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kaddictwithapen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Drug use, Murder, Addiction, Misogyny, Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Rape, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, War, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Minor: Suicide, Grief, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Classism
saracatalyst's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, War, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Abandonment, Cancer, Child death, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism
maregred's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Racism, Sexual assault, War, and Xenophobia
kelly_e's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Author: Gabriela Garcia
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: March 30 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Poetic • Heartbreaking • Powerful
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Jeanette is battling the grips of addiction, and is endlessly determined to learn more about her family's history. When on a whim Jeanette takes in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE, her mother, Carmen, is resistant. Carmen continues to wrestle with the trauma of displacement, her complicated relationship with her own mother, and raising a wayward daughter. In a quest to understand, Jeanette travels to Cuba to visit her grandmother and discovers a host of secrets from the past.
Spanning 19th century cigar factories to modern detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayal that have shaped the lives of these women.
💭 T H O U G H T S
In 2021 I decided to make my way through the GMA book club selections. Of Women and Salt was one I knew I wanted to prioritize. Maybe I was drawn to the historical aspect and/or the beautiful cover, but I knew little more than that going in. And I definitely didn't know it was so short.
What immediately struck me was Gabriela Garcia's spellbinding language. This novel is beautifully written, with so much emotion captured in the words. The non-linear structure, seeming more like a collection of short stories, was different but worked perfectly in this narrative even though it took me awhile to figure out who was who (thank goodness for the family trees at the beginning). Featuring three generation of Cuban/Cuban-American women, each fully fleshed out and equally flawed, and exploring themes of motherhood, intergenerational trauma, addiction, abuse, immigration and oppression.
I enjoyed this generational saga, and the historical interconnectedness of the characters is something I gravitate towards in books. I appreciated how the ending came full circle in a satisfying way.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• literary fiction lovers
• readers looking for an immigration story
• fans of generational sagas
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"I believe family is whoever we point to. I did not just have you. You did not simply happen to me. I chose. I saw the possibilities and I chose and I would not judge the woman who chooses differently. I decided I would be your mother and family and you would be of me."
"We are more than we think we are. There was always more."
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Drug use, Violence, Murder, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Misogyny, and Pedophilia
Minor: Cancer
overdosebookish_baker_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Violence, War, Death, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Blood, Racial slurs, Confinement, and Racism
lolasherwin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Incest, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault
savannahtrice's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, and Injury/Injury detail
theonlybaillie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Drug use, Grief, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Murder, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cursing, Gun violence, and Misogyny
Minor: Chronic illness, Child abuse, and Gaslighting
gemstone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, and Misogyny
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Blood, and Sexual assault
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide
writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
🌟🌟🌟✨
🏆 Winner of my personal Most Beautiful Book Cover Award
❤️🔥 The plot: From a cigar factory in 19th century Cuba to modern day Miami, through three generations of a Cuban family and one mother and daughter from El Salvador, Of Women and Salt explores mother-daughter relationships across time, over borders, and through the impossible hardships of addiction, upheaval, abuse, and racism.
You know when you meet someone you really like, and you hang out with them a few times and have a great time, then for no reason you can really discern it never goes anywhere? The kind of person you'll think about in a few years' time and think it's a shame you didn't get to know each other better, but also feel no great loss over? That was me with this book.
It really drew me in in the beginning. Maria Isabel was a fascinating character and I was really interested in the setting of 1866 Cuba. But then - as happens frequently throughout the novel - her narrative gets cut off as Garcia jumps to the next character. Mostly, I didn't feel like the proliferation of new characters and perspectives added much to one another on an emotional level, as Jeanette and her mother Carmen were the only ones you really spent enough time with to get to know. There were lots of points where it felt like short stories that had been stacked up together - individually, they were quite effective vignettes, but they didn't really have the strength to support a longer narrative.
One thing I did like, though, was how well Garcia demonstrated the proximity of the personal and the political. The personal crisis of Jeanette's addiction in the larger context of the opioid crisis; the ways in which border policies traumatise children and families. And while the different characters' perspectives didn't add much to each other in terms of making you feel for them, they did illuminate each woman's unique hypocrisy in a way that made them all feel more real.
I won't go into the ending except to say that it felt abrupt and a bit anticlimactic and I'm (appropriately) a little salty about it lol
❤️🔥 Read if you like short stories, mother-daughter relationships, and multi-generational narratives like Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.
🚫 Avoid if you hate short stories, or aren't able to read about addiction, sexual violence, or the immigration system right now (there are quite a few harrowing detention centre scenes)
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual violence, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Violence, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Racism and Death of parent