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A review by lindsayb
The Invisible Mountain by Caro De Robertis
4.0
First off, I'd like to exorcise a song that's been stuck in my head for a couple weeks--when my parents saw me reading this, they started singing Donovan's "There Is a Mountain," and every time I picked this up since, it would loop in my head incessantly. Maybe I'm free now?
But seriously, this is a wonderful book. It is lush and evocative, set primarily in Montevideo and focusing on the cultural and political life of Uruguayans. I was also utterly ignorant of this country--part of the reason I chose it for this year's Read Harder challenge--so all the events were shocking and enthralling, sending me to do some research of my own. It was painful for me to take so long to read it because every time I opened the book, I just wanted to curl up on the couch with a cup of hot tea and lose myself in the atmosphere and tumultuous lives of Pajarita, Eva, and Salomé. (This is saying something for me--a light spoiler alert/trigger warning:--if I wasn't so invested in their lives, I would have had to put it down.)
It was a slow burn of a book, I must admit...there is SO MUCH covered in 360 pages. I would say it is plot-driven, and this bugged me a little in the beginning as I felt I needed to get to know the characters a little better. However, as it went on, the characters deepened (at least for Eva and Salomé--perhaps Pajarita is meant to remain inscrutable), and by the end, I was crying for everyone in the book. I was wondering how De Robertis would wrap up these storylines by the end, and boy, did she ever...and so beautifully.
I first became acquainted with De Robertis after reading her essay, "Every Day of Her Life," in [b: Count on Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships|13259259|Count on Me Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships|Las comadres para las Americas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1339799786s/13259259.jpg|18460758], and after this, I am certain I will be reading the rest of her work. I can't wait to lose myself again.
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Read Harder: A book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author
But seriously, this is a wonderful book. It is lush and evocative, set primarily in Montevideo and focusing on the cultural and political life of Uruguayans. I was also utterly ignorant of this country--part of the reason I chose it for this year's Read Harder challenge--so all the events were shocking and enthralling, sending me to do some research of my own. It was painful for me to take so long to read it because every time I opened the book, I just wanted to curl up on the couch with a cup of hot tea and lose myself in the atmosphere and tumultuous lives of Pajarita, Eva, and Salomé. (This is saying something for me--a light spoiler alert/trigger warning:
Spoiler
each woman suffers physical and sexual assault as well as psychological abuseIt was a slow burn of a book, I must admit...there is SO MUCH covered in 360 pages. I would say it is plot-driven, and this bugged me a little in the beginning as I felt I needed to get to know the characters a little better. However, as it went on, the characters deepened (at least for Eva and Salomé--perhaps Pajarita is meant to remain inscrutable), and by the end, I was crying for everyone in the book. I was wondering how De Robertis would wrap up these storylines by the end, and boy, did she ever...and so beautifully.
I first became acquainted with De Robertis after reading her essay, "Every Day of Her Life," in [b: Count on Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships|13259259|Count on Me Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships|Las comadres para las Americas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1339799786s/13259259.jpg|18460758], and after this, I am certain I will be reading the rest of her work. I can't wait to lose myself again.
********
Read Harder: A book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author