From International Latino Book Award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes a gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican teenager who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.
There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child...
Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.
When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family’s cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her.
At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can't solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life.
Ann is a Nuyorican, Vermont-based novelist with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA). She comes from a long line of Puerto Rican writers, including father and son poets Virgilio and José Antonio Dávila, and her cousin, award-winning fiction writer Tere Dávila.
Ann’s first solo novel, a young adult horror novel titled Five Midnights, was released by Tor Teen on June 4, 2019. Five Midnights won the 2020 International Latino Book Award in the category of Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure, an AudioFile’s Earphones Award for the audiobook, and was finalist for the Bram Stoker Award. The story continues in Category Five, also from Tor Teen, released on June 2, 2020. Category Five is a 2021 nominee for the same International Latino Book Award category. Her latest young adult horror novel, Breakup From Hell, was released by HarperCollins on January 3, 2023.
Her first adult novel, the Puerto Rican magical realist mystery The Storyteller’s Death, was released from Sourcebooks Landmark on October 4, 2022. Her second adult novel, We Need No Wings, is scheduled for release in October 2024.
Her stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology from HarperCollins (2022), Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic from Polis Books (2020) and the Latine young adult collection Our Shadows Have Claws from Workman Publishing (9/6/22),
Ann lives in Vermont with her husband in a lovely little house with a massively creepy basement.
Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life starts to fall apart when her dad passes away. Dumped in Puerto Rico every summer by her alcoholic mother, Isla starts to develop a bond with her great-aunt.
When Isla turns 18, her grandmother dies, leaving behind a gift (or a curse) where Isla has visions. However, not all of the visions are pleasant. In fact, one of the visions involves an old murder mystery.
Is Isla in danger as she comes closer to discovering the truth?
My feelings for The Storyteller’s Death are a bit complicated. First and foremost, this book is a unique read. It has a really interesting plot and storyline, and I am glad that I read it. One of my favorite tropes is imperfect parents.
The book is very easy to read with short paragraphs, and it is a pretty quick read. Amazon currently has it priced at $7.99 so it is also very economical.
For the big reveal at the end, I did not see that one coming, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Now, for some hard truths……
I know that this book is classified as Young Adult, but it should have been a bit more sophisticated. Victories didn’t feel earned. For example, Isla is essentially looking for a missing clue. What do you know? She finds the missing piece in less than one page. Sigh.
Also, every time Isla wanted to talk to someone, they were always the correct person, always very easy to contact. Everyone always had meaningful information, no false starts. Evidence was very easily located.
Characters should have been more developed. Most seemed to be all good or all bad. What about good people doing bad things? What about good people struggling?
The ending should have been stronger. The ending is cliché and wrapped up too nicely. I would highly recommend that the author read Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman.
Overall, The Storyteller’s Death is a unique read that I found enjoyable; however, this clay needs just a touch more molding.
*Thanks, NetGalley, for a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.
I’m at a loss for words with how much I needed this book. As a young Puerto Rican woman, as someone who constantly thinks about the importance of stories, and of legacy, and of being remembered.
I don’t want to spoil too much of this book, but if you love books about complex family secrets, challenging tradition, and the literal magic of storytelling itself? You need this book. This is a lovingly & deftly woven tale about complicated, multifaceted women, the secrets and burdens they must carry, and the love that guides the way.
Also, I can’t forget to mention that the descriptions of Puerto Rico made me so homesick I just hugged the book at some points. I need a trip to El Yunque, like, immediately.
This book is my Encanto, and I’m not going to stop thinking about it any time soon.
The Publisher Says: From International Latino Book Award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes a gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican woman who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.
There was always an old woman dying in the back room of her family’s house when Isla was a child...
Isla Larsen Sanchez’s life begins to unravel when her father passes away. Instead of being comforted at home in New Jersey, her mother starts leaving her in Puerto Rico with her grandmother and great-aunt each summer like a piece of forgotten luggage.
When Isla turns eighteen, her grandmother, a great storyteller, dies. It is then that Isla discovers she has a gift passed down through her family’s cuentistas. The tales of dead family storytellers are brought back to life, replaying themselves over and over in front of her.
