jacobsite's review against another edition
2.0
Just realized I sounded massively bitter in my old review so I'm just gonna delete me being toxic for the length of a dissertation and say that while I enjoyed a lot of the writing and structure of this novel, and the last third of the book I believe is genuinely fantastic, the plot for the vast majority of the book is tackling way too much for its own good, sometimes to the point of it being incomprehensible. This could've been a great coming of age book discussing loss and separation, but that core gets lost very easily.
lovegirl30's review against another edition
This was my first Cuban-American novel. I had also never read anything in the political genre. It was a rather interesting story.
The story starts out with Soledad and her two twin children who immigrate to America in 1980 during the Mariel boat lift which was a mass emigration of Cubans who traveled from Cuba's Mariel Harbor to the United States. They ultimately were looking to gain asylum by taking refuge on the grounds of the Peruvian embassy; the Cuban Government announced that anyone who wanted to leave could do so. The ensuing mass migration was organized by Cuban-Americans with the agreement of Cuban President Fidel Castro.
At this time Jimmy Carter was President. This caused countless political problems. Apparently, it had been discovered that some the refugees had been released from Cuban jails and mental health facilities. The Mariel boatlift was ended by agreement between two governments in late 1980 after as many as 125,000 Cubans reached Florida.
Sadly I did feel a bit bored during the story. Ultimately, I was expecting an immigrant experience story, and it doesn't read like that, but more of a dysfunctional family saga. Many layers but lots of drama. Maybe even too much drama.
Overall a decent read.
Disclaimer I received this book for review. Thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley as well as Blogging for books. All thoughts are my own.
crtsjffrsn's review against another edition
2.0
This was an incredibly challenging read. The author doesn't use quotation marks and there is a lot of dialogue between characters interspersed with narration. It took a great deal of focus to keep track of who was speaking and when, and it significantly impacted the opportunity to engage with and enjoy the overall story.
The story itself is okay, but I found myself missing why it was particularly compelling. It may be that the problem with dialogue made it harder to connect with the characters, but it was definitely challenging to really find significance in what seems like it should be a very significant story.
[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.]
The story itself is okay, but I found myself missing why it was particularly compelling. It may be that the problem with dialogue made it harder to connect with the characters, but it was definitely challenging to really find significance in what seems like it should be a very significant story.
[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.]
courthompson's review against another edition
3.0
This was a bit too cerebral and internal for me. I couldn't relate to the religious pulls for most of the characters, but I thought the nostalgia for a life that never truly existed was beautifully described.
sephipiderwitch's review against another edition
4.0
I had a hard time deciding how to rate this book. It is truly an excellent piece of writing. The prose is haunting and soul piercing. However, it is one of the most depressing books I have read in a long time. It follows a mother and her two children who flee Cuba, leaving the father behind. It was fascinating in its portrayal of what Cuba was like, the people, the way of life. It was also to me a stark testament to the horror of religious fanaticism as Isabel (the daughter) commits herself to the church, gives up her right to speech, to live a normal life and subjects herself to self deprecation and suffering. Ulises seems to be more of an agnostic or atheist in contrast arguing against his sister's fanaticism. The story is interesting. They all seem to be drawn back to the father they left behind, each for their own reason. I am not sure if I would recommend this book or not. My own personal feelings about religion and such caused much of the story to leave a bad taste in my mouth and it is a rather depressing tale. Eloquently told, but depressing. I suppose people will need to decide for themselves.
fairybookmother's review against another edition
3.0
The sin is in the knowing. The sin Christ confronts in the desert is the knowledge that his body is useless and, dangerously, how easily he can dismiss it. He will see how tiny a thing he is doing. He will know how small he is as a human being, how little he can change the world as a lump of flesh. The moment he knows, he can and will and should let it all fall away. He will enact the right of a God on Earth; he will make food from stone. He will shake water from the clouds. He will walk into a city and take it.
Derek Palacio's debut novel The Mortifications follows a Cuban family in the 1980s. Soledad Encarnación and her two children, twins Ulises and Isabel, leave behind a husband and father to escape the revolutions of Fidel Castro's Cuba. Like many novels of families, this one has its share of interesting characters who all represent some aspect of humanity. Soledad is a mother trying to do the best thing for her children, Isabel finds solace and meaning in religion, Ulises finds himself through the classics and agriculture, and Henri becomes the stand-in father figure.
While I found the first half of the book incredibly engaging, I found the last half stretching for believability and substance. Palacio is a talented writer. However, I found some of the metaphors and similes and symbolism reaching a little too far at times. When I see a character named Ulises, I almost expect a Cuban expression of something resembling Homer's The Odyssey. At first, the novel did feel like it would go in that direction, and it did, a little bit, with Ulises becoming fascinated by classics during a recovery period. I almost wonder, as I've seen similar things before in post-MBA debut novels, if this is a rite of passage, a stuffing of everything you've learned into one novel whether or not it actually works. I felt that there were also too many characters for how short this is. I think following one or two of the characters and their immigration experience (and even their return home) would have made for a richer novel.
However, I did enjoy reading this, and I will recommend it to people interested in immigrant experiences and Cuban-American experiences.
Thank you to Crown Publishing/Blogging for Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
Derek Palacio's debut novel The Mortifications follows a Cuban family in the 1980s. Soledad Encarnación and her two children, twins Ulises and Isabel, leave behind a husband and father to escape the revolutions of Fidel Castro's Cuba. Like many novels of families, this one has its share of interesting characters who all represent some aspect of humanity. Soledad is a mother trying to do the best thing for her children, Isabel finds solace and meaning in religion, Ulises finds himself through the classics and agriculture, and Henri becomes the stand-in father figure.
While I found the first half of the book incredibly engaging, I found the last half stretching for believability and substance. Palacio is a talented writer. However, I found some of the metaphors and similes and symbolism reaching a little too far at times. When I see a character named Ulises, I almost expect a Cuban expression of something resembling Homer's The Odyssey. At first, the novel did feel like it would go in that direction, and it did, a little bit, with Ulises becoming fascinated by classics during a recovery period. I almost wonder, as I've seen similar things before in post-MBA debut novels, if this is a rite of passage, a stuffing of everything you've learned into one novel whether or not it actually works. I felt that there were also too many characters for how short this is. I think following one or two of the characters and their immigration experience (and even their return home) would have made for a richer novel.
However, I did enjoy reading this, and I will recommend it to people interested in immigrant experiences and Cuban-American experiences.
Thank you to Crown Publishing/Blogging for Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
thebookramblings's review against another edition
3.0
This is not typically a book that I would reach for, but I was interested enough to request it for review. It is a rather slow pace, but it is beautifully written. It is about a Cuban family who comes to the United States to begin a new life and get away from what was going on in their home country. It gives a look into families, longing, change, adapting, and the characters as individuals. What I enjoyed the most is the insight into immigration and the psychological look into each person in the story throughout. I thought given the circumstances, the characters were realistically portrayed when it comes to being reserved and certain aspects to them. It was overall a book that I liked, but wish I enjoyed more. It was well-crafted with beautiful prose, and a complex story.
I received a copy in exchange for an unbiased review through Blogging for Books. All opinions are my own.
I received a copy in exchange for an unbiased review through Blogging for Books. All opinions are my own.
wrh121's review against another edition
2.0
This book is beautifully written and the characters are so well thought out that I thought I would love it. For some reason though, I could never get into the plot. There is a mix of surreal within this story of a Cuban family that I enjoyed but I never could connect with the characters themselves and never believed they really every connected with each other.