Reviews tagging 'War'

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

44 reviews

cora_hreads's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

From the start, I fell in love with Of Women and Salt. I loved the different timelines and how each character had a theme that eventually carried through to Ana's chapter at the end. I felt engulfed by the prose and descriptions that Garcia provided. Needless to say, Of Women and Salt is a book I'd recommend to the masses.

When I picked up this book and read the blurb on the back, I thought it'd be a deep slice-of-life story collection, doting on Latinx experiences in and outside of the US. Initially, my expectations were just to be informed of what I didn't know or understand about Latinx people, families, etc. I got so much more than that. What I got from Of Women and Salt was a deep, cutthroat dive into how Cuban and Salvadoran women tried to get to the best they could every day.

A worker

losing her husband

in mid/late 1800s Cuba, and starting the family line of women who'd work until their bones were brittle to achieve what they needed to survive.
A housewife during the 1950s Cuban revolution, going through any means necessary

(including murder)

to get her children out of the war-ridden home.
A distressed mother and her drug-addicted/drug-recovering daughter, trying to salvage their relationship that was torn in the early 2000s.

All of these stories, these excerpts of lives, struck me in a way that truly made me feel. I was happy when Marìa was able to get out of the factory and start anew; discomfort was written across my face when Jeanette recounted her teenage sex-driven years and the highs and lows of her drug addictions, as well as her toxic relationship. I felt these different ways because of how Garcia varied her prose for each woman. Jeanette was heartfelt but inconsistent, like a constant train of desparate thought was running in her mind. Carmen seemed to be polished on the outisde, but little details crept out of her as you learned more about her. Ana was flat -- she had to steel herself up just to survive. I commend the prose to an incomprehensible extent.

The descriptions of the setting(s) were similar. As the characters moved about, you felt not only the prescence of the land, but also how it felt to each character. I could imagine the dingy, musty smell of the small Cuban town when Maydelis' car broke down -- I imagined bright, false-dream neon lights shining on a young Jeanette after ditching her hook-up. This book was so incredibly vivid; ultimately, it added to the overall appeal in an incredible way.

My only critique is the bluntness of Jeanette's ending -- which I think was intentional. The reader is alluded to it in her final chapter, but it's open ended at the actual last chapter.

We know what led to Jeanette's death, but why? What caused the relapse?

. I like that it leads me off to question what could've/might've been, like there's no firm ending as to why things happen -- just like in real life.

Overall, Of Women and Salt gets a 4.75/5 stars for its incredible characters, vivid descriptions, and attention to detail for the readers to consider even after reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, War, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death and Sexual harassment

samkennedy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Racism, War, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Murder

emilyeehaw's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i think this would have been a higher rating if the writing wasn’t so slow-paced. i’d read 5 pages but it seemed like i should have read 25 in the time it took me.

overall though, i did enjoy the story. i liked the different perspectives from the women and how their stories were entangled together across decades and miles apart. lots of focus on modern day immigration issues and the historical aspect of the cuban revolution. definitely not a super light read but still managed to be readable and interesting with all the harder topics it covered. really enjoyed the focus on relationships between women, mothers and daughters especially, and how complicated and messy they can be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence and War

qqjj's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Tried to do too much? There were soooo many themes touched on (immigration/asylum/deportation and differences between generations and country origins, political regimes, domestic violence, substance abuse and overdoses, mother-daughter relationships, and more), but didn't/couldn't explore them all thoroughly within this short book. All of these themes are intriguing to me in themselves, but all of them together seemed too much. It was also quite challenging to adjust to the jumping POVs and time/places of each chapter/vignette, the ordering and structure of which seemed haphazard, and never really allowed for the atmosphere of the settings to really shine through. Interested to see future directions of the author, but ultimately just okay for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: War, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Cancer, Addiction, Transphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Grief

rebeccamm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

There's a lot of narratives winding through this book, and I think it could have been better with fewer characters but more development of them. And wow, if I wasn't a misandrist already, this book would have made me one. Literally only one of the men has any redeeming qualities. The rest are actively evil, abusive narcissists. All the male characters are entirely one-dimensional, but the women don't fare too much better. 
I'm not sure if I liked this book or if I'm giving it a higher rating just because it tells a story we don't hear about enough.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Addiction

Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Classism, Drug use, Incest, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and War

Sensitive readers may want to proceed with caution.

mamadonna's review against another edition

informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

An exploration of Salvadoran and Cuban women across generations and their immigration to the US.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, and Drug use

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Rape, War, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Incest, Sexism, and Sexual violence

hopevigilshuck's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, and War

Moderate: Child abuse

charlottejones952's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

This was such a tough book to read but beautifully crafted. The writing propelled me through so quickly and I was astounded by how vivid each of the characters' lives were. 

I would recommend looking into trigger warnings as this is an extremely dark book at times but with that caveat in mind, I would highly recommend it. Gabriela Garcia is an author to keep an eye on in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, War, and Colonisation

perlastars's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.0

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, War, Sexual assault, Racism, and Xenophobia

ladymirtazapine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, War, Rape, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Violence, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Death, Confinement, and Alcoholism