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A review by sookieskipper
Before by Carmen Boullosa, Peter Bush
3.0
If one were to see their life beyond the grave, what would they first want to see? The fondest memories? Deepest secrets? Abominable mistakes? In Before, the protagonist weaves her narration by summoning memories of her childhood beyond the grave that intensely focuses on the relationship she had with her mother and the complexities that adolescence brings. The patriarchal influence the protagonist experiences negates the budding individuality and its exploration. She struggles from within to understand the people and the world around her and in every way how she doesn't fit. The fatal nature of the narration eases into her final moments, macabre in its own regard.
The protagonist experiences extreme disassociation from surrounding and by nature is fearful of many things, thus her actions become uneasy to comprehend. In many ways there is an impulse driving the character (and probably the writer as well), when she reacts to certain situations in a specific way. This made me lose track in several places and the eerie atmosphere didn't help. It could be a translation issue but several sections of the book didn't hold my interest.
The protagonist experiences extreme disassociation from surrounding and by nature is fearful of many things, thus her actions become uneasy to comprehend. In many ways there is an impulse driving the character (and probably the writer as well), when she reacts to certain situations in a specific way. This made me lose track in several places and the eerie atmosphere didn't help. It could be a translation issue but several sections of the book didn't hold my interest.