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Song of the Water Saints
This vibrant, provocative début novel explores the dreams and struggles of three generations of Dominican women. Graciela, born on the outskirts of Santo Domingo at the turn of the century, is a headstrong adventuress who comes of age during the U.S. occupation. Too poor to travel beyond her imagination, she is frustrated by the monotony of her life, which erodes her love affairs and her relationship with Mercedes, her daughter. Mercedes, abandoned by Graciela at thirteen, turns to religion for solace and, after managing to keep a shop alive during the Trujillo dictatorship, emigrates to New York with her husband and granddaughter, Leila. Leila inherits her great-grandmother Graciela’s passion-driven recklessness. But, caught as she is between cultures, her freedom arrives with its own set of obligations and dangers.
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 26, 2002
19 people are currently reading
520 people want to read
About the author
Nelly Rosario
7 books20 followersNelly Rosario (born 1972) is a Dominican American novelist and creative writing instructor in the MFA Program at Texas State University in San Marcos.
Rosario was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn. She received a B.A. in engineering from MIT and an M.F.A. in fiction from Columbia University.
After the debut of her novel Song of the Water Saints, Rosario was described by Julia Alvarez as "a Caribbean Scheherazade."
(from Wikipedia)
Rosario was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn. She received a B.A. in engineering from MIT and an M.F.A. in fiction from Columbia University.
After the debut of her novel Song of the Water Saints, Rosario was described by Julia Alvarez as "a Caribbean Scheherazade."
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 21, 2015
Normally, I have a great appreciation for books that view the history of a nation, a region or a culture through the lens of the fate of a family--"100 Years of Solitude" is the best-known recent example; one of my favorites is perhaps the oldest of them all, the classic Chinese novel "The Dream of the Red Chamber." And I see where Nelly Rosario is going in "Song of the Water Saints"--the history of the Dominican Republic beginning with yanqui armies there and ending with the immigrant community in New York so well represented by the play "In the Heights." And there is much to love about such a novel that centers on the lives of women of successive generations, with riffs on imperialism, emigration, Catholicism, economic and sexual exploitation and destructive poverty, somewhat intertwined. But the novel rarely centers; most of these women (with one girl among them) are on stage for episodes long enough to make a romantic or unromantic choice of a man and then the next generation replaces them. The exception is Graciela, great-grandmother to the Leila, the girl with which the series ends. Graciela is given the most pages, confronts the steepest challenges and is in the end victimized by them. And she is clearly meant as a matriarch, the strong core of the narrative, but for all the life-force expended on her, Graciela's character never cohered for this reader; she is alternately tough and weak, placing herself in danger without much explanation. These things can all be done, but not in so few pages and with such spare development. Novels this ambitious need enough space to fulfill it.
October 12, 2022
The novel began strong with characters whose wrongdoings refused to overshadow their complexities. Even without liking a single person in the book, the experiences of these three (or four, counting Amalfi) generations of women describe a Dominican family struggling and adapting within a country plagued by American occupation, fascism, and later dictatorship. Throughout all of these, the family lives in varying levels of poverty and prosperity, culminating in an immigration to New York City where they return to what seems like the bottom of the totem pole. the author has no intention of making them likable but rather acknowledge the intersections of their lives in a world where the odds remain constantly stacked against them.
While Rosario's artistry comes across magnificently, the lower rating for the book stems from the ending as I feel like there never was one. One of my peers remarked that the final page felt like the commencement of another chapter, and I am apt to agree. Being more of a character study rather than relying on plot, my interest relied on the strength of the character's stories, and the final main character, Leila, fell flat in this way. After enduring horrific turmoil, the last chapter within her perspective read like a slight attempt by the author to tie the novel together, and there was neither a sense of closure or a cliffhanger. Rather, it just was. It was still a decent read, but I'm hesitant to give it anything above two stars.
While Rosario's artistry comes across magnificently, the lower rating for the book stems from the ending as I feel like there never was one. One of my peers remarked that the final page felt like the commencement of another chapter, and I am apt to agree. Being more of a character study rather than relying on plot, my interest relied on the strength of the character's stories, and the final main character, Leila, fell flat in this way. After enduring horrific turmoil, the last chapter within her perspective read like a slight attempt by the author to tie the novel together, and there was neither a sense of closure or a cliffhanger. Rather, it just was. It was still a decent read, but I'm hesitant to give it anything above two stars.
