A review by annreadsabook
Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I was an enormous fan of Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ stunning memoir/family biography The Man Who Could Move Clouds, so I knew I had to pick up her debut novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree—and I was of course not disappointed.

This novel follows, chiefly, a young girl by the name of Chula who lives a fairly privileged, sheltered life within a gated community in Bogotá during the height of Pablo Escobar’s cartel empire. but things begin to change when her mother hires a preteen by the name of Petrona to help around the house. As Chula begins to learn more about Petrona, whose family is plagued by poverty and violence in the nearby invasiónes, both girls become mired in secrets that become increasingly difficult to keep, particularly as the violence begins to spill into Chula’s own community.

This was a fantastic read—I loved how Rojas Contreras considers childhood, class, and privilege when one’s country is embroiled in chaos. She in particular does a stellar job of considering who primarily bears the weight of sociopolitical violence. There are questions of who gets to be considered “political,” whose life will be protected, and who gets to have any semblance of childhood. The characterization of Chula in particular is fantastic—it can be hard to write a book for adults from the perspective of a child, but I think Rojas Contreras pulls it off fabulously.

The only thing I would’ve liked to have seen more of was Petrona’s character—although there are plenty of chapters devoted to Petrona’s story and experiences, they are all quite short and I felt as though we could’ve gotten more of a sense of her desires and feelings.

But that small critique aside, this was an absolutely fantastic read and I really hope more people dig into it! Rojas Contreras is a phenomenal writer and I am definitely a fan—if/when she writes anything else, I will automatically read it, no questions asked.
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