At first, Isla is enchanted by this connection to the Sanchez cuentistas. But when Isla has a vision of an old murder mystery, she realizes that if she can't solve it to make the loop end, these seemingly harmless stories could cost Isla her life.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: A young-adult fantasy-with-mystery that utterly charmed me. When Isla's unusual ability to recall, if that's the word, the stories of her family's past. If it involved one of her ancestors, she can see it! Like she was there! What a fascinating, and honestly useful, paranormal ability to have. She's got a window into her family's past that could be hugely important because, well, History is nothing but His Story and isn't it the greatest thing ever when Her Story can be told?! I was so excited!
"Reality" had to intervene, stupid boring reality!, just like it always does...not everything that happened in the past was pretty. We know this, but Isla can see it because her abuelita, on her death, passed the mantle of being a cuentista, Story-Woman, to her. Suddenly Isla's mother's sad descent into alcohol abuse and her consequent abandonments of Isla with her grandmother in Puerto Rico made more sense...it's never explicitly said, but Isla's mother seems like someone who really couldn't handle the very dark gift of becoming a cuentista. Isla's painful childhood of betrayal and loss and coping with mental illness's consequences uniquely prepares her to cope with the true burden of Remembering her family's history. And it gives her the strength to right old wrongs.
What a great idea, right?! And what a great market to target with this message, that everything that happens to you can be used to build something wonderful if you use it that way; something I truly wish more people were taught from little on up to spike the victim gun we tend to hold at our own heads. Isla's struggles with grief...her own, her mother's...at her father's early death were not dwelt on or minimized. Her mother's ongoing struggles with alcoholism are honestly, forthrightly presented as the major issue they can't help but be, yet aren't sensationalized or pounded into dust as the hobby-horse gets ridden. I was completely delighted with the storytelling voice, as well. In all, this sounds like a five-star rave, doesn't it...so why's there a "4" in front of the "5"?
Because, in service of speed I suppose, Isla faces next to no obstacles in her quest to understand the decidedly mixed blessing of becoming a cuentista. Anyone she needs to speak to, they're still alive and they're available now and they're eager to help. Hmm, that's a bit too easy...then there's the underexamined role of colonialism (internalized and not) inherent in stories about Puerto Rico's past and how that impacts her grandmother's growing up, her mother's choices, the whole kit and caboodle. The stories and their injustices were, it's true, redolent with the issues of racism and colorism, but these factors could have benefited from some further reflection in Isla's viewpoint's evolution. It's a small niggle. And it's way more than outweighed by the delight I felt in immersion into a family whose language world is Spanish-inflected English. This is something I very much enjoy and, while I'm bringing it up to you as a positive, there are readers who won't feel comfortable with it and thus might make their decision to read the story or not on that factor.
On the whole I wish they would take the plunge and get the book from the library. Try the waters! There's nothing to lose except a small investment of time in that case. The strong possibility, in my view, of broadening one's horizons a bit more is well worth the risk. It's a lovely story and Cuentista Dávila Cardinal has the chops to bring you along on one really excellent ride.
Have you ever received a gift you’ve wanted to return?
So has Isla Larsen Sanchez.
When she’s 18, her grandma dies and Isla starts seeing her stories as visions. At the same time. Every day. Freaky, right?! She finally finds a way to stop the visions … until the day that it doesn’t work and Isla’s forced to solve a murder to stop the visions.
This was a BIG LIBRARY READ through Libby. I never would have chosen it, but I’m so happy to have discovered a new author, and I ended up loving the book so much that I bought one of the author’s backlist. What made this book so enjoyable was the author Zoom yesterday. I love getting to know the author and her characters/writing practices as I feel it adds to the experience.
You’ll want to read this one because: ✔️It’s a love letter to Puerto Rico; the story is rooted in PR culture ✔️It’s lush with magical realism and full of secrets ✔️It explores the power of cuentistas (storytellers) ✔️It reveals the class and colourism on this island ✔️Gripping mystery unfolds through several generations ✔️Great family drama and coming-of-age story ✔️Highlights the difficulty of straddling two cultures ✔️Showcases the stress of growing up with an alcoholic parent
The Storyteller’s Death was inspired by Ann Dávila Cardinal’s summers in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. It loosely follows her personal experience and was written over a period of 17 years. I highly recommend it.
The GOOD: Interesting Puerto Rican setting and culture. Neat idea about inherited story-visions. Fun 1970's timeframe.
