4.5 stars rounded up. Unlike any memoir you’ve read. One sentence in her story really stuck stuck with me, about people labeling her work magical realism but for her and her family it’s just realism because they believe in the ghosts and hauntings etc. I feel like the book could have been twice as long with everything she has lived through.

Magic runs in Contreras' family. Raised in the 80s when Columbia was plagued by political unrest, Contreras brings the readers through the stories of her maternal grandfather, a renowned curandero blessed with the power to talk to the dead, tell the future, and treat the sick. But troubles befall the Contreras after her grandfather's death and her mother's inheritance of "the secrets," a taboo in a time when women were stripped of their potential.

In this deeply intimate and profoundly moving memoir, Contreras traces her family history by examining what we knowingly and unknowingly inherit, how loss and curses repeat themselves through generations, and the power to reclaim the connection to one's indigenous lineage. Beautifully written, CLOUDS is a multi-layered and multi-generational memoir that blends history, myth, and personal experience in a remarkable narrative.

My favorite quote from CLOUDS is, "When power is used to oppress, it deserves to be mocked."

THE INHERITANCE OF ORQUÍDEA DIVINA (Zoraida Córdova) makes a phenomenal companion fictional read that similarly explores generational trauma and family secrets.

This is a fantastic memoir, beautifully told.

there’s nothing like this book. magical realism memoir, magical memoir, realism memoir … all of the above. it’s a whole new format for
literature. what a gift.

I actually give this book 100 stars

I’ll start by saying that if you aren’t willing to entertain the possibility of the supernatural or those gifted with the ability to connect to something greater out there, then you probably won’t enjoy this memoir.

I, on the other hand, absolutely love the connection to the spiritual and ancestors that is present is South American culture. Contreras’s memoir is a ghost story, a family saga, and an education on colonialism in Colombia.

The story weaves through her connection to her mother, who both gain “the secrets” through traumatic injuries. This begins them on a path to disinter her grandfather, Nono, a healer who just wants peace in death. Along the way, we hear about her childhood in Colombia, her Mami’s eccentric siblings, and the powers of a curandero.

Ingrid Rojas Contreras’s family believes some of them are touched by magic, an ability to speak to the dead, see the future, heal, and move clouds. Part of the family sees what they call “the secret” as a gift, while others see it as a curse. Her mother and grandfather both inherited “the secret,” and after a strange occurrence, Contreras’s family thinks she might have it as well.

WOW. I have never read a memoir that feels so much like fiction, and I mean that in the absolute best way. It's transportive, beautifully written, full of larger-than-life characters, and I mean come on, it's about real life magic! I was gasping and yelling "oh my god" throughout the book. Contreras is an incredibly gifted writer with an incredibly unique story to tell.

The cultural history in The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras is not one I am familiar with. The story weaves back and forth between the present to stories of the past - the author, her mother, Nono, and other relatives. After a while, I stop trying to follow the chronology and float along. With the myriad stories and the lack of a cultural context, I am not sure I completely understand the family story being told, but the tale is a fascinating mythological journey.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2024/03/the-man-who-could-move-clouds.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.