A review by serendipitysbooks
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 Of Women and Salt is a multi-generational story of five generations of Cuban women, although the focus is heavily on the contemporary Miami based mother-daughter pair, Carmen and Jeanette. Their stories also intersect with those of undocumented Salvadoran immigrants Gloria and Ana. The novel jumps around a lot in time, place and perspective and for me that was its biggest weakness. There was plenty of meaty material - addiction, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, Cuban history, issues around migration, family secrets, complicated mother-daughter relationships, class and so much more - but it just didn’t come together as a complete, cohesive whole. There was some strong writing, and I mostly enjoyed what I was reading as I read it. It just failed to fully gel for me. Possibly had it been longer there would have been space for more back story and more to happen on page which might have helped. I didn’t not enjoy this - I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped and expected. But the writing was such that I’ll be on the look out for whatever Gabriela Garcia writes next.
 
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