inhumane living conditions; some allusions to torture; some non-graphic allusions to rape; brief mention of mass shooting and child death

Please refer to my full video review to learn more about my thoughts on this title!

Carolina de Robertis has once again written a truly extraordinary and fascinating story that comments on the human condition and the power of community. She has a singular gift of bringing history to life and making it feel vibrant, urgent, and alive. Thematically, The President and the Frog falls in line with a lot of her other work in that it explores the politicization of human existence, living in a way that challenges societal norms, and fighting back against oppression and injustice. At the same time, it is entirely different than anything she's ever written before. It's an abstract, philosophical interrogation of hopelessness and cynicism that manages to pack quite an emotional punch in a very short amount of space.

Ultimately, I think this story (like all of de Robertis' work) is about liberation. It's a story that invites us to think about how we can liberate ourselves from political injustice, apathy, and hopelessness. In a world where so much is going wrong, where so many systems of power are corrupt and failing, where injustice persists on an institutional and global scale, where do we find our power? How do we reclaim control over the uncontrollable? How do we continue to nurture healing, hope, and good will in a world that doesn't seem to value those things? How do we strengthen our connection to our community in a world that preys on our disconnection and isolation?

Through this unique lens of magical realism, surrealism, and oral history, de Robertis weaves an unforgettable story about a character making the not-so-easy choice to resist and persist, especially in a world that often demands and expects our erasure and silence. The narrative is ultimately framed as a parable, with all the moving parts of the story being in service of the message as opposed to character development or backstory, and I think that's actually why it works.

I think some people will definitely say this story is too idealistic, unrealistic, or a romanticization of history and/or historical figures. But those aren't sticking points for me, because I think this story is shaped around the message, and the message is what ultimately moved me in the most profound way possible.

I'm being intentionally vague about the story, because I think it can only be properly understood when it's experienced firsthand. What I will say is that whether you're a long time Carolina de Robertis reader or you're new to their work, this book is absolutely worth the read in my opinion. (And so is de Robertis' backlist, for that matter.) Frankly, I think we're fortunate to be living in the same timeline as Carolina de Robertis, and I cannot wait to see what she writes next.

Once known as the Poorest President of the World, the unnamed protagonist of The President and the Frog prepares to welcome a Western journalist. She looks like a listener, someone who might finally unlock the one thing that, in untold interviews, he has not yet revealed.

Before serving as a progressive President known to champion equal rights, the man was a leader in the revolution and imprisoned by the far right regime, kept in solitary confinement over ten years. This, everyone knows. What he has kept hidden is how close he was to falling into, even welcoming, madness—until he received an unexpected visitor, an obdurate frog. Conversations with the frog about the revolution, his childhood, and his vision for a life after prison sustain him.

In this slim novel, De Robertis combines humor, compassion, and keen insight in a meditation on storytelling, leadership, and hopefulness in the face of despair.

Although the writing is as beautiful as in her last novel, Cantoras, and shares some of the same themes, it is a less of a plot-driven novel. I loved it just as much, however, and found it full of comforting wisdom, and the author’s note moved me to tears.

I encourage you to pick up this book if you are interested in Latin American fiction or enjoyed Cantoras or A Long Petal of the Sea!

Sigh. What a difficult book to review. I wish my expectations had been much lower - having absolutely LOVED Cantoras, I could not wait to dive in to The President and the Frog. Kudos to De Robertis for doing something completely different, but unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me. At times I was enthralled by the ruminations on politics and philosophy, but at other times the prose rambled and lost its thread. It almost felt like it was written by two different writers.

Full transparency: I read this book in the days leading up to and immediately following knee surgery, so my review may be colored by that experience. I will always be grateful to this book for keeping me company during this tough time - and post-op drugs may have helped me enjoy the frog portions of the narrative, lol - but ultimately I was not a fan of this book. The advice I would give other readers who loved Cantoras: go into this one pretending like it's a completely different author.

Carolina De Roberts latest book is inspired by the life of Jose Mujica, the former President of Uruguay. In this story, the unnamed 82-year-old President of an unnamed country reflects on his life. He has been called the “Poorest President in the World” choosing to live in a small, unassuming farmhouse with his wife, his garden, and his dogs. The narrative moves back and forth from the present to the time the president was imprisoned as a guerrilla and a revolutionary. During that time, a frog would visit him in his dark cell and help him understand his purpose. Its filled with brutality and justice and hope. This book will have as much importance if read twenty years from now as it deals with survival and justice

Carolina de Robertis is a beautiful writer and, as other reviewers have mentioned, this book is no exception. I appreciated the meandering, philosophical musings about politics, connectivity, and compassion, but I do wish it had been encapsulated a bit more into an actual narrative/plot. In a similar vein as Whereabouts, I still enjoyed this quite a lot though because I thought the ideas presented here were interesting.