July 17, 2013
2.5 It is always challenging when reading a novel about a different culture, this being set in the Dominican Republic, that one has not enough knowledge to judge the book or the writing style. In this case I liked the writing, Rosario has a choppier style of writing, often small paragraphs, yet was able to make me feel as if I was part of that culture. I often felt like a voyeur. Like I was there only to observe. Also from these description we get a view of the political situation on this country, though the main story concerns the women.
Beginning of the twentieth century, and Graciela wants nothing to do with the usual roles of wives and mothers, she wants to experience things. She does not want to settle. I really liked her, she was a very colorful character. She does have a daughter, and eventually the daughter and her daughter end up in the United States. Seems that all the women have inherited Graciela's lust for life.
I would have rated this higher, but at times I felt the sex, which was extremely gritty was not necessary, unless it was to provide a shock value, which was to imply that the life these women led was shocking. I honestly don't know. Also while the story was interesting, it did not provide a cohesive story, and the pacing was very uneven with the first part taking the longest and the rest seemed to go quicker.
Yet, I cannot say I will never read this author again, I think she has an amazing talent and it may just be me and the culture, the style of writing. I think she has a talent that bears watching.
Beginning of the twentieth century, and Graciela wants nothing to do with the usual roles of wives and mothers, she wants to experience things. She does not want to settle. I really liked her, she was a very colorful character. She does have a daughter, and eventually the daughter and her daughter end up in the United States. Seems that all the women have inherited Graciela's lust for life.
I would have rated this higher, but at times I felt the sex, which was extremely gritty was not necessary, unless it was to provide a shock value, which was to imply that the life these women led was shocking. I honestly don't know. Also while the story was interesting, it did not provide a cohesive story, and the pacing was very uneven with the first part taking the longest and the rest seemed to go quicker.
Yet, I cannot say I will never read this author again, I think she has an amazing talent and it may just be me and the culture, the style of writing. I think she has a talent that bears watching.
October 12, 2022
really interesting read, and easily digestible, but the ending was just so unsatisfying......like i wish it tied up better :/
January 16, 2013
This book started slow for me, but it picked up speed and heart as the characters and situations unfolded. I loved the author's approach to sharing Dominican history via fictional narrative, and I felt a special connection to the novel as I was reading it while in the DR. While I know that there are limits to how we can come to know the world through fiction, I long for novels that compel me into the pages, into the lives, into the world. I never came to care for Rosario's characters; their motivations seemed to elude me.
October 28, 2020
Oh lord, this has a lot in it. You follow a family through three generations at least. It is so interesting and honestly I would recommend but I do warn people that it is very raw and just real. It can be very descriptive at times and has a lot of strong content. However, it keeps the reader wanting to know what's next.
August 13, 2014
Leila's story is just rushed over. I don't see any similarities between her and her great-grandmother...
November 3, 2024
It's always a risky endeavor revisiting a book you remember loving and reading years ago (even worse when it was a book first read as a child/in formative years). Though going so long not rereading a book presents a unique opportunity to read it as though for the first time and with fresh eyes that allow for greater appreciation, it can backfire so that you end up not liking the text as much as you once thought. Such was the case for me with Song of the Water Saints.
The book opens with an act of violation that speaks to a prevailing violence throughout the text that does not abate: In the book, Rosario writes of a particularly dark chapter in Dominican history that has served as a precursor to its present: the violence and violation (both literal and metaphorical) of U.S. occupation and neocolonialism, racism and the sexual exploitation of the local population at the hands of foreign presence, the stain and residual societal ruin of genocide. The reality Rosario renders is not meant to be soft, enjoyable, or placid, and I respect the frankness with which she writes of it all.
