Sunday, January 31, 2016

Vals with Bashir

This is the graphic novel based on the film with the same name, dealing with memory and its ways to deal with traumatic events.

This story starts with a middle-aged man retelling a friend about a dream. In this dream, a group of dogs run through the streets looking for him, knowing they want to kill him. He connects the dogs with his own duty during his twenties as he was a member of the Israeli army.

This situation triggers the question in the protagonist's mind: why does he have all his memories of his time in the army totally erased?

With this issue in his head, he starts a journey to uncover the events that surrounded the massacre in a refuggee camp in Beirut and the role the Israeli army played as they didn't stop the rebels to kill the civilians, among them, women and children.

The colours chosen by the artist and the outline given to the characters emphasise this feeling of urgency; the fragility of the soldiers' souls; the craziness involved in the decisions taken by a few; the consequences the young boys have to face once the battle is over.

I highly recommended graphic novel as it deals with issues that the powerful do the best to hide;  young boys having to face the horror with their own eyes; their lives never the same; never their own again.


Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks

Thursday, January 28, 2016

The Hours

This is Michael Cunningham's tribute to Virginia Woolf.

We have the lives of three women connected in a literary way: Virginia Woolf in her retreat away from London; Clarissa  Daloway, an editor preparing a party for her birthday, and, finally, Mrs Brown, a housewife in the 50s living an unsuitable life for herself.

All of then are struggling with her own issues. Virginia is fighting with the fact that she is hearing voices again, writing Mrs Dalloway and trying to make her husband understand that she would die of boredom if she stays in the countryside as the doctors recommend.

Clarissa moves herself through contemporary New York, buying flowers and in a way, reenacting what happens to her according to what Virgina has written in her already classic novel. She visits her dearest friend, ill with AIDS and trying to keep him alive.

Mrs Brown is desperately trying to convince herself that becoming a housewife and mother is what she has desired all her life. Being an invisible bookworn, she couldnt say no to the captsin of the school/medalled veteran asking her to marry him. Now, she feels imprisoned.


Cunningham cleverly interwines their lives, making a path for the reader to discover the secrets they are hidding from themselves in plain sight.

You are going to love the literary reference to Woolf's life and works, and the poetic language the author uses to create beautiful atmospheres that surrounds the characters. You will anguish with the characters' decisions, their hearts full of fear, their minds full of voices.

Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

The English Patient

This book contains the kind of story that marvels the readers because of its uniqueness: the plot is superb, the language poetic, the characters complex, the scenes dynamic, passion flowing its pages, destiny waiting for those who has challenged their fate.

It starts with the description of Hannah, a nurse taking care of a mysterious man whose skin is so burned that he is described as 'black'. Then, we learn that the story takes place during the Second World war, the Bedouin seeing the planes falling from the sky, the desert engulfing them, this man ( a soldier? A spy? A explorer?) being rescued by the nomads from his plane on fire. Hannah devoutedly, patiently is trying to subdue his pain while struggling with her own losses, an abandoned Italian villa providing an enchanted backgroung for the characters' sorrow.

There are flashbacks? Dreams? Stories? that overcomes the patient's mind, fulfilling his hours as he mutters endlessly.Through them, we get glimpses of the patient's past, a passion that overwhelmed his days, an affair that is both a blessing and a curse and finally, a broken promise.

In the villa, the appearance of Caravaggio, a soldier looking for revenge, gives the reader the possibility to see the cruelty of human nature. Kipp, the Indian bomb expert, makes Hannah realise her need for love in a time of horror, the fragility of life perceived in the lives of these characters.

A heart-breaking story, the images that populated this narrative enrich the readers' experiences, the heat of the desert touching their skins, the wind blowing their hair, their eyes shadowed under the scorching sun.

Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks

Friday, January 15, 2016

Atonement

The cover of this edition shows it truly as what it is: a classic. The story of deception, perspective, imagination, delusion and responsability is one of the best written by McEwan.

It tells the story of a particular day that changes the characters' lives forever. Briony is a twelve-year-old girl whose imagination drives her to create explanations for the things that she doesn't know about or understand. When she sees, through the window, the scene between her eighteen-year-old sister Cecilia and the maid's young son Robbie, you realise how Briony unconsciously sees the tension between them as something dangerous, a puzzle she must solve.

In times of the beginning of the war, in the house there are other visitors: Briony's cousins, the twin boys and their teenaged sister Lola, and a friend of the family, the chocolate manufacturer Paul Marshall. During the night, the boys run away as they fight with their sister and everybody seeks them through the darkness of the garden.

