Review: Lyrical and brutal
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 3, 2013
Liliana moves from the States back to Argentina with her father and younger sister. They settle in to her grandparents' old home. Although the war is over, it has left many scars and many questions. Liliana starts out trying to find the truth about her mother's life before she became one of the thousands of 'disappeared,' and ends up uncovering a trail of secrets and lies.This remarkable story is told through the three different viewpoints of Liliana, her mother, and Diego, who lived through the war.As Liliana becomes increasingly drawn in to her mother's story, so did I. She initially wants to know who her mother was in order to understand herself better, and then the tension builds as she searches for the truth within the pages of her mother's journal and by talking to people who knew her. Eventually she discovers truths that she could never have anticipated.I found Liliana's mother's story powerful and incredibly moving, but it didn't read like the pages of a journal, so although traveling from the present day back through the pages of the journal to the war is a good idea, its impact was slightly spoiled.The developing love between Liliana and Diego is portrayed with an innocent, raw honesty, and the author beautifully, tenderly describes how Diego becomes increasingly enmeshed in Liliana's search and her heart.Each character - minor or major - feels authentic, as does the depiction of the country and the war. The author skilfully describes the experience of returning to a country that is in the process of trying to heal after conflict. It's Liliana's home, but the country and many of its citizens have irrevocably changed.This is a story of family secrets, love, and the aftermath of war. It is both lyrical and brutal, and has stayed with me long after I finished reading the last page.