A review by jessicaxmaria
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

1.25

This book had a very strong start. I was taken in by the lovely prose and the first chapter regarding an 18th century cigar factory worker in Cuba. However, each chapter devolves from there. I have some thoughts on the way this was probably scooped up, edited, and subsequently rolled out in 2021. For now, I'll say that this would have benefited from a massive edit on a structural and storytelling level. Garcia is a talented writer, very lyrical and poetic. However, the threads in this book are not cohesive. The words shoehorned and clunky come to mind when I think of the separate storylines that are tenuously tied. This could have worked as two novels, which would give the time and space to dive into the complex themes Garcia only brings to the surface here without expanding upon.