A terrible thing happens, being Briony the only witness. This event changes the flow of the plot completely, moving through time as it portrays an older Briony, now a nurse in the army, trying to atone for the mistake she made that night years ago.

What is to say about Mc Ewan's well-crafted writing, the quick-pace of the plot only slows to give us a glimpse of the characters' complexity, the reasons behind their actions, the decisions they make as History leads their days into chaos.

A surprise is waiting for you if you think you know where the story is going. You soon realise Briony is the best storyteller McEwan could use to tell his splendid story.

Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

El corazon Helado

Almudena Grandes es una de las mejores escritoras españolas contemporaneas. Gracias a ella, un publico joven se ha acercado a la historia tragica reciente de ese pais, conociendo detalles sobre la Guerra Civil y sus consequencias.

'El Corazon Helado' es un libro lleno de momentos fascinantes, escenas en las que la Historia se hace presente, interpelando a los personajes, demarcando sus destinos, numerando sus dias.

Julio Carrion es un empresario quien tras su muerte no solo deja una fortuna a sus hijos, tambien un pasado turbio y escondido. Por ejemplo, fue miembro de la Division Azul, grupo de soldados que durante el gobierno de el General Franco viajaba en tren, las ventanas tapiadas para frenar las piedras que los habitantes de los pueblos por los que pasaban les tiraban en repudio, hacia el borde ruso, peleando junto a los alemanes contra Stalin. Tampoco hace referencia a su trato con los exiliados españoles en Francia, con quienes cosecho una gran amistad, vaya a saber cual era su proposito.

Cuando su hijo Alvaro acude a un llamado del banco sobre una cuenta de su padre, encuentra a Raquel Fernandez Perea, quien parece haber tenido mas que una relacion profesional con Don Julio. Sin saberlo, comenzara un viaje al pasado de su padre quien, como muchos, se movio como pez en el agua en tiempos de crisis, en momentos en que hombres eran prisioneros en condiciones atroces, niños robados a sus familias, muerte y desamparo.

Raquel tambien tiene un pasado que contar. Su abuelo Ignacio, anarquista, lucho del lado del gobierno de la republica y perdio. Salvo su vida de milagro, escapando cuando los socialistas (algo que yo no sabia) supuestamente pactaron con Franco entregar a los anarquistas ante la inminente rendicion. Su vida en Francia tiene una rutina en la que Raquel cumple un rol principal, niña mimada a quien siempre le recuerdan los gloriosos tiempos de la republica. Asi, ella jurara venganza.

Grandes llena de sentimientos los diferentes momentos. Uno se emociona hasta las lagrimas ante la preciosa descripcion del festejo de los españoles en las calles francesas ante la muerte de Franco, la esperanza en los ojos de todos los presentes,  la ruidosa celebracion llenando la ciudad luz. O la desgracia acahecida sobre aquellos apoyaban la republica y tuvieron que vivir en España, siendo perseguidos, amedentrados, no permitiendoles siquiera pararse ante la timba de sus seres queridos para llorarlos.

Se que los temas que trata esta novela son duros. Sin embargo, la prosa de Grandes lo lleva a uno a querer saber mas, el desproposito de la guerra claro como el agua, el 'corazon helado', de los traidores congelando las vidas de todos aquellos a los que tocan.
Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Seating Arrangements

This story happens during a weekend, just three days of a family celebrating the weeding of the eldest. However, the author is able to show in that short period of time the strenghts and weaknesses of the human heart.

With a tragicomedy tone, we meet the issues unearthed by the fact that the whole family Van Meters is together in their beach house. Upper class, wealthy, member of golf clubs, the father Winn seems to have everything he wants. However, we soon discover his insecurities as he is obsessed with his business rival ( who, btw, is the father of his second daughter's exboyfriend and married to Winn's high school girlfriend) and having a serious crush with one of the young maid of honour, the alluring Dominique.

His wife is the classic glamorous wife but who has a sister, Celeste, proned to alcoholic outburts, saying whatever crosses her mind. And real life gives her a lot of material: the bride is getting married because she is pregnant (the dress needing readjustments to cover her eight-month belly), her sister Livia, heart-broken, struggling not to fall for the best man, a positively 'bad boy', a dead whale lying in the beach nearby, the lobsters bought for the special dinner with the in-laws missing, and more!!!!