The BAD: A bit racially motivated. Speaking to classism, but calling it racism. A tiresome topic. A smidge of irritating feminism reactions for no other reason than modern culture over-sensitivity. Shoved in a same sex relationship at 93% with obvious purpose to sneak it in at the end of the book and only to satisfy a diversity bingo checklist. I bailed 🪂 at this point (93%) as it's super annoying and patronizing.
Stories that split us apart or hold us together A lovely fiction/HF with magic-realism elements. A Puerto-Rican woman loses her father and we follow her many visits to her family in PR who recount her to the oral folklore of her homeland. Her relationship with her mother is complex, playful, but also strained. Beautiful Puerto Rico is richly described in lush detail. I could feel the sun and hear the rustling of tropical branches as well as feel the cold smooth white marble of historical ruins on the beach. This story increasingly interweaves a murder mystery, as well as the mysteious ability to see visions, or hold on to memories for a people. It's about how stories are passed down, the traditions that split us apart or hold us together.
Following in the tradition of Latin American magical realism, this is a family drama and mystery wrapped together.
Nothing really happens in the first ten chapters. Unless you love books that make you relive high school (I don’t), you can skip the whole beginning. It’s half-way through the book before the mystery element comes in.
Part of the mystery was so obvious, Isla looked like a moron for not catching on. But it wasn’t as simple as it appeared at first, and that was good. I wish the mystery had been a greater focus of the book. At least, that was what I’d expected.
It was a little heavy-handed with the Bigotry Bad! messaging, but it was a good story about family and belonging and acceptance.
Every little Spanish phrase was immediately translated into English. I found this unnecessary but non-Spanish speakers may appreciate it. The narrator’s accent sounded Mexican to me. This was actually good because Puerto Rican Spanish is unintelligible. Even other native Hispanics have a hard time with it.
*Reader’s Choice Nominee Spring 2024*
Language: Rare use of strong language Sexual Content: None Violence/Gore: Gun violence Harm to Animals: Harm to Children: Other (Triggers): ["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
What really stood out to me about this book was the author’s note where she references Kei Miller collection, Thing I Have Withheld . In this collection he mentions an old woman in the back room that we don’t walk about. Author Ann Dávila Cardinal explores that in her novel so beautifully.
We meet Isla Larsen Sanchez as she is being sent back to Puerto Rico by her mother because her dad is dying. She spends the majority of her time with her Aunty in the rural part of Puerto Rico. After the summer is over, she goes back to New Jersey to find out that her dad died, and her mom cleared out all his things. She does not know how to navigate life, she hardly has friends in New Jersey and when she goes back to Puerto Rico for summer she feels judged by her cousins.
Isla spends a lot of time with her Grand Aunty because her grandmother and Mother do not get along. They really do not like each other. When Isla turns 18 and her grandmother passes, she starts having these visions and dreams that she is not sure what to make of them. There are some deep family secrets, but everyone is very tight-lipped. She decides to go digging.
What I really enjoyed about this book was getting to see Isla grown into her own as a young woman in the world. I loved learning about the different cultures and the history of the family. The book dragged a little in the middle but overall I enjoyed it.
I wanted to love this one, and after reading the opening sentence, I was positive I would. I liked Isla and felt most connected to her whenever she interacted with her alcoholic mother, but I had a hard time staying invested when the storylines shifted from NJ to Puerto Rico. I wanted her to stay in PR longer so that I could become completely absorbed in her family, but just when I thought I had everyone straight and was getting pulled into the mystery, she'd leave and the focus would change. I loved the genre-blending in this novel. Historical fiction, mystery, paranormal themes, and romance mixed in creative and colorful ways. I'll definitely try this author again.
A family saga looped in with magical realism. This beautiful story steeped in magical realism delves into identity, home, family, history, colorism and racism. Full review to come.
EDIT: If The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and The House of the Spirits were to to have literary offspring, you'd get The Storyteller's Death. It was an absolutely beautiful story of coming-of-age in grief, abandonment, struggling with your identity and heritage, finding yourself when you feel discarded, generational trauma, and finding magic within yourself.
Told from Isla's perspective, the main narrative of this story is Isla growing up and observing her world. Her mother is distant and troubled, she's dealing with the grief of the loss of her father, and on top of that, her mother deposits her in Puerto Rico every summer to spend several months alone with her extended family. Isla's relationship with her alcoholic mother is rocky, at best, and turbulent far too often. She feels the weight of not having a caregiving mother who seems more concerned with her own self rather than mothering her. The familial relationships and caring she witnesses and receives there nurture her, of course, but they also weigh on her as she reflects on her relationship with her mother.
