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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Set in Caracas, the book follows Adelaida who has just buried her mother. She is trying to survive in a country that has been struggling for a long time. Each passing day, there are less and less humane options for survival. Sprinkled with flashbacks to Adelaida’s youth, the story takes the reader along with Adelaida as she tries to make her way.
I procrastinated on this review because I didn’t like the book. I could appreciate some of the story; the flashbacks and the current situation mixed together created an intriguing juxtaposition. The bleakness of living in Caracas and the heart-wrenching knowledge that nothing is sacred are the strongest elements in the book.
The prose is a little overwrought at times. But most importantly, the narrator is really fatphobic, classist and flat-out racist, and none of these views are disputed anywhere else in the book. I was also a little confused by the political messaging of the book, but also I’m not sure I know enough to have a proper opinion on it. Let’s just say that it perplexed me.
I just didn’t enjoy the book.
Its good to read something from Venezuela, especially a novel attempting to depict the horrors of the recent years, especially because after some international attention the country fell out of the public consciousness again. Alas Sainz Borgo is nowhere as relentless as Fernanda Melchor when it comes to describing violence born out of desparation. Neither is she as poetic and mysterious as Herrera describing hell on earth. Or as atuned to a life etched in a woman´s body as Claudia Pinero in Elena Knows. I guess it cannot always be a hit, it has to be a miss sometimes.
Read for book club - hooked from the jump by the strong female protagonist and the ever present threat of death. This book also opened my eyes to the decades long political unrest in Venezuela.
This book is a very intense fictional story but it recounts the true violence and unrest in Venezuela. It was scary and sad, but I found it never really grabbed my attention fully. It was a bit confusing at times because the story flips from past to present and back seemingly at random. Maybe the author’s style just wasn’t my favorite, but I did find it hard to pay attention.
This is an artistically written book, and I’m thankful for the translator’s note at the end, which helped drive home a theme for me. The book starts out stilted, illustrating the protagonist’s trauma, but it does have plot to carry it through.
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Intense and vivid account of a woman navigating life as it falls apart amidst democratic backsliding. The ending left me conflicted but in an appropriate way, more because what I wanted to happen did not but for the written story, it was likely the best outcome. The story is well written and consistently engaging. Some parts were slower but overall, I didn't want to put the book down and want to know what happened next.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No