Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

A Pair Built for Telemundo Paradise
June 15, 2008

Back in 2006 Colombian journalist turned author, Gustavo Bolívar Moreno, published an eye-opening novel about a nice teenage girl named Catalina who gets massive breast implants to become more attractive to the high-rolling drug dealers in her corrupt city. Well-endowed with a racy title like Sin tetas no hay paraíso (Without Breasts There Is No Paradise), this novel, about the lewd world of big money, big boobs, big hair and big power in the Colombian drug world went on to become a huge best seller in Colombia when it was first published by Ovejea Negra. It was translated into German and Italian and Random House bought the rights in 2007.

I have to admit I cringed when I first heard about the book, thinking it just a voyeuristic look into this sleazy, sexist world of men and their no-brained beauty queens. But I’ve heard from friends who have read this page turner that it’s actually a moralistic tale with a hard lesson learned and with finger-wagging social criticism.

While working as an investigative journalist in Pereira, Colombia, Bolívar Moreno met the child prostitute that his character is based on. Desperate for silicone breasts, she got an operation in exchange for sex where the doctor used a pair of used implants that led to allergic reactions and infection. The book was later made into both a film and a highly successful telenovela whose ratings even beat out Colombia’s charming ugly duckling dramedy, Betty la Fea--the soap opera that ABC spun off into Ugly Betty. Spain made its own version of Sin Tetas and on June 16^th so will Telemundo. But as Sin Senos No Hay Paraíso---a title, a little less vulgar. NBC is also at work on the English-language version which I imagine will look a bit like Baywatch. Look out for some "big" cross-promotion for the book and the series by Random House and Telemundo in the next few months.

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on June 15, 2008 | Comments (1)