Even 22 years following its publication, Rosario still remains one of the only published Dominican authors (in English or Spanish) that even references the island's 1937 genocide. Of the short list of what it felt she got right this time around does with commendable candor, Rosario's seemingly innocuous mention of parsley (112, 114) as a means of foreshadowing and her portrayal of brewing anti-Haitianism and anti-Blackness (103, 106-7, 119, 181-3, 192, 219) ahead of the genocide alongside glorification of perceived proximity to whiteness:
"Animals, he said they were, who had, in their twenty-year rule, destroyed the fabric of the country by expelling its best white families; and as the beasts came, with their savage religion and they're savage tongue, they took away the honest work from people like his grandfather, a hardworking Syrian who had hailed from the sultans of Spain..." (107)
.
"After feeling so unwanted by Graciela, Mercedes did get best to find her own worth: an ability with numbers and the reputation of a God-fearing hardworking girl were strongholds she herself had erected, and then there was her royal white blood" (162)
In line with the first quote, Rosario's portrayal of other immigrants (like Mustafá) and immigrant groups in DR at the time and their own perceived standing on the Dominican social ladder depicts the nascent stages of the sanctimonious, xenophobic beliefs in that regard that have taken root and still thrive, actively driving policy in DR to this day.
In spite of the novel's distressing backdrop (and perhaps because it is so distressing), the lack of likeable characters in Song of the Water Saints was even harder to accept as a reader. Mercedes is crotchety, bitter, and insufferable just like her mom Graciela, the family's eventual matriarch, and Leila, although in many ways naive, was beyond tough to root for. Mercedes's vengefulness (159) and spitefulness might have been somewhat excusable given her eventual life circumstances and the circumstances of her conception, but that it bled into her opinions and treatment of Haitians (103-4, 107, 181-2) and general acts of violence (103, 107, 177, 185, 218) that became far from justifiable. Even Leila (Graciela's great-granddaughter and Mercedes's granddaughter), who though not sardonic and stony like her foremothers, was irritating. Rosario endowing her with a propensity for multisyllabic words, for example, was more annoying than endearing—a peculiarity that lacked the desired effect.
On this reread, I often wondered how differently Rosario might've gone about executing the novel (if at all) now as a more seasoned writer. I also would've appreciated a more in-depth explanation of/connection to the book title than the one instance of its mention (29). Language throughout the text often alternated between confusing, excessively flowery, and/or clunky/overly literal translation attempts of Spanish idioms to English:
"¡Don't need to swallow my own spit 'cause you wanna fish!" (21)
.
"Still, the women liked to forget their work as Graciela wrung the rain out of their clouds." (23)
.
"Forget dirty tongues, she told herself." (24)
.
"No, Silvio was not like all the other dull men in town, with his narrow back, his yellowed naps..." (29)
.
"¿so when will my turn come to sip the juice from this life?" (43)
.
"In the kitchen Mercedes made the drink of dreams for her mother..." (177)
.
"Daily speech was reduced to whispers to keep the skies from shattering, as the most trivial of exchanges could cause pieces of heaven to flake off and lose divinity." (187)
.
"--And they killed the goat on you, look at those circles under your eyes, Mercedes blurted out." (207)
.
"He had glassy eyes in which Leila, with her tingling cheeks, saw herself reflected as a baked chicken." (229)
There is no use of Spanglish and minimal inclusion of Spanish words in the text, which I actually think did the narrative a grave disservice (particularly where the translation of idioms is concerned). As an avid bilingual reader of texts by Latine authors (and Dominican ones in particular), I can see just how much norms have (thankfully) evolved in the world of publishing, since previously, it was nearly impermissible to have work in circulation where Spanish words and phrases were not directly translated in order to cater to English-speaking audiences. I applaud this all-too-rare concession on the part of an otherwise archaic publishing industry, since keeping such literary elements in Spanish and incorporating Spanglish lends to greater authenticity and less awkward language across narratives as far as attempts at direct translations are concerned. In that same vein, Song of the Water Saints also suffers when attempting to relay different regional forms of Spanish within DR, which also adds to the clunkiness and is just plain difficult to read from having been translated into English, with its tangle of apostrophes and missing letters.
