A review by _wmjb_
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

4.0

I feel like I should give this book a full five stars for the beautiful writing about very difficult subjects. But I, like others here, struggled with the disjointedness of the story. The official description calls it a "kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals" and I would say that that is an apt description. I am fine with different narrators and non-linear timelines. But this had both and it was confusing. A mother who can't tell her daughter why she hates her mother back in Cuba, and the daughter who can't tell her mother why she hates her father until the day of his funeral. Both of the secrets shaped their lives in negative ways. Some things were just hinted at so the reader could fill in the blanks, such as the storyline of the man and his wife at the makeup counter where Janette worked. The first person description of immigration was heart breaking. I'll leave it at that or else I'll get into a rant about people who have a cruel lack of empathy for people that they know nothing about.