Bruna Lobato is a translator who began writing in English a few years ago - this is her first novel even though her English writing is everywhere: Guernica, The New Yorker to name a few. This novel is about a mother and daughter, whose names we don't learn, whose relationship is sustained over the daughter's first year in college over only Skype calls. The private college is in Vermont, which is very cold compared to where the daughter grew up in Natal, Brazil.
Much of the novel is dialogue between daughter and mother and the things that they talk about are pretty par for the course related to college life - snow, parties, studying, homesickness, otherness and international students. What was absolutely intriguing to me was the relationship between mother and daughter - the relationship is the main character - and how it changes from the start of the book to the end. There are definitely moments where the novel lags, but otherwise I found it charming, intimate and lovely. I wonder if the author relied upon her own experiences and journals in writing this first novel. The book's short length is relatively deceptive as the themes are complex and I would read this novel a second time to more fully appreciate the themes that are discussed.
Well worth the read.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment