Harare Review of Books

207 pages.

First published in Mar 2021.

Finished reading on Oct 25, 2021.

Genre: Fiction.

María Isabel, Dolores and Carmen are women of three generations of a family originally from Cuba (later migrants to the US), over a period from 1859 to 2016. We get a snapshot of pivotal events in their lives, and gradually build up a their story of migration, identity and loss.

I had on my list for this year books on home and belonging, and had in mind to include this one on the list. Fairly regretful, though, that I read it, as it is relentlessly grim. Topics covered: rape, murder by the state, drug use and addiction, immigration and deportation, the loss of a parent (to cancer 😓), racism… I don’t remember what else. I mostly remember how I felt while reading this book: despairing, and, needless to say, somewhat triggered.

Will not recommend this one. While it’s true that it’s topical, and important, especially because the voices in it are from a group that is marginalized in the US, I found it gratuitously bleak. It may work as didactic literature (“This is what your fellow human is going through”), perhaps, I don’t know; but I did not enjoy it.

Rated: 4/10