It tells some of the women's stories in snapshots - like that of Maria Isabel and Dolores - whilst we spent a lot longer with Jeannette and Ana. I spent some time going back over what I'd already read in order to make sense of the timeline of what was happening. The book jumps from 21st century Miami to 1866 Camagüey to 21st century Mexico, back to Miami and Camagüey, and then to 21st century La Habana. Of Women and Salt tells the tale of the lives of five generations of Cuban women, as well as following the story of Salvadoran immigrants - Gloria and her daughter, Ana - as it intersects with the aforementioned Cuban women. I feel very conflicted about how to rate this one because I enjoyed parts of it very much ("enjoyed" might be the wrong word, as it takes a number of dark turns) and I thought the writing was gorgeous, but I found the nonlinear narrative to be messy and confusing, and perhaps too much for such a short novel.
It's the flick of a coin, and we are born.ģ 1/2 stars. That there are no real rules to govern why some are born in turmoil and others never know a single day in which the next seems an ill-considered bet.
A haunting meditation on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories they carry, and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite those who wish to silence them, this is more than a diaspora story it is a story of America’s most tangled, honest, human roots.Īnd I am sorry I had nothing else to offer, Ana. Steadfast in her quest for understanding, Jeanette travels to Cuba to see her grandmother and reckon with secrets from the past destined to erupt.įrom 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia's Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals-personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others-that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction.
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