Around the World for a Good Book Selection for Uruguay
Author: Carolina de Robertis
Narrator:Christine Avila
Title: The Invisible Mountain
Publication Info: Random House Audio, 2009.
Summary/Review:
This excellent debut novel tells the story of three generations of women – Pajarita, Eva, and Salome – against the backdrop of Uruguayan history of the 20th century. The structure of a multi-generational family story that tells personal stories with an epic sweep is familiar in Latin American literature, but this novel goes more for gritty rather than magical realism. This is a fascinating novel and I enjoyed learning more about each of the women as their story develops, and sad when they are reduced to background characters when the narrative moves on to the next generation. The final section with Salome imprisoned by the brutal Uruguayan dictatorship is particularly gripping.
Recommended books: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.
Rating: ****
Panorama of the Mountains 