Rosario depicts generational ties, the inheritance of generational traumas, the bonds of female ancestry, and dreams as portents with dexterity. Vision through dreams in the novel is first exhibited through Graciela (172), then Mercedes (159, 192), and finally Leila dreaming of details of the life of the great-grandmother she's never met (238). I also liked the bold stylistic choice Rosario made to include inverted question and exclamation marks in English dialogue throughout the text as something of a shout-out to her characters, their spoken language, and the narrative's setting.
Similar to the disillusionment I felt recently when rereading How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, I've found myself constantly torn between my loyalty to the authors and what their novels meant to me in the past versus how I would quantify my sentiments on the narratives if I were now reading them for the very first time. I will always hold boundless respect for Dominican diaspora books that shaped my childhood when so few such works existed/were in circulation. That's why Song of the Water Saints gets 3 stars instead of the 2.5 I truly felt the text deserved during this reread.
Noteworthy lines and passages:
“…daily life itself seeped into Silvio and Graciela's bodies like cement.” (21)
"No article was too precious or too cheap to fold into his hands. He brought home random gifts for Graciela. From pewter spoons and saltshakers to lemons and hairpins..." (55)
"By 1921, when strains of ragtime from their new Victrola coaxed Graciela to their doorstep, sugar beet was once again thriving in France, and the world's war-torn pockets were being restitched by hand." (88)
"The major lines on the palm made him question his own gift of seeing beyond, a gift he had always flexed like natural breath." (113)
"Casimiro guided Graciela tightly against the bass riffs, around the güira's lisp, through the crooner's ay mi negra. Under his arm, 'round, left, right, around. Expert in moves of the feet and the arms, he pretzeled her." (123)
"Her eyes had lost their luster, but gained depth in the bargain. Faint splotches spread like continents on her skin." (166)
"Early one morning, a few months after her arrival, an aneurysm propelled Graciela to the clouds with which she had always communed." (171)
"A stiletto heel had sliced into her canvas shoes like a knife into fresh bread..." (200)
"She had ultimately become Miriam de Gautreaux's best pastry student, which is why her body had expanded like bread, with the increasing success of her cake-making business. She believed that although everyone used the same ingredients, her cakes secreted a drug from the way her flour married the milk, her eggs hugged the batter, her rum kissed the sugar through the powerful forearms she'd developed." (217-8)
"The morning was wet, yet surprisingly peaceful after the night she had endured. Even days have their sleepy side, Leila thought..." (235)
The book opens with an act of violation that speaks to a prevailing violence throughout the text that does not abate: In the book, Rosario writes of a particularly dark chapter in Dominican history that has served as a precursor to its present: the violence and violation (both literal and metaphorical) of U.S. occupation and neocolonialism, racism and the sexual exploitation of the local population at the hands of foreign presence, the stain and residual societal ruin of genocide. The reality Rosario renders is not meant to be soft, enjoyable, or placid, and I respect the frankness with which she writes of it all.
Even 22 years following its publication, Rosario still remains one of the only published Dominican authors (in English or Spanish) that even references the island's 1937 genocide. Of the short list of what it felt she got right this time around does with commendable candor, Rosario's seemingly innocuous mention of parsley (112, 114) as a means of foreshadowing and her portrayal of brewing anti-Haitianism and anti-Blackness (103, 106-7, 119, 181-3, 192, 219) ahead of the genocide alongside glorification of perceived proximity to whiteness:
"Animals, he said they were, who had, in their twenty-year rule, destroyed the fabric of the country by expelling its best white families; and as the beasts came, with their savage religion and they're savage tongue, they took away the honest work from people like his grandfather, a hardworking Syrian who had hailed from the sultans of Spain..." (107)
.
"After feeling so unwanted by Graciela, Mercedes did get best to find her own worth: an ability with numbers and the reputation of a God-fearing hardworking girl were strongholds she herself had erected, and then there was her royal white blood" (162)
In line with the first quote, Rosario's portrayal of other immigrants (like Mustafá) and immigrant groups in DR at the time and their own perceived standing on the Dominican social ladder depicts the nascent stages of the sanctimonious, xenophobic beliefs in that regard that have taken root and still thrive, actively driving policy in DR to this day.
