This book was a bit slow to get into, largely because the main character is hard to like at first. Her judgmental attitude towards others made me question her perspective and motivations. However, as the story unfolds and you learn why she left her country, she begins to show more vulnerability, and while I wouldn’t say she’s relatable, I did feel a strong sense of empathy for her. By the end, I found myself unexpectedly emotional—the ending had me in tears.

That said, I wouldn’t call this a perfect book. At times, reading from the main character’s perspective can be difficult, as her thoughts feel heavy and occasionally frustrating. The overall message also felt a bit simplistic, more fitting for a young adult or coming-of-age story, though the protagonist is much older. Despite these flaws, the emotional depth and character development make it a worthwhile read.

Do you ever have a sense about an author that you just know you’re going to love their work? Well that’s how I felt about Claudia Piñero the first time I read the blurb for Elena Knows. I decided then and there I needed to read her books. Unfortunately my library didn’t have Elena Knows, so I read this one instead. 
But that ended up being a really good idea, because I loved this book. It’s slow, reflective, and painful. But so so beautiful. It’s not my usual genre, but that doesn’t matter in this case because Claudia Piñero is writing for me. 
Piñero’s writing is gorgeous (along with the beautiful translation by Frances Riddle) and though this is a mostly character driven novel, it’s gripping. There’s mystery and suspense, but in a quiet, slow burn kind of way. 
Now I just need my library to fill my request and purchase Elena Knows. 

Enjoyment: 5
Emotional impact: 5
Educational value: 4
= 4.7

I found this book extremely slow to get started, but once it did I was gripped even though little happens - a good two-thirds of the book is the protagonist, Marile, reflecting. Throughout the slow first section, I couldn't foresee what it was building up to, and found that I was getting bored as the prose was quite dense. However this did mean that I was genuinely shocked by the main event of the novel when it eventually arrived. From that point on, I flew through the rest of the story. I was pleasantly reminded of Ian McEwan by the focus on a single traumatic event and its impact on the rest of Marile's life, and thought the writing style was also similar to McEwan. 

I picked this up because I'd previously read Elena Knows and wanted to try something else by this author, so it was only when I'd finished and returned it to the library that I realised it was in the crime and mystery section. I would have been disappointed if I'd been expecting crime fiction, as no crime takes place in this book and any mystery is much more about the characters' feelings and motivations than solving puzzles or looking for clues - I'm not sure where that categorisation came from. I really enjoyed this book, though, as the thought-provoking literary fic it was!

3.5 stars
I have to say that I when I started this novel, I wasn't expecting the theme of motherhood and all its complexities to be the story's driving force (it's not mentioned in the blurb). While it's not my favourite theme/topic to read about personally, Piñeiro's writing was just as lovely as Elena Knows.

Our main character, Mary/Marilé/Maria Elena, was oftentimes irritating to me - partly because she (both the author and character) intentionally maintains this distance due to her grief and it made it hard to sympathize with her (prior to knowing for sure what caused said grief).

All this said, I appreciated how Piñeiro explored motherhood in the context of Argentinian society, the judgemental and difficult social relationships between upper-class mothers, power-imbalanced marriages, and how grief can drive a person to extremes. The focus on grief was the strongest part of the novel, and it really shone when Maria let herself process those emotions properly. That said, all the crying and blurred contacts annoyed me (the blurred contacts have to be the most annoying metaphor to me now).  The discussions around how traumatic events (no matter how responsible we may be) can affect us forever, causing chronic emotional pain and grief, and how we can allow healing or prevent ourselves from healing was impactful. Sometimes it's a little too direct/overt, but Piñeiro leaves a lot of food for thought in her novel.

Overall, I'm glad I read this. I'm still looking forward to reading more of Piñeiro's works, though this one didn't land as much for me personally. 

I noted a lot of good quotes in this book, but here's two that stood out to me during my final reading session:

"'Yes, I do: a woman damaged,' Robert answered. 'Not a woman destroyed, like in Simone de Beauvoir's book, just a woman damaged.' 'And is that better or worse?' I asked. 'It's much better,' said Robert. 'Why?' 'Because damage can be repaired, wounds sewn up, scars healed. Something that's broken is harder to repair, it's often better to just replace it. But something that's simply damaged can be fixed. There's hope that it can be restored, I'm not saying always back to it's original state, but good enough to keep going. Maybe slower, weaker, but still going. ...  What happened, the events in themselves, can't be fixed. They've already happened, there's not changing them. They will always be there. In your past. But today, tomorrow, next year, all depend on how you live and what you do as you move on. The damage is done, the pain is there, but the paths you choose will determine what's to come. You can't erase the pain, but you can it into something you're able to tolerate a little more every day, that's always with you but that allows you to carry on.'" Page 164-165

"Maybe some people simply aren't wired for happiness. Some of us, when we feel joy circling close, fly into a state of panic. And we'll do whatever it takes to avoid it, to push it out of our path before it descends on us. Because we'd have no idea what to do with that happiness, how to make it fit inside our bodies so that we can continue moving forward. For some of us, unease, not happiness is the only habitat in which we feel we can survive." Page 172

Yeah wow this was a hard read. Just emotionally. It was so well written that it makes the reader feel the guilt that the character feels.

The only thing I would change is that I do wish there was more at the end of her healing and talking to her son and his family. And maybe even reconnecting with her ex-husband.

Read from the Provo library.