morebedsidebooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
2.0
Certainty gives only momentary relief, for truth is always overwhelming. You can assimilate it if it comes to you gradually, just as the earth of Galicia absorbs the water falling from the sky; but when truth washes over you like a tsunami, it causes as much anguish as the blackest of all lies.
By popular Spanish writer Dolores Redondo, the bestselling chilling thriller All This I Will Give to You, taking its name from Mathew 4:9 when the devil tempts Jesus, is long. I hesitate to say too long, because it is vivid, but it is long. The novel following a successful novelist named Manuel Ortigosa trying to sort through his grief, anger, and questions after the sudden death of his husband when nearly everyone he meets in picturesque Galicia is hiding or lying about something, honesty felt as if I was watching a heavy crime drama that was unfolding over a season. (No wonder some of the author’s work has been adapted to film.) Maybe people are more accustomed to binging media these days. "Page-turner" is one description used for this book, but I don’t know if that is wise with this story as it is so detailed. So much packed into the characters, setting, events. A lot of it can be affecting too as the book turns increasingly down painful paths dealing with both present and past for the characters. Again, is it too much?
There are some things I cannot get into with this review without spoilers. Without this please refer to the content notes when provided. In this review I’ve added them to the specific sections below. However, if one doesn’t mind:
Pertaining to the subject of rape
1) Related by a character whose mother was assaulted in his youth, describing in detail the aftermath.
2) Then later this same character goes on to also describe years back assaulting his wife, their estrangement, and the remorse he feels. This confession leads to an odd paragraph I’m going to quote from the English translation by Michael Meigs: “A suffering sinner had opened himself, and the profound sense of a shared humanity both provoked rejection and made him feel complicit in evil, as if Manuel too shared the responsibility for all the horrors, humiliations, and affronts committed against all women everywhere from the beginning of time. And he saw the truth of it. Every man on earth, by the simple fact of his masculinity, is guilty of causing all that suffering.” I have no idea if the English text well reflects the original. I think what the passage is trying to get at is (toxic) masculinity and privilege. But the last line makes me unsure if instead it is courting moral or causal thought on collective responsibility. Which is a very complicated subject. Worse though is this passage appears to insinuate the issue to be wholly put at the foot of masculinity. Which is just not true.
FYI this couple also make up by the end.
3) On page a female character also threatens to use false rape allegations against another male character.
1) Related by a character whose mother was assaulted in his youth, describing in detail the aftermath.
2) Then later this same character goes on to also describe years back assaulting his wife, their estrangement, and the remorse he feels. This confession leads to an odd paragraph I’m going to quote from the English translation by Michael Meigs: “A suffering sinner had opened himself, and the profound sense of a shared humanity both provoked rejection and made him feel complicit in evil, as if Manuel too shared the responsibility for all the horrors, humiliations, and affronts committed against all women everywhere from the beginning of time. And he saw the truth of it. Every man on earth, by the simple fact of his masculinity, is guilty of causing all that suffering.” I have no idea if the English text well reflects the original. I think what the passage is trying to get at is (toxic) masculinity and privilege. But the last line makes me unsure if instead it is courting moral or causal thought on collective responsibility. Which is a very complicated subject. Worse though is this passage appears to insinuate the issue to be wholly put at the foot of masculinity. Which is just not true.
FYI this couple also make up by the end.
3) On page a female character also threatens to use false rape allegations against another male character.
Pertaining to clergy abuse, paedophilia, rape, suicide
4) There is a character who experienced childhood sexual abuse by a monk. His assault and injuries are also related by others in detail on page. Lots of discussion of Catholicism, God, and abuse.
As an adult this character attempts, not once, but twice to commit suicide. He is successful the second time. The first attempt is related by others in text, the second is on page. Here’s a link for support to the website of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) https://www.snapnetwork.org
Nor is it the only (presumed or otherwise) suicide described or enacted on page.
Thus, the entire subject of rape in the novel is framed not through victims but, others. And Manuel starts putting the exact details of some of these horrible experiences among others in a new book he starts writing. So, some passages are repeated in the text. I love the sections of Maunel describing how important writing is to him. In real life it’s valid a way for people to process. But I question how that matches up with the point about confronting and writing out HIS OWN truth like his first and still best novel.
Redondo has only added a bunch of acknowledgements at the end of her book. But she perhaps could benefit with advice on some sensitive aspects of the novel. I dislike saying it but any sense of achieving quite the right gravitas in the writing, is given over to something more like watching with popcorn. For a meticulous story, where it doesn’t go can also tell a lot or cheapen what it does do. There is an edge of social commentary. An overreaching theme is privilege. Yet, the crimes and tragedy working into some points feels a bit undeveloped or dull somehow. Sharing or avoiding pain is the persistent if staggered theme. But likewise, rather than the story directions reaching certain outcomes it feels instead chiefly all too tidily engineered for the main character to move on— from a lot of things. Then too a good deal of the mystery is predictable. However, that only seemed to increase the amount of dread the title marinates in, in between lush descriptions of food, drink, and the late Spanish summer.
In fact, my feelings aren’t settled about the book or how the author handles certain subjects. Still, I went ahead with writing a review. For what it’s worth I wanted at least to log more comprehensive content notes than I found before I began it. I enjoy many crime dramas and mysteries. But honestly had I found more information in researching this novel, I would have rightly chosen to put this book aside to read at another point.
If you have a good amount of time to get lost in something All This I Will Give to You may be the read you’re looking for. But to quote the character of Nogueira, a retired cop with a grudge against the Muñiz de Dávila family:
“But first and foremost I have to warn you it’s possible you might not like what you turn up.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
Clergy abuse is a topic. There are also instances depicting sex work and mentions of blackmail.
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