In spite of the novel's distressing backdrop (and perhaps because it is so distressing), the lack of likeable characters in Song of the Water Saints was even harder to accept as a reader. Mercedes is crotchety, bitter, and insufferable just like her mom Graciela, the family's eventual matriarch, and Leila, although in many ways naive, was beyond tough to root for. Mercedes's vengefulness (159) and spitefulness might have been somewhat excusable given her eventual life circumstances and the circumstances of her conception, but that it bled into her opinions and treatment of Haitians (103-4, 107, 181-2) and general acts of violence (103, 107, 177, 185, 218) that became far from justifiable. Even Leila (Graciela's great-granddaughter and Mercedes's granddaughter), who though not sardonic and stony like her foremothers, was irritating. Rosario endowing her with a propensity for multisyllabic words, for example, was more annoying than endearing—a peculiarity that lacked the desired effect.
On this reread, I often wondered how differently Rosario might've gone about executing the novel (if at all) now as a more seasoned writer. I also would've appreciated a more in-depth explanation of/connection to the book title than the one instance of its mention (29). Language throughout the text often alternated between confusing, excessively flowery, and/or clunky/overly literal translation attempts of Spanish idioms to English:
"¡Don't need to swallow my own spit 'cause you wanna fish!" (21)
.
"Still, the women liked to forget their work as Graciela wrung the rain out of their clouds." (23)
.
"Forget dirty tongues, she told herself." (24)
.
"No, Silvio was not like all the other dull men in town, with his narrow back, his yellowed naps..." (29)
.
"¿so when will my turn come to sip the juice from this life?" (43)
.
"In the kitchen Mercedes made the drink of dreams for her mother..." (177)
.
"Daily speech was reduced to whispers to keep the skies from shattering, as the most trivial of exchanges could cause pieces of heaven to flake off and lose divinity." (187)
.
"--And they killed the goat on you, look at those circles under your eyes, Mercedes blurted out." (207)
.
"He had glassy eyes in which Leila, with her tingling cheeks, saw herself reflected as a baked chicken." (229)
There is no use of Spanglish and minimal inclusion of Spanish words in the text, which I actually think did the narrative a grave disservice (particularly where the translation of idioms is concerned). As an avid bilingual reader of texts by Latine authors (and Dominican ones in particular), I can see just how much norms have (thankfully) evolved in the world of publishing, since previously, it was nearly impermissible to have work in circulation where Spanish words and phrases were not directly translated in order to cater to English-speaking audiences. I applaud this all-too-rare concession on the part of an otherwise archaic publishing industry, since keeping such literary elements in Spanish and incorporating Spanglish lends to greater authenticity and less awkward language across narratives as far as attempts at direct translations are concerned. In that same vein, Song of the Water Saints also suffers when attempting to relay different regional forms of Spanish within DR, which also adds to the clunkiness and is just plain difficult to read from having been translated into English, with its tangle of apostrophes and missing letters.
Rosario depicts generational ties, the inheritance of generational traumas, the bonds of female ancestry, and dreams as portents with dexterity. Vision through dreams in the novel is first exhibited through Graciela (172), then Mercedes (159, 192), and finally Leila dreaming of details of the life of the great-grandmother she's never met (238). I also liked the bold stylistic choice Rosario made to include inverted question and exclamation marks in English dialogue throughout the text as something of a shout-out to her characters, their spoken language, and the narrative's setting.
Similar to the disillusionment I felt recently when rereading How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, I've found myself constantly torn between my loyalty to the authors and what their novels meant to me in the past versus how I would quantify my sentiments on the narratives if I were now reading them for the very first time. I will always hold boundless respect for Dominican diaspora books that shaped my childhood when so few such works existed/were in circulation. That's why Song of the Water Saints gets 3 stars instead of the 2.5 I truly felt the text deserved during this reread.