On the surface, this was Isla's story. As the story progresses, it opens, expands and surprises by becoming an intergenerational family saga interwoven with magical realism reckoning past family history with current day dynamics rooted in colorism and racism. Puerto Rican politics and colonialism came into play in the story line as well as well. All these systemic issues are tied back to the family history, which is cracked open to the reveal the truth through Isla's on-going investigation to get at the truth during her long summers on Puerto Rico.
I haven't seen this book anywhere and hope you all consider picking it up. It's in my top 10 of the year.
This luscious tale, set mostly in Puerto Rico, combines mystery and fantasy with a metaphysical twist! Isla Lauren Sanchez' life in New Jersey with her parents, with summer visits to her mother's aunt in Bayamón, is suddenly changed after her father dies. While her mother manages her grief with drinking, Isla is left to grow up on her own. She begins to spend more time in Puerto Rico, yet never sees her own grandmother because of a rift between Abuela and her own mother. Abuela is a cuentista, a storyteller, and proud of the family's "pure" Spanish roots. When Isla begins to have strange visions, she's able to connect Abuela's stories with mysterious parts of the family's history. She also discovers how greed, political differences, and race are intertwined, becoming more aware of all she does not know about Puerto Rico, her family, and herself. Rich in detail and heart, readers will find themselves transported by this beautiful story.
5 stars This book absolutely amazed me. I went in with zero expectations, but ended up absolutely loving it. The story kind of jumps through time, sometimes it's small jumps, sometimes bigger jumps. It is story that covers quite some years and a lot of family history. It being written this way made sure that we, as readers, know everything we need to know in order to read and understand the story.
The story was captivating, I wanted to know more and more. If I would have had the time I could have finished it in one sit. There was so much to read about and experience. The story itself did not move super quickly but it is written in a way that makes it so easy to glide through the book.
The characters are so well described. You can really see them develop throughout time. They really grow and mature when they get older. It makes the characters very realistic and like an actual family. I loved the way how the bonds between the different characters were described and how those relationships developed throughout the story.
The story was not predictable at all. I had no idea where the story was going and what was going to happen. So, ofcourse, I did not expect this ending.
Not that exciting to be honest, not that well paced. It took a while to get started and once it did it was a bit of a letdown. I thought this book would have more magical realism in it, but even without it the plot wasn’t strong enough to make for an engaging read. I get that the author was trying to explore generational trauma but it just wasn’t all that gripping nor did I care for any characters except for the cousin. The ending also felt rushed and wasn’t convincing.
The first quarter sucked me in with its vivid descriptions and beautiful character work. Your heart breaks for Isla who is a girl torn between two worlds - her loving Puerto Rican family and her isolated New Jersey family. As she splits her time between the two places she discovers she has a secret talent for seeing stories from the past and these stories don’t disappear until they are told.
Isla is fascinating in the beginning and you wonder how this dissonance between the two families will manifest in the story. Her angst is real, her heart ache is real, her trauma is real. And then it never quite connects with the story telling element. This whole beautiful fantastical ability to see stories shows up and it’s never properly tied into who Isla is as a person. Then we suddenly are told all these other people have this ability too and that these deep family secrets must be told and I just wanted more depth.
The author tries to cover so much ground here - identity, racism, Puerto Rican statehood, family drama, alcoholism and more and none of it is really given much space to breathe. However the one thing this author clearly excels at is setting an atmosphere and descriptive writing and so for that 3.5 stars.
Every family has a story, but when your family has a legacy as storytellers, your story is so much more complex. Isla loses her father and begins spending more time with her grandmother, a wonderful story teller, in Puerto Rico.
When he grandmother dies, Isla discovers the story telling is a gift that has been passed down to her and she embraces it. Then she finds that it’s more than just telling stories, but that it’s a continuous cycle and soon has a vision that could cost her more than she’s knew they gift would cost her.
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I loved this book! It is beyond anything I could have expected. It’s touching, it’s heartbreaking, it’s yard to put down, and it’s fabulous!
I read this because my friend has event involving the book but I ended up liking it a fair bit.
