The Coffee Diary

by Caroline Kellems

Two years after her father's brutal murder, Veronica returns to Guatemala to decide whether to sell her family's coffee farm. Stumbling upon the journal from her teenage years, she recalls crucial events from the past, in particular the arrival of her younger, illegitimate half-brother. This trauma changes her, and forever links her family to Jaime, the man who later becomes the town's corrupt mayor. Born into the lower class and yearning for respectability, Jaime turned to illegal activities to break the inevitable cycle of poverty. Now he is determined to have Veronica's farm by any means possible. During the years she lived away, memories of her country the haunting landscapes, the beauty of the coffee farm, traditions, and faith. Upon returning she discovers, despite corruption, violence, and organized crime, a sense of belonging not experienced elsewhere. The country casts its spell on her and she realizes that Mayor Jaime, the villain she thought threatened her, is just a man shaped by the unforgiving nature of Guatemalan society.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 22, 2010

Reviews

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book as it made me feel at home since I grew up in Guatemala. I am not talking so much about the storyline but about how the author describes the country and the people the food and its customs. She did a great job of bringing Guatemala alive for me.
The story mainly takes place in the small town of Moyuta, on a coffee farm where the main character Veronica (Vero) Villagr_n grew up, the daughter of a North American mother and a Guatemalan father.
Her parents had gone through personal problems, and she and her mother left to live in California and 10years later and 2 years after her father had been murdered, Veronica goes back to Guatemala where she is being asked to sell the farms, that she had inherited, by the town's corrupt mayor Jaime Ramirez.
The coffee diary is a diary she had kept when she was a young teen and she finds it, in her room at the farm and uses it as a reference to thing present and past. This story deals with corruption, some violence and organized crime, but also how these thing have shaped the people of the town. There are some great friendships with people she had not see since her youth and a rekindling of feelings for a past love interest. This was a really good story.

The Author, went down to Guatemala in 1985 with the Peace Corps,and while there met her Guatemalan husband, who's family has been involved with growing coffee for generations. As she states: "she felt compelled to write The Coffee Diary, a novel influenced by her family's life and an expression of love for her adopted country."

[Brandon O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know the author and was worried. What if I really didn't like her book and this is our next book for our book club? No need to worry. I think anyone who lives or has a connection with Guatemala or is interested in a good book on the country would enjoy this tale.
The book centers around Veronica - a half Guatemalan, half U.S. citizen who fled to California after her father's murder. She has never fully dealt with his death or what to do with the property (2 coffee farms) her father left her. A choice must now be made because the corrupt, drug running mayor of the city wants the property. Veronica deals with her present by looking at her past in the Coffee Diary she kept as a teenage girl.
A fast, excellent read!

[Maddie Hren · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the cultural aspects of life in rural Guatemala are refredhingly accurate, the dialogue in the novel is forced and stilted. Interesting plot but poorly written

[Greg Bascom · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the fall of 2005, Veronica Villagrán, who has been living in San Francisco for ten years, receives a phone call from the past that she has been avoiding. The mayor of Moyuta, a rural town in Guatemala, wants to buy, for two million dollars cash, one of the coffee plantations Vero inherited. But the farm has been the family homestead for generations. Uncertain what to do, Vero returns to her homeland where she must confront the corrupt mayor and his henchmen. She becomes torn between renouncing her heritage if she sells and life threatening reprisals if she refuses.

Although a native of California, Caroline Kellems went to Guatemala in 1985 where she met her husband. They own a coffee plantation in Moyuta. With the authority of one who knows, Kellems seamlessly weaves into her story the sights, sounds and feel of rural Guatemala, its traditions, superstitions and concerns…and its dangers.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's human nature to push from our lives those things which cause us pain. The main character, Veronica, has been doing this for fourteen years. No longer a troubled teen, Veronica goes home to Guatemala to deal with her inheritance and feels her old life pulling her back. Should she allow herself to be swallowed back up into a culture that can be so violent and brutal or should she return the life she has worked hard to create for herself in the United States? And can she trust her old friends? Can she even trust her own family?

[Stephanie Bonin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this but probably most of the enjoyment is because I am in Guatemala and it is about a woman needing to decide if she is going to take over her father's coffee farm. First novel from this wonderful women (whom I met in Guatemala City) and I loved the suspense and romance!

[Truff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like this book was trying to teach me about coffee planations and Guatamela, not tell a fictional story. Main charachter seemed cardboard and flat, and I didn't much like her.

Also kept switching back between time periods and it was confusing.

[Deedee]

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