Disappearance Of Irene DOS Santos (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Latin American writing, or at least the Latin American writing I've read, is often is characterized by multi-generational storylines, the incorporation of local legend, myth, and magic realism, war, revolutions, revolts, and extended families. This book is no exception. I really enjoyed reading it, although I often got rather confused about who was related to whom, and how. The beginning is fairly straightforward, with limited charaters and plots, but towards the end, the cast expands, the intial characters develop, various sub-plots are laid out, and it is revealed that every character is linked in one way or another to many of the other characters. I almost felt like a flow-chart would have been helpful. The author also leaves you to sort out the mystical events and the truth behind the mysterious central event, which would perhaps more reasonable if the concrete parts of the story were not quite so overwhelming. I feel the author has perhaps tried to cram too much mystery, analogies, and connections into too short a book.I would reccomend this book to anyone who is a fan of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did. All of the life stories contained therein were interesting, and many were fascinating, and even though I know zilch about the history of Venezuela I could still relate to the book. But it skipped around in time and place and point of view WAY too much. I had a hard time figuring out what was happening to who. There were several instances where the book says "So-and-so did this," some important event, but doesn't actually describe the action for several more chapters. And the final revelation about Irene Dos Santos was a bit of a let-down -- though quite a believable let-down.I would probably give this author another chance. She seems very ambitious, and I think the large cast in this story held together well. It's just that I'm not used to trying to juggle so many different people's life stories at the same time.
What do You think about Disappearance Of Irene DOS Santos (2009)?
This was a good book. The ending opens up much to discuss.
—Bailey
I liked this book until the disappointing final chapter.
—wordsareendless