The book has drawn comparison with Isabel Allende but I don't see it. Too slow and nowhere near dark enough, only common elements with Allende are magic realism and the fact it's set in south America and some similar themes. It's book about family lore, secrets and how burdens of previous generations affect new ones in what is essentially coming of age story. So good themes and this books tackles them well for most part although first half of the book could have been better paced.
Recommended for clear anti-colonial themes and immersive sensory experiences! Read my blog post: Lyrical and Transcendent Storytelling https://lplks.org/blogs/post/lyrical-...
An engaging story of resilience, this Puerto Rican generational family story is such a vivid pleasure with layers of magical stories! Isla is coming of age, 8 to 18 through this book. She's discovering some of her family's secrets in her Puerto Rican heritage (Mom's side of her family). While racism and economic class prejudice are visceral experiences within, this is an uplifting, suspenseful, tale of magical realism and I anticipate reliving scenes for years.
Notes saved while reading: November 8, 2022 – Finished Reading November 5, 2022 – page 320 100.0% "Wow, certainly a contender for the best of 2022! An engaging story of resilience worthy of 5 stars. I love the author interview at the end! Grateful I got an ARC! I am compelled to draft a thoughtful review as soon as I can; looking forward to reading author's acknowledgements and recommending for book clubs too." November 3, 2022 – page 296 92.5% "Immersive, propulsive, and a few mysteries are revealed!" October 31, 2022 – page 251 78.44% "Reading this Puerto Rican generational family story is such a vivid pleasure! Suspenseful, emotionally moving, and with magical realism; I anticipate reliving scenes for years to come. Gratitude to Ann Dávila Cardinal and Sourcebooks!" October 31, 2022 – page 223 69.69% October 30, 2022 – page 165 51.56% October 27, 2022 – page 144 45.0% "I am relishing the layers of story here! Isla is coming of age, 18 at this time in the book. She's discovering some of her family's secrets in her Puerto Rican heritage; racism and economic class prejudice are visceral experiences." October 26, 2022 – page 121 37.81% October 5, 2022 – page 97 30.31% September 28, 2022 – page 85 26.56% "I am having fun with this charming, magical story!" September 14, 2022 – page 72 22.5% August 31, 2022 – page 58 18.13% August 18, 2022 – page 47 14.69% "This coming of age story features a very downtrodden heroine and yet somehow an overall fun read so far!" July 27, 2022 – page 25 7.81% July 27, 2022 – Started Reading
This delightful tale, set in Puerto Rico, focusses on the life of Isla - growing up between summers with her great Aunt on the Island, and home in New Jersey. With the constant back and forth, she doesn’t feel like she really belongs in either location - always an outsider.
To add to her confusion, Isla is also a storyteller, part of a long line of storytellers within the Sanchez family. Is it a blessing, or a curse? The fact that it’s not even allowed to be discussed makes deciding that even more difficult.
A beautiful tale of growing up, of family, of the rich culture of Puerto Rico, of racism and privilege. I loved this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy in exchange for my honest review.
I absolutely loved this book. It was such a beautiful and emotional read. It really touches on how families have dark pasts and try to hide them. It involves conservatism, racism, classism, and even the struggle of having a parent who deals with substance abuse. I truly think this is the best story I have read in a while.
This was a great story. It was very well written, and I enjoyed the character development. The pacing was consistent and pleasant. It's the type of book you can continue reading and not notice how much time passes. I read this as a traveling book in LiterALLy BOOKiSh Book Club on Facebook.
This story was not what I was expecting. I thought going into it, it would be more storytelling. Instead it is more of a murder/mystery type story. It still ended up being a good story and it was fun going on the adventure on trying to find out what happened.
The Storyteller’s Death by Ann Davila Cardinal. Thanks to @sourcebookslandmark for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Isla’s grandmother has always been a storyteller. She’d spend each summer with her family in Puerto Rico, hearing her grandmother’s stories. When she turns eighteen, her grandmother passes and suddenly Isla sees the stories brought to life.
I loved the culture and Puerto Rican aspect to the story. It was really interesting to read and brought a real feel to the novel. The coming of age story was also enjoyable. I loved the main character and growing up with her. I enjoyed the beginning half much more than the second half, when it began to get a bit magical. I don’t typically like dreams or visions in stories and that was a main part of the plot. The mystery then made it interesting again for me!
