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cragamiel 's review for:
The Seventh Veil of Salome
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I saw a few other reviews saying this was slow, or had too many POVs, so I wanna say up front that this is a drama, sort of a character study, not an action flick. The other POVs help flesh out those characters and provide additional perspectives, and I thought they were an excellent choice (I loved all the different character voices too, and the switch between first and third person as the story went from the documentary interviews to the actual main characters).
This is the sort of book I could write papers about. I could write about Jay Rutland as embodying possibility, and howhis death is also the death of the futures that both Vera and Nancy wanterd. Or I could write about how Salome's sequences serve to illuminate both the characters of Nancy and Vera, with Nancy always claiming to be Salome because she wanted the part so bad and Vera trying to figure out how to be Salome on set, despite being immediately identified as Salome in the flesh by Joe Kantor and the other filmmakers, and how Salome's story really fills out the theme across all three of their stories of the destructive power of love. (So to those who say that Salome's sections didn't have any point — hard disagree.)
I also think this book nails the inevitability of tragedy. There are points where things could have gone differently, and maybe the ending could have been averted, but there was never any real choice. Just like Nancy so often thinks about making a better choice before compulsively making everything worse again, always.
A note on Nancy — God, she's the worst, but she's very compelling. Same with her relationship with Benny. They are what "dark romance" should be, imo.
Also I loved that Vera got to punch her; Vera deserved that catharsis, and Nancy deserved a bloody nose and unemployment.
All that said — this was going to be 5 stars for me until the last about 15 pages.I feel that we should have had at least one more POV passage from each Vera and Nancy after Jay's death. Did Vera have to finish filming in fresh grief? Was Jay's mother still in town, because she'd probably blame Vera for what happened to Jay, wouldn't she? How did Vera handle that? And how did Nancy react when she found out that Benny had shot the wrong person, her ex no less, and how on earth did she not get put on trial with him when the whole thing was her idea?? We get a little insight into the aftermath through Joe's sort of epilogue, it's true, but I feel that there's an emotional beat missing at the end.
Still a solid book, and I'd recommend for anyone looking for a good tragedy.
This is the sort of book I could write papers about. I could write about Jay Rutland as embodying possibility, and how
I also think this book nails the inevitability of tragedy. There are points where things could have gone differently, and maybe the ending could have been averted, but there was never any real choice. Just like Nancy so often thinks about making a better choice before compulsively making everything worse again, always.
A note on Nancy — God, she's the worst, but she's very compelling. Same with her relationship with Benny. They are what "dark romance" should be, imo.
All that said — this was going to be 5 stars for me until the last about 15 pages.
Still a solid book, and I'd recommend for anyone looking for a good tragedy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault