I must say, I really enjoyed this book. Rarely do I sit down and read a book cover to cover, but for some reason, that was the experience I had with this novel. When I first started it, I was a little unsure of how I felt about her general writing style, but within a few chapters I began to get into it and found it a very easy, insightful, and emotion-filled read. What I liked most about the book was the relatablitiy I felt to the settings in which it took place. Having lived that last three years in Canada, and specifically Vancouver, it was very interesting to read about the local places that she described; the Britannia center on Commercial drive, Kits, Stanley park, etc. Being new to Canada, it was interesting to read an account off someone with fresh eyes adjusting to the differences that are for me, subtle, but for her, far more substantial. I was also able to understand many of the situations that she discussed in Chile because a few years ago, I spent a summer in Chile living with a family that was very politically involved in the resistance of the dictatorship and military coup of 1973. Reading these accounts conjured potent memories of my time in Chile, and though I did not myself experience the hardships that the country has faced, I learned a great deal about them from people who did.
Like many of the other books we have read in this class, the story is non-linear nor straight-forward in its telling of events and emotions. Rather, it is like a mosaic of snippets of many peoples experiences and understanding of political upheaval, loss, desire, uprooting, and assimilation. I think that this is a conscious choice of many of the authors that we have read, as these experiences and emotions are not concrete or easily explained, but rather dynamic and complex. Just as Julia Alvarez mirrors the fuzziness and fluidity of memory in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, layering this book in such a way seems to be a more accurate depiction of the complexity and collective voice and collective struggle that Chilean exiles have faced.
What made the book feel very human to me was the fact that that though the stories were heavily laced with political commentary and the experience of cultural assimilation, she did not exclude other human sentiments of her telling of events. She included stories of romantic love and loss, of the common struggles that families face, and lighter stories including the one about missing the Astor Piazolla concert twice. Also, I would say that this book would fall into the category of a feminist novel based on the way that we have defined it in this class. Many of the stories are written from the perspective of women, and women are portrayed as strong and important agents in both a revolutionary sense and also in facing challenges of assimilation.
Like many of the other books we have read in this class, the story is non-linear nor straight-forward in its telling of events and emotions. Rather, it is like a mosaic of snippets of many peoples experiences and understanding of political upheaval, loss, desire, uprooting, and assimilation. I think that this is a conscious choice of many of the authors that we have read, as these experiences and emotions are not concrete or easily explained, but rather dynamic and complex. Just as Julia Alvarez mirrors the fuzziness and fluidity of memory in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, layering this book in such a way seems to be a more accurate depiction of the complexity and collective voice and collective struggle that Chilean exiles have faced.
What made the book feel very human to me was the fact that that though the stories were heavily laced with political commentary and the experience of cultural assimilation, she did not exclude other human sentiments of her telling of events. She included stories of romantic love and loss, of the common struggles that families face, and lighter stories including the one about missing the Astor Piazolla concert twice. Also, I would say that this book would fall into the category of a feminist novel based on the way that we have defined it in this class. Many of the stories are written from the perspective of women, and women are portrayed as strong and important agents in both a revolutionary sense and also in facing challenges of assimilation.
1 comment:
Hey Emily, great observations.
I'm pretty sure that Rodriguez in her interviews has identified herself as being a feminist...and, all of her protagonists in "and a body to remember with" are women.
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