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stennyi's review against another edition
1.0
Judging from the title of this book, I was expecting a story about empowered women moving forward after their men have been taken. However, this book was just a stereotype of anything female. Women are whores. Women are mothers. Women are obsessed with penises. And if they can't have that then they might as well be lesbians...etc,. The experiences and "tales" of the women were lacking in originality and in perspective. this book was a waste of time. I do not recommend it.
clarereadstheworld's review against another edition
4.0
This is a really interesting little story following the lives of the women in a small Colombian village when all the men are one day taken away or killed by guerilla soldiers. In a country ravaged by civil wars this is apparently not an isolated event.
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So during the first half of this book I had some mega issues with the author. A village of women just spend a whole year dking nothing while the village falls to ruin around them and everyone starts starving... Urm no! Why does it need the intervention of a male government official naming one of the women as magistrate for them to start getting their shit together? And the priest, omg the priest! He convinces all the women in the town to have sex with him for purposes of 'propagation', there's a horribly uncomfortable and graphic description of him raping a 14 year old girl, but it's just brushed off because he feels bad afterwards... He murders the only other males in the village when they come of age (some seriously weird stuff happens there too) and the one woman who finds some money goes off to the big city to go shopping and get a makeover... Because that's all women want. So yeah, suffice to say I was not exactly 100% on board throughout the first half of the novel (as in my inner feminist was foaming at the mouth)
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BUT after a long time, the women finally start pulling together. I loved the concept of female time, and time moving backwards. I loved how the women (finally) started working together, playing to their strengths. I appreciated the transgender character, and the other widow was a lovely inclusion too. All the women have strong, flawed, powerful characters, and it was great getting to know them. .
So despite a challenging beginning, this book definitely get better, the end is also a little cliché, but I guess you're allowed to dream. It's beautifully written, and I guess a book that stirs up real emotions of frustration and anger is still an excellently written book you can take a lot away from.
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So during the first half of this book I had some mega issues with the author. A village of women just spend a whole year dking nothing while the village falls to ruin around them and everyone starts starving... Urm no! Why does it need the intervention of a male government official naming one of the women as magistrate for them to start getting their shit together? And the priest, omg the priest! He convinces all the women in the town to have sex with him for purposes of 'propagation', there's a horribly uncomfortable and graphic description of him raping a 14 year old girl, but it's just brushed off because he feels bad afterwards... He murders the only other males in the village when they come of age (some seriously weird stuff happens there too) and the one woman who finds some money goes off to the big city to go shopping and get a makeover... Because that's all women want. So yeah, suffice to say I was not exactly 100% on board throughout the first half of the novel (as in my inner feminist was foaming at the mouth)
.
BUT after a long time, the women finally start pulling together. I loved the concept of female time, and time moving backwards. I loved how the women (finally) started working together, playing to their strengths. I appreciated the transgender character, and the other widow was a lovely inclusion too. All the women have strong, flawed, powerful characters, and it was great getting to know them. .
So despite a challenging beginning, this book definitely get better, the end is also a little cliché, but I guess you're allowed to dream. It's beautifully written, and I guess a book that stirs up real emotions of frustration and anger is still an excellently written book you can take a lot away from.
carolikesbooks's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
3.75
meagankc21's review
4.0
Read this first in college as an undergrad for my Latino literature class, and it really holds up. There's so many layers happening throughout the tales that form a tapestry of a small town left in pieces by the fighting paramilitaries and guerrillas. Sometimes the stories follow the characters outside of Mariquita, but they always come back to the heart of the town. The language is beautiful and such an excellent example of magical realism. The biting satire can't help but make you raise an eyebrow and chuckle at how clever the author was to write this novel. It's hard to put into words how good this book is, but I got so much more from it reading it 8 years later than I did as an undergrad with much less knowledge of the world and literature overall. I highly recommend this as a read for anyone who wants more Latinx representation (specifically Colombian) in their reading.
sunnid's review
4.0
I wouldn’t say I “loved” it but I did like it and was very engaged by it and think it would make for interesting discussion. I read the reading guide questions for it and I’m not sure I know enough about “magical realism” or Latin American literature (I’ve not read much Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Allende). I did read “Like Water for Chocolate” which is magical realism…but I’ve never been in a discussion about it.
sstallryan's review
3.0
At first I really liked this book, until the author started to give his version of female utopia. It seemed contrived and odd at the end, I guess. I really like the first half of the book where he focused on individuals and their stories better than the second half where he focused on the metamophosis of the community.
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