Reviews

Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City by Alicia Yánez Cossío, Kenneth J. A. Wishnia

qqjj's review

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Bruna is the last of the family line, and 'her sisters' are mostly her older female relatives, although there are some parts that focus on various uncles as well. Full of vivid language that paints the scene, but to me read more as a series of vignettes. Sometimes it took a while to get your bearings as it jumped from focusing on one character or another, but not in a logical (to me) chronology. More than once we followed a character through their lifespan, only to return to an earlier time to focus on another, I think, but also some characters stuck around as ghosts, so it was hard to sort out what came first, last, and what was happening simultaneously in characters' lives, but sequentially in our reading. Sometimes you could ground a section in a particular time period through the text (modern, possibly being early 1970s when it was written), other parts seemed like they could have happened anytime over several centuries. I could have used a family tree to help with both chronology and all the Tias with names starting with C. 

Magical realism and ghosts, but also weird personality quirks (or mental illness) abound. Touches on themes of indigeneity, colonialism, extreme religiosity. Loved getting this peek into Ecuador.

Minor spoiler...


Bruna is a creepy little girl.


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rhodaj's review

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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