Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Of Women and Salt

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

8 reviews

tiche22h's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.75

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readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

2.25

One hand I do think Garcia is a talented writer but the novel despite having perspectives for two Salvadorans a girl and a woman multiple times, the Salvadoran characters, the non white Latinos feel like props to the white Cuban women, including the black Cubans who exist largely for the white grandmother and cousin to accuse of theft or be surprised the other has a name. And while it is good to talk about the diversity of Cuba and the racism within it again the black Cuban characters seem to exist only for props or for reader presumed to not be black or non white Cubans. Thus the book feels like a book a white Cuban American or white cuban woman might get something out of but not meant for black cuban diaspora or not but instead for white gringos moreso. Similarly the Salvadoran characters don’t feel like they equally share the story even how prominent their povs are and the author even described in of their brown skins as “burnt” as if that’s not incredibly racist just because it’s burnt sugar. Which makes it unsurprising that that character Gloria perspective unfortunately comes of as patronizing and like the author isn’t aware how smart she is or Gloria doesn’t exist to be Gloria but for the author to share facts about US immigration that read clunky and almost copy and pasted from a nonfiction piece while the cuban family feels much more dynamic and lived in. Like Gloria live is one lived by many people but instead she feels like she exists for white peoples to read and feel bad about maybe even white and/or rich Mexicans but not for Salvadorans and Central Americans to read. This is always why I am unsurprised the blurbs for the book are almost entirely about the white Cuban characters.

I do really like the topics Garcia wanted to tackle, the relationships between women and cycles of abuse and I completely agree with the author that there is no “one” immigrant story in her short interview with Roxane Gay but I think she really needs to re-examine how she writes non white characters and characters her Mexican and Cuban family don’t fit into since those characters suffered the most. I do really like that she wrote about racism and classism in Mexico and the resentments between different Latino groups even if again that sometimes felt clunky. I especially loved the Cuban families divided less by borders and more by interpersonal issues and with very different and strong political opinions.

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salsa_valentina's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

Quotes that stood out to me: "…the place you called home had never considered you hers, had always held you at arm’s length…” (page 88). “I feel like all you care about is how people see you. How they see me. I feel like I’m constantly pretending, constantly afraid to say the wrong thing” (page 102).

Well written with concepts us immigrants are all too familiar with. The authors characters are flawed but I can see so much of myself and my family in the characters that it makes you reflect on your own life. Her way of writing kept me hooked on the book. THE GENERATIONAL TRAUMA IS REAL. She has such an enlightening way to write and illustrate the trauma that gets passed down to each generation along side the effects it had on her characters. Pretty short as well. I finished the book in two days, but honestly you could probably finish in one. But I will say there are some very triggering topics mentioned including: rape, sexual assault, physical abuse, assault, domestic violence, substance abuse, all the generational trauma...

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tctimlin's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

With a timeline that jumps from the 1800’s to the present day, not chronologically, the book follows several women, mostly immigrants to the US from Cuba and El Salvador. The novel explores the immigrant experience, the plight of those left behind, the difference between the reception of the political asylees from Cuba and the unwanted refugees from Central America.

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