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A review by _head_full_of_books_
Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
In the opening scene of the book, we find our author and narrator, Gabriela Wiener, at an ethnographic museum in Paris in the pre-Colombian artifacts exhibition section. Gabriela is Peruvian and resembles the faces of the sculptures she is seeing at the museum. What is unusual is that she shares the surname of the European plunderer, Charles Weiner (a Jewish-Austrian), who brought over these artifacts to France in late 1800s. Shortly after, Gabriela’s father passes away leaving her the translated copy of Charles’ work, “Peru and Bolivia”.
I found parts of the book very moving. We see the author navigate grief by digging into her family's past and her father's affair. We find out from Peru and Bolivia, how racist and hypocritical Charles was. At times praising the magnificence of the Incan past and the very next moment slandering it. It is speculated that Charles left a lineage in Peru of which Gabriela is a descendant. I found the author's quest to uncover the truth and reconcile her heritage compelling. The author examines how her lineage has impacted her life. She is in a polyamorous relationship with a South American male and white Spaniard women. During her visit to Peru, she engages in an affair, prompting her to ponder the possible connection between her actions and her familial history of infidelity. However, this aspect of the narrative turned me off. While the author acknowledges her confusion and tumultuous life, I struggled to discern the correlation between her choices and her lineage.
I found parts of the book very moving. We see the author navigate grief by digging into her family's past and her father's affair. We find out from Peru and Bolivia, how racist and hypocritical Charles was. At times praising the magnificence of the Incan past and the very next moment slandering it. It is speculated that Charles left a lineage in Peru of which Gabriela is a descendant. I found the author's quest to uncover the truth and reconcile her heritage compelling. The author examines how her lineage has impacted her life. She is in a polyamorous relationship with a South American male and white Spaniard women. During her visit to Peru, she engages in an affair, prompting her to ponder the possible connection between her actions and her familial history of infidelity. However, this aspect of the narrative turned me off. While the author acknowledges her confusion and tumultuous life, I struggled to discern the correlation between her choices and her lineage.
We read about the colonizers, racism, the brutal treatment given to natives and the most disheartening of it - the human zoo. Those parts are not easy to read. It brought back some history lessons I learned as a kid about colonisation in India. I found the concept of ‘Decolonisation of your desire’ intriguing and wished it was explored further. The Panchiland poem that Gabriela writes for that group is intense.
Undiscovered is an autofiction - part autobiography and part fiction. A genre very new to me that left me occasionally frustrated trying to distinguish between fact and fiction. It’s a book that will read differently to different readers, sometimes thought provoking and at other times messy. Julia Sanches is the translator for Undiscovered. She also translated Boulder which was shortlisted last year.