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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Six stars, easy! READ THIS BOOK! This is a beautiful mix of thriller, mystery, horror, and heart.
Mal is a badass butcher and mother to two daughters. But she is haunted by La Siguanaba after a friend’s cousin disappears. Soon after, her daughter Amaranta also goes missing. We see the lengths a mother will go to recover her child, as well as the darkness, tragedies, and secrets that can haunt a small town and the families that reside there.
The way family dynamics and secrets were explored was done so amazingly! All of these characters are so real and flawed. They do not always make model citizens and that is what’s so special. We see a mother doing whatever she needs to do to get her daughter back, regardless of the consequences. We see a young daughter who is lost in every sense of the word just trying to understand. And then we see my soul sister, Griselda - an eldest daughter trying so hard to straddle the line between being loyal to her family and listening to her heart. I identified with her so deeply.
There is also a very important discussion about colonization of these small border towns and environmental decay. I think we so easily forget how so much indigenous land was swept up and abused for monetary gain by the white ruling class. This inequity is very visible in the layout and attitude of the town.
I love how Givhan takes the legends like La Siguanaba that are truly terrifying and gives them a twist, while also calling to light that horror can just as easily come from the mundane and supernatural alike.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Initially, I was thinking about DNFing this book (yay reading challenge). I am so glad I didn't! Oh my goodness. The ending! I also appreciated how much Spanish was used in conversation/narration.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5 stars, this was a wonderfully written story of family secrets and indigenous/Latina women going missing. The mystery was strong enough to propel the plot but the characters and relationships were where the writing shone. There is a magical realism/legend element that worked really well here too.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I like the description of a telenovela meets The Twilght Zone. I enjoyed seeing how a stomach would truly react in a thriller. The ending crushed me because my own biases got me; I love when a book makes you stop and reflect.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Y'all, using genre to tackle serious topics? That's where it's at. Jennifer Givhan's latest novel, Salt Bones, blends horror and mystery to spectacular effect: for beautiful storytelling, social and political commentary, and heartfelt metaphors about community and motherhood. Givhan's story traces the intwined legacies of colonial, ecological, and gendered violence and the resultant multi-generational traumas through an investigation into missing and murdered Chicana and indigenous girls.
Malamar Veracruz is an artesanal butcher in El Valle, a small town on the shores of the Salton Sea in SoCal, where she and her family witness the slow creep of environmental disaster as years of agricultural exploitation and climate change turn the land and air toxic. Mal, her daughters, and their extended family all have distinct relationships to the place, feelings which are complicated by intergenerational violence and trauma. Mal's sister Elena disappeared when she was in high school, as did another young local woman, and when one of Mal's young coworkers goes missing, and a local leyenda of a horse-headed woman begins haunting Mal's dreams, the past and present collide.
This story is a mystery, and it is also full of supernatural elements which are blended throughout the story, creating a deeply unsettling atmosphere and setting. In particular, I appreciated how the supernatural was included so seamlessly here, in a way that didn't necessitate over-explanation but that enhanced the sense of place and its history. The mystery is masterfully constructed, the end gathering all the threads of the story to weave an image of decades of trauma.
I do want to acknowledge that an important part of this book's craft is in its use of Spanglish, English and Spanish alternating beautifully, naturally. I grew up speaking Spanish, and I adored this. But if you don't know Spanish, you will probably have to look some stuff up, and I want you to know that going in so that you can really appreciate it: it is so, so cool that Givhan was able to include it at this volume. It really is an integral part of the reading experience of this book.
Malamar Veracruz is an artesanal butcher in El Valle, a small town on the shores of the Salton Sea in SoCal, where she and her family witness the slow creep of environmental disaster as years of agricultural exploitation and climate change turn the land and air toxic. Mal, her daughters, and their extended family all have distinct relationships to the place, feelings which are complicated by intergenerational violence and trauma. Mal's sister Elena disappeared when she was in high school, as did another young local woman, and when one of Mal's young coworkers goes missing, and a local leyenda of a horse-headed woman begins haunting Mal's dreams, the past and present collide.
This story is a mystery, and it is also full of supernatural elements which are blended throughout the story, creating a deeply unsettling atmosphere and setting. In particular, I appreciated how the supernatural was included so seamlessly here, in a way that didn't necessitate over-explanation but that enhanced the sense of place and its history. The mystery is masterfully constructed, the end gathering all the threads of the story to weave an image of decades of trauma.
I do want to acknowledge that an important part of this book's craft is in its use of Spanglish, English and Spanish alternating beautifully, naturally. I grew up speaking Spanish, and I adored this. But if you don't know Spanish, you will probably have to look some stuff up, and I want you to know that going in so that you can really appreciate it: it is so, so cool that Givhan was able to include it at this volume. It really is an integral part of the reading experience of this book.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I got this book as part of my Aardvark subscription. I struggled to get into it and really feel invested in the relationships with Gus and Harlan. Not much about this felt like Persephone and Demeter. Perhaps I would have liked it more if that wasn’t part of the description. I enjoyed the elements of folklore