Noteworthy lines and passages:
“…daily life itself seeped into Silvio and Graciela's bodies like cement.” (21)
"No article was too precious or too cheap to fold into his hands. He brought home random gifts for Graciela. From pewter spoons and saltshakers to lemons and hairpins..." (55)
"By 1921, when strains of ragtime from their new Victrola coaxed Graciela to their doorstep, sugar beet was once again thriving in France, and the world's war-torn pockets were being restitched by hand." (88)
"The major lines on the palm made him question his own gift of seeing beyond, a gift he had always flexed like natural breath." (113)
"Casimiro guided Graciela tightly against the bass riffs, around the güira's lisp, through the crooner's ay mi negra. Under his arm, 'round, left, right, around. Expert in moves of the feet and the arms, he pretzeled her." (123)
"Her eyes had lost their luster, but gained depth in the bargain. Faint splotches spread like continents on her skin." (166)
"Early one morning, a few months after her arrival, an aneurysm propelled Graciela to the clouds with which she had always communed." (171)
"A stiletto heel had sliced into her canvas shoes like a knife into fresh bread..." (200)
"She had ultimately become Miriam de Gautreaux's best pastry student, which is why her body had expanded like bread, with the increasing success of her cake-making business. She believed that although everyone used the same ingredients, her cakes secreted a drug from the way her flour married the milk, her eggs hugged the batter, her rum kissed the sugar through the powerful forearms she'd developed." (217-8)
"The morning was wet, yet surprisingly peaceful after the night she had endured. Even days have their sleepy side, Leila thought..." (235)
December 13, 2019
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. With PBT, I pick things up that I never would have, and I am so grateful. The Dominican Republican tag led me to this one. I think its very possible that others would love this. I have in mind Book Concierge who has a hispanic book group. I will mail it to you, or to anyone if they like.
Four generations of Dominican women are traced through years of oppression and early dominican life to the woman who holds the generations and the stories in her cells, whether she knows the stories or not. The women who were her history are depicted in this novel. Not my cup of tea. But probably a quite good cup nonetheless.
Four generations of Dominican women are traced through years of oppression and early dominican life to the woman who holds the generations and the stories in her cells, whether she knows the stories or not. The women who were her history are depicted in this novel. Not my cup of tea. But probably a quite good cup nonetheless.
December 23, 2021
Intensely poetic novel about generations of women in the Dominican Republic struggling with family, fate, and desire. Rosario expertly conveys the early 20th century with well-chosen strokes of color, bringing the era and the location to life with all its grit, poverty, culture, and colonialist affronts. The characters don't always behave nicely, but Rosario keeps you interested. And she manages the difficult task of slipping through the decades with ease. By the time you've finished, you really feel as if you've made a long, poignant, satisfying journey.
August 31, 2020
I would be curious to hear what other people have to say about this book. There were some interesting aspects, but the story just didn't grab me, and the language didn't really speak to me. I imagine that there's some cultural significance that I'm missing; that's probably a factor.
July 22, 2018
It took me awhile to finish this book. It was not so engaging in the beginning but picked up midway through the book. A lot of history and factual events included.
August 26, 2018
Lyric and lush. It was easy to fall in love with these characters and to trust them as they moved through generations.
October 7, 2024
i understand how important graciela’s experiences are and how a similar strong-willed attitude is seen throughout her lineage, but i wish that there was more focus on the following generations (mercedes, amalfi, leila).
February 27, 2025
Mi sensación con esta novela es que es un proyecto incompleto.
Da un poco la sensación de que la autora tenía una vaga idea de lo que quería hacer y en eso se quedó el libro. En una cosa vaga e incompleta.
No había leído antes (que recuerde ahora) una novela de tipo saga familiar, y no era así como me imaginaba que fueran (y ahora habiendo leído alguna otra confirmo que no es así como son ni cómo deben ser).
Para empezar, que tenga menos de 300 páginas una novela de este tipo… chirría.
De la familia “conocemos” (entre comillas) a tres mujeres de tres generaciones distintas (Graciela, Mercedes y Leila). Y lo expreso así porque para mí no acabamos conociendo nada sobre ellas. Principalmente porque se centra en una en concreto (creo que dedica algo más de la primera mitad a Graciela) y a las otras dos les dedica un esfuerzo mínimo. (Da un poco la sensación de que la autora quería hacer una novela con varias generaciones por algún motivo desconocido, pero sólo tenía un primer personaje en mente).
Tampoco nos vayamos a pensar que Graciela es un gran personaje y por ello está así planteada la novela. Simplemente no.
