Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'
Where They Burn Books, They Also Burn People by Marcos Antonio Hernandez
1 review
sarahbythebook's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
4.0
This book was such a journey. Sitting at just about 500 pages, the first half dragged--there was so much context and backstory to build up--and the second half absolutely flew by.
Two stories play out across over 400 years but are deeply intertwined. In the late 1500s, Friar Diego de Landa finds himself in the New World, ready to bring about the Age of the Holy Spirit, a secret and heretical belief among some clergy. He believes God has called him to convert the native populations to bring about this new age, and over the course of his service, he becomes a cruel and exacting religious zealot, destroying the lives and culture of the Maya people.
Cortez Vuscar is a pathetic twenty-something with no life outside of the church and no social skills. One act of kindness leads to his fixation of Alara and the belief that, together, they can save the church. The only problem? Alara has a boyfriend and despises the church for what it's done to her people and heritage.
Over the course of the 500 pages and in alternating chapters, the story of these men's destruction in the name of religion and love play out, and you as a reader are as helpless as the bystanders at the library fire.
This book is as horrifying as it is exciting, and the history that it puts on display is very well done. Where They Burn Books puts the tense relationship between the Maya people of the Yucatan and the Spaniards who invaded on full display, the good and the bad hashed out together. This book also pulls us into the modern world where the ramifications of the brutality and destruction are still felt by the descendants of the Maya.
There's not a single male character that I liked in this story, and I was incredibly frustrated by the lack of agency shown by the women. There are also questions left unanswered that could have provided interesting nuggets of information tying the two timelines even closer together.
Two stories play out across over 400 years but are deeply intertwined. In the late 1500s, Friar Diego de Landa finds himself in the New World, ready to bring about the Age of the Holy Spirit, a secret and heretical belief among some clergy. He believes God has called him to convert the native populations to bring about this new age, and over the course of his service, he becomes a cruel and exacting religious zealot, destroying the lives and culture of the Maya people.
Cortez Vuscar is a pathetic twenty-something with no life outside of the church and no social skills. One act of kindness leads to his fixation of Alara and the belief that, together, they can save the church. The only problem? Alara has a boyfriend and despises the church for what it's done to her people and heritage.
Over the course of the 500 pages and in alternating chapters, the story of these men's destruction in the name of religion and love play out, and you as a reader are as helpless as the bystanders at the library fire.
This book is as horrifying as it is exciting, and the history that it puts on display is very well done. Where They Burn Books puts the tense relationship between the Maya people of the Yucatan and the Spaniards who invaded on full display, the good and the bad hashed out together. This book also pulls us into the modern world where the ramifications of the brutality and destruction are still felt by the descendants of the Maya.
There's not a single male character that I liked in this story, and I was incredibly frustrated by the lack of agency shown by the women. There are also questions left unanswered that could have provided interesting nuggets of information tying the two timelines even closer together.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Slavery, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Pregnancy, and Suicide
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