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A review by goncat
The Inhabited Woman by Gioconda Belli
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Faguas, Nicaragua, 1970s. After completing her studies in Europe, Lavinia, a young woman from the Nicaraguan bourgeoisie, begins her career as an architect in a male-dominated environment. It was then that she met Felipe, also an architect but above all involved in the revolutionary movement against the Somoza dictatorship. Lavinia witness the social and political violence that the regime is inflicting on the Nicaraguan people, and become involved in the resistance.
In this novel, we follow two voices through Lavinia's story. One is Lavinia, of course, a middle-class child brought up by her aunt in an environment of freedom and rebellion, who finds herself at the heart of the popular struggle against the dictatorial regime in power. On the other, Itzá, an inhabitant of these lands before the arrival of the European settlers, who is also fighting against a barbaric, immoral and brutal enemy. The two young women experience the upheavals in Lavinia's life at the same pace, one because she is the main protagonist, the other because she experiences them through the spectre of what she has already lived. They are two strong, independent women, despite their attachment to their respective men. They are two women who are fighting against the sexist prejudices of their times, who want to break away from the image of a woman who is dependent on men, who needs them in all circumstances, who needs a protector because she is too weak (or too much of a woman) to defend herself on her own. For both of them, this struggle against a violent society is also an individual one. Each on her own, they fight against violent and bloodthirsty armies. But they unite in the historically longer and more enduring struggle that is the war against sexism and misogyny.
The writing is very poetic, especially on Itzá's side, and I really enjoyed reading this book. It's engaging and powerful, the two stories intertwine beautifully and the whole thing is amazing. I didn't know the author at all before reading this book and it made me want to read more of her work because I loved both the style and the story.
In this novel, we follow two voices through Lavinia's story. One is Lavinia, of course, a middle-class child brought up by her aunt in an environment of freedom and rebellion, who finds herself at the heart of the popular struggle against the dictatorial regime in power. On the other, Itzá, an inhabitant of these lands before the arrival of the European settlers, who is also fighting against a barbaric, immoral and brutal enemy. The two young women experience the upheavals in Lavinia's life at the same pace, one because she is the main protagonist, the other because she experiences them through the spectre of what she has already lived. They are two strong, independent women, despite their attachment to their respective men. They are two women who are fighting against the sexist prejudices of their times, who want to break away from the image of a woman who is dependent on men, who needs them in all circumstances, who needs a protector because she is too weak (or too much of a woman) to defend herself on her own. For both of them, this struggle against a violent society is also an individual one. Each on her own, they fight against violent and bloodthirsty armies. But they unite in the historically longer and more enduring struggle that is the war against sexism and misogyny.
The writing is very poetic, especially on Itzá's side, and I really enjoyed reading this book. It's engaging and powerful, the two stories intertwine beautifully and the whole thing is amazing. I didn't know the author at all before reading this book and it made me want to read more of her work because I loved both the style and the story.