No entiendo. Nada me tiene sentido. Al principio me interesaba la historia por conocer un poco más la cultura de la República Dominicana, pero tampoco creo que la novela se destaque demasiado en este aspecto.
Acabé bastante harta de la historia, y sinceramente la terminé porque no me gusta dejar las cosas a medias (y es verdad que alguna vez algún libro me ha dado una sorpresa al final, que tampoco ha sido el caso. Más bien se iba deshinchando la historia cada vez más).
Quizás haya alguien por ahí a quien esté libro le haya cambiado la vida, pero a mí desde luego que no.
Voy a reconocerle una cosa a la autora, y es que en medio de una obra tan caótica, en algunas ocasiones aparecía una escritura cuidada y con bastante lirismo.
Si leemos la descripción que aparece en esta app sobre la novela lo primero que pone es “vibrante y provocativa”, bueno, me opongo totalmente a estos adjetivos.
Ya para acabar, cuando no me gusta mucho un libro, intento proponer alguna alternativa de corte similar que me parezca que puede ser una opción algo mejor. En este caso siendo una saga familiar, recomiendo “Pachinko” de Min Jin Lee, que también explora los mismos temas (maternidad, identidad, emigración…) y es muchísimo más completa y cuidada (y para mí de 5 estrellas).
2/5⭐️
Da un poco la sensación de que la autora tenía una vaga idea de lo que quería hacer y en eso se quedó el libro. En una cosa vaga e incompleta.
No había leído antes (que recuerde ahora) una novela de tipo saga familiar, y no era así como me imaginaba que fueran (y ahora habiendo leído alguna otra confirmo que no es así como son ni cómo deben ser).
Para empezar, que tenga menos de 300 páginas una novela de este tipo… chirría.
De la familia “conocemos” (entre comillas) a tres mujeres de tres generaciones distintas (Graciela, Mercedes y Leila). Y lo expreso así porque para mí no acabamos conociendo nada sobre ellas. Principalmente porque se centra en una en concreto (creo que dedica algo más de la primera mitad a Graciela) y a las otras dos les dedica un esfuerzo mínimo. (Da un poco la sensación de que la autora quería hacer una novela con varias generaciones por algún motivo desconocido, pero sólo tenía un primer personaje en mente).
Tampoco nos vayamos a pensar que Graciela es un gran personaje y por ello está así planteada la novela. Simplemente no.
No entiendo. Nada me tiene sentido. Al principio me interesaba la historia por conocer un poco más la cultura de la República Dominicana, pero tampoco creo que la novela se destaque demasiado en este aspecto.
Acabé bastante harta de la historia, y sinceramente la terminé porque no me gusta dejar las cosas a medias (y es verdad que alguna vez algún libro me ha dado una sorpresa al final, que tampoco ha sido el caso. Más bien se iba deshinchando la historia cada vez más).
Quizás haya alguien por ahí a quien esté libro le haya cambiado la vida, pero a mí desde luego que no.
Voy a reconocerle una cosa a la autora, y es que en medio de una obra tan caótica, en algunas ocasiones aparecía una escritura cuidada y con bastante lirismo.
Si leemos la descripción que aparece en esta app sobre la novela lo primero que pone es “vibrante y provocativa”, bueno, me opongo totalmente a estos adjetivos.
Ya para acabar, cuando no me gusta mucho un libro, intento proponer alguna alternativa de corte similar que me parezca que puede ser una opción algo mejor. En este caso siendo una saga familiar, recomiendo “Pachinko” de Min Jin Lee, que también explora los mismos temas (maternidad, identidad, emigración…) y es muchísimo más completa y cuidada (y para mí de 5 estrellas).
2/5⭐️
October 4, 2007
SO I read this because it was assigned in my "Novel on the Globe" course. We are basically reading a bunch of different novels from places that arent first world or western.
