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A review by chrxiao
And of Clay Are We Created by Isabel Allende
2.0
allende is a beautiful writer and the armero tragedy & omayra sánchez is deeply moving tragic source material, but i don't know if this fictional retelling was really effective or fulfilling. i'm thinking about the tumblr post along the lines of "sometimes you want to write a poem but it's too obvious. that's already the poem right there." essentially, i think the armero tragedy is already pretty clear (thematically, poetically, literarily) and it's hard to get a clearer look at it than fourier's photograph sánchez, in which case, what does this story add?
allende's most additive choice is to go from the perspective of the wife of a reporter, which is an interesting choice but maybe not in a good way. it's a centering that i am not as interested in as — obvious poetic choice, already done in the real world & fourier's photography — that of azucena/omayra. it also leads to icky and not in a good way character conclusions of "azucena consoled rolf" and "i [wife] am jealous of azucena." so. not super comfy.
allende's most additive choice is to go from the perspective of the wife of a reporter, which is an interesting choice but maybe not in a good way. it's a centering that i am not as interested in as — obvious poetic choice, already done in the real world & fourier's photography — that of azucena/omayra. it also leads to icky and not in a good way character conclusions of "azucena consoled rolf" and "i [wife] am jealous of azucena." so. not super comfy.