Thank you to Carolina de Robertis and Knopf for providing me with an early e-copy of this work through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The President and the Frog comes out on August 3.

A glimmer of hope for dark times.

THE PRESIDENT AND THE FROG feels so different from CANTORAS yet some themes continue including Uruguayan politics and intersectional feminism. I love the simplicity of format as the author alternates between the President to be’s conversation with a frog as a political prisoner and a post-presidency interview with a Norwegian journalist.

What hit me the most is the discussion on climate change and ecology. Climate change doesn’t recognize borders and countries leaving large carbon footprints (such as the US) create consequences for the entire world.

And yet somehow through so much despair she brings us to a place of hope. That we can grow things on this Earth.

Thank you Knopf for the NetGalley widget.

If you are a lover of Isabel Allende and mystical works you will love this - emotional, sad - timely - a president, former rebel in prison - to cope - has deep discussions with a frog …

This book is a quiet but powerful commentary on our current political climate. The frog as a means for the president to find the strength to overcome despair and keep hope alive is one we can all use right now.

Everything Carolina De Robertis writes is beautiful, and this book is no exception. Novels that jump around in time can sometimes be difficult to follow, but that was never an issue here. The President is such a lovely character and I would have happily kept reading about his life and experiences.

This was a quirky book, that I’m glad I read even though I’m sure I didn’t fully grasp all of it. Loosely based on an historical president of Uruguay, The President and the frog alternates between his time in political prison for revolutionary activities and an interview with a journalist in his retirement.

I really enjoyed the meditations on life during his interview with foreign journalist. The scenes with in solitary confinement, in which he converses with a frog were a lot trippier and harder to follow. That said, they were also deeply philosophical and interesting in that regard.

Overall, a very different book from Cantoras in many ways. But one I enjoyed reading and greatly appreciated.

[Content warnings: incarceration, physical abuse, torture, mention of gun wound, animal injury, police brutality, mention of death, queerphobia, rape, mass shooting, blood, mention of war]

De Robertis wrote my favorite book ever, CANTORAS, and one of her other novels, THE GODS OF TANGO, is also among my top reads. Even before I flipped open the first page of THE PRESIDENT AND THE FROG, I knew their writing is going to embrace me like an old friend, as flowing as breathing, and it certainly did.

I finished the book on the 74th anniversary of 228 Incident in Taiwan with a mug of hot yerba mate on my desk. For me personally, I don’t know if there was a more fitting time to read it. There is no way to not read this as a political work. The references of global politics are evident and impossible to miss.

Told in duo timelines, we follow an unnamed ex-president (82) of an unnamed Latin American country through an interview with Norwegian reporters in the present timeline. The ex-president realized that the interviewer seemed to be different from all previous reporters, asking questions like she really cared and understood, and he wondered if he would end up sharing his deepest secrets in this interview after all. We learn more about this secret in the past timeline, his history before being a president as an imprisoned guerilla who had no one to talk to but a boisterous talking frog.

Whether or not the frog really communicated with the president is up to each reader’s interpretation. The best thing about the story is that most characters were unnamed, not the president nor the frog nor the reporter. Because there were no names for them, you could either say that their stories were already lost in history and no one remembered the names, or that the book is universal, and hence no need to have names, no need for specificity. I tend to think of it as the latter, especially with the president’s country being unnamed, too.

It is a political piece with this ex-president representing South America, “North” alluding to the US during the Tr*mp era, Norway as Europe, and the Japanese flower-teacher Mr. Takata symbolizing the whole Asia. With all the dirt in the past timeline mostly taking place in a dingy hole of a prison cell and the lush garden of the ex-president’s humble abode in the present time, the main theme is life itself. From the earth, the dirt, sprouts flowers and other plants, and in turn, hope and a better future. It is about going through rock bottom and being reborn again, still having the power to live, the will to survive, and the fight left in him. There is also an underlying theme of generational pain from war and familial love through rebirth. From what I had gathered, the whole story expresses the idea of the world having a shared history as well as a shared future.

THE PRESIDENT AND THE FROG is a book on political ideologies and idealities, a story paying tribute to Uruguayan ex-president José Mujica, whose personal journey this fictional president’s mirrored. It is almost a biography, but the fictional and fantastical elements made it more relatable for the global audience in the present day.