This one takes place primarily in the Dominican Republic. Following three or four generations of women through their struggling between the poor and oppressive society/environment they grow up in and their attempts to realize their dreams and desires. Sound like some corny shit? Well, its actually not. Its just really boring and predictable. I appreciate the attempt to exhibit life in the D.R. since the beginning of 20th century, its relation to the U.S. and the strange culture that has been created from years of Spanish-Catholic colonization. However, this book is essentially written by a 2nd or 3rd generation Dominican who lives in Williamsburg. Her attempts of showing the interesting contours of dominicain life with the language and idioms of popular american english was jolting. Not to mention that every bit of imagery and foreshadowing felt like it was out of "How to write 101". Brief moments of brilliance came when dealing with the internal thoughts of women characters. Not entirely horrible, not memorable nor significant either. This author may do best with a novel taking place in a more contemporary setting.
next.
This one takes place primarily in the Dominican Republic. Following three or four generations of women through their struggling between the poor and oppressive society/environment they grow up in and their attempts to realize their dreams and desires. Sound like some corny shit? Well, its actually not. Its just really boring and predictable. I appreciate the attempt to exhibit life in the D.R. since the beginning of 20th century, its relation to the U.S. and the strange culture that has been created from years of Spanish-Catholic colonization. However, this book is essentially written by a 2nd or 3rd generation Dominican who lives in Williamsburg. Her attempts of showing the interesting contours of dominicain life with the language and idioms of popular american english was jolting. Not to mention that every bit of imagery and foreshadowing felt like it was out of "How to write 101". Brief moments of brilliance came when dealing with the internal thoughts of women characters. Not entirely horrible, not memorable nor significant either. This author may do best with a novel taking place in a more contemporary setting.
next.
July 26, 2015
Took me a while to figure out what this was about, because I thought it had to do with the relationship between Haiti and DR, but it didn't. Good story about three generations of Dominican women -- I could see my grandmother, my aunts/mothers/father oddly enough, and cousins reflected in each woman presented. Had a slow start and felt like Leila's story was rushed compared to Mercedes' and definitely compared to Graciela's. Conflicted between 3 stars or 4, but I'll give it 4. Biggest problem: didn't like how the women's narratives were centered on the men present or absent from their lives. There is more. We are more. Also super interesting how she uses ""s when people talk in English but — when people talk in Spanish.
March 11, 2011
eh, it was okay. also read this for Caribbean Romances. I wasn't enamored by the prose, it was pretty expected setting aside these one or two really weird ghost/dream paragraphs that almost get lost in the rest of the novel.
really, i just felt like it was nothing too exciting, and the end was so goddamned cheesy.
the beginning was interesting i guess. it starts off with this postcard of a ... uhm, Caribbean Romance. Haha. but it doesn't really go too deep into what is interesting about photographing these romances.
really, i just felt like it was nothing too exciting, and the end was so goddamned cheesy.
the beginning was interesting i guess. it starts off with this postcard of a ... uhm, Caribbean Romance. Haha. but it doesn't really go too deep into what is interesting about photographing these romances.
January 2, 2017
Set in the 20th century of DR, the story follows a line of women, starting with Graciela, to Mercedes, to granddaughter Leila. Lovely prose connects the three women through visions and dreams and history.
June 16, 2019
read for senior sem:
uhhhhhh big uhhh about this!!!
ultimately this book is about colonization and also reconnecting letting yourself be a part of your family and it’s definitely moving and well written uhhh
uhhhhhh big uhhh about this!!!
ultimately this book is about colonization and also reconnecting letting yourself be a part of your family and it’s definitely moving and well written uhhh
December 13, 2025
Story of four generations of Dominican women from the early 1900s to the present, though most of the story is of the first one presented. The characters are real with all the flaws of real people given the circumstances of being poor in this culture.
February 1, 2008
Too sexually graphic for my liking. It wasn't sweet sexuality, but dirty and almost disturbing. I had to read it for school and would not recommend it.
September 24, 2011
The story of a family over three generations, gives you an idea about what immigration means for a family, across time, and for the identities that family members form.
April 14, 2015
3.5
Rad bookstore (La Casa Azul!!!!!), okay book! I struggle with these like multigenerational sagas a lot.
Rad bookstore (La Casa Azul!!!!!), okay book! I struggle with these like multigenerational sagas a lot.
June 23, 2015
I really wanted to like this book but I ended up having to force myself to finish it.
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