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my_plant_library's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault and Death
Minor: Racism and Cancer
jayisreading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Nonlinear narratives can be incredible with the right kind of story, and Of Women and Salt would have benefited from having a linear one. It wasn’t particularly difficult to follow what was happening, but there was too drastic of a disconnect between chapters that made it hard for me to get immersed. It was harder to feel any emotional connection to what was happening or with the characters, and the few times I did, the moment disappeared too quickly as the story moved to something entirely different.
That said, Garcia captures ideas and emotions in such a lyrical way, from the tragic to the beautiful, and particularly the bittersweet. There were a lot of unique descriptions that helped bring together concepts often connected to geography in some manner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Rape
Minor: Cancer
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was actually really good.
The complexity of the characters was intense, each had a quite realistic side of themselves that they weren’t sharing with the others but not in a frustrating way.
The writing was poetic but not unclear.
The complexity of the characters was intense, each had a quite realistic side of themselves that they weren’t sharing with the others but not in a frustrating way.
The writing was poetic but not unclear.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and War
dramaqueentears's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-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
3.0
Of Women and Salt tells the origin stories of six Cuban & Cuban-American women and a mother and daughter from El Salvador living undocumented in Miami. It begins with Maria Isabel, a cigar roller who lived through the fight for Cuban independence from Spain. Then, we learn about Dolores, the granddaughter of Maria Isabel, who survived an abusive relationship during the Cuban Revolution. It takes us to 2014, where we meet the daughter of Dolores, Carmen, and Carmen’s daughter, Jeanette, who now live in Miami. Jeanette has a rough relationship with Carmen because of previous trauma and her drug addiction. Carmen won’t tell Jeanette anything about why she left Cuba and her family behind, adding more aggravation to their dynamic.
The story really becomes connected in 2014 when Jeanette takes in a little girl named Ana when the girl’s mother is detained by ICE.
What I liked:
- The fact that the main plot point surrounding immigrant detention happens in 2014. We need more literature that holds President Obama accountable for his role in that.
- All of the Cuban/Cuban-American characters were so unlikable but their chapters were so good.
What I disliked:
- The book was so short that I didn’t feel very connected or even knowledgeable about the characters.
- Other than making a statement about ICE, there was really no reason to include a plot with two characters from El Salvador. They didn’t really add much to the story until the end and Gloria and Ana had no real personalities.
- The chapters jumped around so frequently. Not a big deal for the chapters written in the 1950’s or the 1890’s, but I had to do a lot of mental math to determine what was going on with the more present-day characters because one chapter would be written in 2019 and the next in 2015.
Overall, I think it could have been better but it was alright! The idea was great.
The story really becomes connected in 2014 when Jeanette takes in a little girl named Ana when the girl’s mother is detained by ICE.
What I liked:
- The fact that the main plot point surrounding immigrant detention happens in 2014. We need more literature that holds President Obama accountable for his role in that.
- All of the Cuban/Cuban-American characters were so unlikable but their chapters were so good.
What I disliked:
- The book was so short that I didn’t feel very connected or even knowledgeable about the characters.
- Other than making a statement about ICE, there was really no reason to include a plot with two characters from El Salvador. They didn’t really add much to the story until the end and Gloria and Ana had no real personalities.
- The chapters jumped around so frequently. Not a big deal for the chapters written in the 1950’s or the 1890’s, but I had to do a lot of mental math to determine what was going on with the more present-day characters because one chapter would be written in 2019 and the next in 2015.
Overall, I think it could have been better but it was alright! The idea was great.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction
Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, Cancer, and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Medical content, and Medical trauma
rebeccameyrink's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is the story of five generations of Cuban women and a Salvadoran mother and daughter who’s lives intersect with the Cuban family.
Generational, family stories are some of my favourite stories and this was no exception. Truthfully, this story tore me apart a little bit but left me feeling hopeful as well. This story covers themes of womanhood and immigration and addiction in a way that feels so naturally intertwined with the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse and Addiction
Moderate: Misogyny and Murder
Minor: Cancer
keatynbergsten's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Violence
spalmon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
tonstantweader's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- 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
4.0
Of Women and Salttells the story of several women spanning several generations. With one important exception, the men in the story are more a source of pain, an impetus to drastic action, anger, or addiction. We don’t know their stories and that’s okay because this is Of Women and Salt. I am not sure where the salt comes from other than the Caribbean that separates Cuba from the United States or from the tears the women shed because their lives were hard and filled with pain.
Jeannette is struggling against addiction to heroin and to the man who introduced her. She calls him with her number blocked because she loves him but needs to stay away from his abuse and the drugs. She takes in a young girl whose mother has been picked up by ICE. Her mother advises her to call the police, but she doesn’t want to. Meanwhile, her mother has her own demons and won’t talk to her mother, a rift the family thinks is just politics, but there is far more to the story.
We also learn the story of Ana, the young girl, and her mother, in detention and in exile. And then there is the story of a book, a book passed down through generations and the love that it represents.
Women and Saltis an excellent book. We come to care about all the women, even the more inscrutable ones like Carmen who keeps her secrets to herself. It’s one of my frustrations with this book and these women, they do not really talk to each other. They keep their secrets, secrets that are destructive to them and their families. Of course, if they did talk to each other, if Carmen told her mother what she saw or her mother told her why she did what she did, if Jeannette told her mother what happened to her, so much pain would have been avoided and then there would not be this excellent book that warns us to be more honest with each other.
- Of Women and Salt at Flatiron Books
- Gabriela Garcia author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/of-women-and-salt-by-gabriela-garcia/
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Cancer
shayna's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Trafficking, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse
Minor: Cancer and Death of parent
marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Of Women and Salt is made up of interwoven snapshots. It starts with Jeanette, a young woman struggling with substance abuse in modern-day Miami who takes in her neighbor, a Salvadoran child whose mother has been taken by ICE. Through a non-linear timeline, we meet Carmen, Dolores, Maria Isabel—the Cuban women who came before her. And we hear the stories of the Salvadoran women as well. All of them women who make choices that their daughters may never understand. Gabriela Garcia’s characters are complex—flawed yet vibrant. This slim volume is like a toe dipped into a vast ocean of intergenerational trauma and the stories it conjures. The heartbeat of these stories is survival
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Drug abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Cancer, Death, Blood, and Alcoholism
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