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A review by eirenophile
Bitter Grounds by Sandra Benítez
Did not finish book.
Maybe if I stuck with this book a little longer I would actually like it, but I'm halfway through the second chapter and giving up. I don't usually read this type of fiction, but a book about mothers and daughters in El Salvador sounded very appealing. Unfortunately, the first mother depicted, Mercedes, is a flat caricature.
Here's a couple of passages that turned me off:
"To show respect, Mercedes had lowered her gaze, but the priest's words confused her. Goyo was not an unbeliever. Mercedes and Ignacio had known Goyo and Pru for twenty-five years, and the compadres believed, as she and Ignacio did, in the gods of their people. In Xipotepec, the god of corn. In Tlaloc, the god of rain. In Tzultacah, the god of the earth." (p. 12)
I would probably let this slide in a different genre, but if I'm going to take the time and energy to read general fiction I expect more.
Here's a couple of passages that turned me off:
"To show respect, Mercedes had lowered her gaze, but the priest's words confused her. Goyo was not an unbeliever. Mercedes and Ignacio had known Goyo and Pru for twenty-five years, and the compadres believed, as she and Ignacio did, in the gods of their people. In Xipotepec, the god of corn. In Tlaloc, the god of rain. In Tzultacah, the god of the earth." (p. 12)
I would probably let this slide in a different genre, but if I'm going to take the time and energy to read general fiction I expect more.