Isla Larsen Sanchez grows up in New Jersey but spends summers with her extended family in Puerto Rico. It is there that she learns of her gift as a storyteller, cuentistas, as did several other women in her family. When a loved one passes away, their spirit visits the cuentista to tell their story. This story is often an unknown part of their life and sometimes exposes a dark secret. The visits continue until the mystery is solved.
What I didn't like about this book is that I felt as though this fell into the agenda-driven category. There were sprinklings throughout the book, and at the very end - another one was introduced and then dropped just a quickly - seemingly just to check another demographic off the list.
While I appreciate the intention of the author, and the original idea that sparked this novel, the execution and the writing style were difficult to get through, routinely feeling pedestrian and meh.
There are some interesting scenes and elements, but overall this work did not connect with me and felt underbaked.
I loved how Cardinal weaved island life, culture, and history into an overarching coming-of-age story tackling issues such as racism, neglectful parenting/ family drama, and alcoholism. Although this book tackles a lot, it was spread throughout the story and did not feel overwhelming.
All the characters in the book were well developed. I quickly connected with the main character, Isla, and sympathized with her relationship with her mother. I also enjoyed seeing Isla and José’s friendship blossom throughout the years.
The first half of this story felt a bit slow, but after finishing the story, I understand why. The author is carefully developing the characters and overall plot. The second half picked up the pace once Isla started to unravel her family’s secrets and visions.
I appreciated the way the author mixed the Spanish and English languages into the story. It felt very authentic but still allowed the story to be easily read and understood.
I really enjoyed the ending and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys coming-of-age stories about family, love, privilege, and the culture of Puerto Rico.
This book very easily shot up to the top of the list of my favorite books of the year, and maybe of all time.
There is a warmth and a coziness to this story. But there is also grief and pain. Its balanced so well that you never feel overwhelmed by any of the "bad" things that happen in the story, but rather you feel a sense of empathy for the characters, our protagonist Isla especially.
This story is about stories, but its also about family legacy, family secrets, perception of self, perception of others and national pride. Puerto Rico is as much a character in this book as any of the others and Cardinal paints a rich and vibrant picture of the island, so much so that, while I've never been, I feel as if I have experienced it.
I found the fact that Cardinal wove together Isla's discovery of family secrets with the uncovering of political and racial unrest in her family fascinating. They do so often go together. Isla's island family is wealthy, but she doesn't necessarily see it as such, perhaps because she's viewing island life through the lens of an american who does struggle to get by. to peel back the layers of how her family, descendant from Spanish settlers, feels about those with more native blood was eye opening, for me as much as for Isla.
The stories themselves function as a conduit for Isla's learning and growth. She is young and sheltered when she first receives her gift, but because of the visions, she has to grow up. She learns things that have been kept from her. She is able to understand her family on a more intimate level, and to understand that everyone hides things, twists the truth, lies. but its not always for the wrong reasons. Through her struggles with her gift and trying to learn how it works, isla repairs relationships and even brings peace to other family members who have been silently struggling right along side her.
history, especially family history, is not black and white. its multi-faceted and full of brilliant colors. Cardinal has done an exceptional job at showing this to the reader. She excels at making small moments so poignant that they feel all the more special and powerful (one in particular sticks with me... it involves a sleepover)
This book is many-layered and each layer, as it peels back, is so satisfying to discover and savor.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own, and I am writing a voluntary review.
The author has impressively captured the essence of Puerto Rico during the 1970 and the emotions of Isla as she spends summers with her Great Aunt and the Sanchez side of her family. This story is a blend of genres including historical fiction, coming of age, mystery, and magical realism. The way the author has incorporated all of these into the story was perfection. Isla is a forever changed after the death of her father when she is 8 years old. Spending summers with her Mother’s side of the family in Puerto Rico are both wonderful and confusing for her at times. At home, Isla has a very different life as her mother has an apparent drinking problem. In Puerto Rico, Isla is part of a large family that is very protective and privileged. I appreciated the story’s portrayal of the political unrest, classism, and racism that existed in Puerto Rico during that time.
The story covers the time between Isla at Age 8 and 18. We see her come to understand her place in the world and in her family, eventually finding her own voice and beliefs. The delightful addition of the storytellers stories coming to life for Isla added depth to the story. The mystery and secrets that Isla has to figure out never felt out of place or silly. They were handled with a richness that appreciated.
The ending felt a little rushed to me after having been through so much with Isla. Maybe an Epilogue? But I enjoyed reading this one so much and definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genres this book covers.