The story is so well-developed that you find new details in every page, giving the characters and the plot the complexity and texture present in everyday life. You can symphatise or hate the characters' decisions and motives, but you won't be indiferent, you will feel the need to take sides, to acknowledge people's urges as possibly your own, to question yourself 'what would have I done in his/her place, to face the fact that we, all of us, are simply humans.
Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks

Friday, January 8, 2016

State of Wonder

This story is truly an incredible adventure, peopled by intriguing characters and puzzling settings; a genuine page-turner.

Dr Marina Singh works for a pharmaceutical company. Her partner in the laboratory, Dr Anders Eckman travels to the Amazon jungle to check on Dr Annick Swenson, who has been doing a research for a new drug, very pricy for the company, and hasn't given reports about it. After weeks of no correspondence, a letter from Dr Swenson arrives saying Eckman is dead. What? When? How?

There are no answers in the short communication. Consequently, Marina is sent to the jungle with two purposes: to discovers what is behind Eckman's death (to start with, where is the body?) and to extract information from Dr Swenson about the new drug. She is sent by her boss Mr Fox.

However, not everything is what appears to be.
1- Mr Fox is not only Marina's boss, but also her (secret) lover.
2- Dr Swenson is not only the scientist who is developing a new drug, but she is also Marina's former mentor, and shares with her a tragic moment in Marina's life.
3- The narrative is not only adventurouss and intriguing, but imaginative and colourful. You can feel the humidity of the jungle air coming off the pages, the characters' decisions hiding obscure intentions, the carnavalesque Bovenders, Rodrigo's unvaluable help, 'Easter' pizzling identity, and more!!!!

Ann Patchett's timing is excellent, keeping the pace of the narrative as she includes information to build the characters' past and present. In few lines, she unearths important data for the plot as you have to be careful not to skip content essential for you to understand the development of the mystery.

Learning and entertainment together, this novel will keep you awake long hours past your bedtime, unable to stop reading, to close the book, to leave the jungle.
Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

The Farming of Bones

'Misery won't touch you gentle. It always leaves its thumbprints on you; sometimes it leaves for others to see, sometimes for nobody but you to know of.'

This story tells the masacre of Haitains in Dominican Republic in 1937. These two countries are divided by a river, a borderline easy to cross by thousands of peasants looking for work harvesting the sugarcanes. Here is where we find Amabelle, a young Haitian who works in the house of Señora Valencia since she was a child, becoming an orphan as her parents died trying to cross the river/border.

She loves Sebastian. She delivers Señora Valencia's babies. She talks with Papi, as he listens to the radio, trying to get news from Spain, involved in war. During the first part of the book, we get the daily life in the Dominican Republic, people's traditions and beliefs.

A car accident tells us that the situation of the Haitians is pretty unstable. Suddenly, danger arrives and the atmosphere changes completely, becoming the book a page-turner, the reader escaping alongside the narrator, feeling the edge of the machetes, the burning of whole villages.

The mention of vultures clouding the sky gives us the exact measure of the killing; survivors retelling what they have been witnesses of; the reader grasping the horror developing unstoppably.

The memories of the survivors become the collective history written in the wind, the dead kept alive by those who remember them, by those who went through hell and stand alive, a journey that has no end.

Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks

Saturday, January 2, 2016

History of the Rain

'We tell stories. We tell stories to pass the time, or go more deeply into it. We tell stories to heal the pain of living.'

This is a book about stories, about retelling and the importance of books in the lives of the readers, about finding answers in the pages of books, in poetry, in the flowing of the river, as the salmon does, upcurrent.

Ruth is a teenaged narrator, telling the story of her family. The first one is her grandfather Reverend Swain and the 'Impossible Standard' he sets for himself and that sets the bar for the following generations. Later, grandfather Abraham, and his 'History of the Salmon in Ireland', struggling to find meaning in a place in which he seriously doesn't belong. Last but not least, Ruth's father Virgil, the poet who never stops working, who has 'ash in his soul'. From him Ruth and Aegny arrive, they own stories waiting ahead of them.

I 've found the story beautifully written. The poetic language makes the narrative flow, God becoming a fisher, hooking people to their destinies, to the after life, off the river.
The characters are described intelligently 'Young Father Tipp came, parked his Starlet the way priest park, on the outwr edge, carried his missal low down and a little behind him the way Clint Estwood carried his gun, loke he'd only use it if he had to.' You imagine them clearly, the humorous tone involving the most incredulous parts, making them believable and understandable.

Those who doesn't have 'Human-Glue', who hide themselves in books, who escape from reality sometimes, will feel totally connected to this story, to the idea that the answers to the big issues are found in books, in the lives of others, in other's adventures.

Ana Ovejero

mail: ana.ovejero@gmail.com
instagram:ananbooks