You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

19 reviews

biblioteca_nati's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

arisol's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I am always grateful to learn from what I read, especially in a case like this one where so much of the characters' perspectives highlights a lived reality separate from what is known. And yet, this was a heavy story where
the violent and explicit rape of Petrona
weighed strongly on me.

I am appreciative of the story and the author's telling, especially as it served to strengthen the experiences of young people beyond the infantilization that so often occurs. As I am not usually a fan of stories written from children's perspectives, I can emphasize that Chula's side was well done in this novel.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

dreamingandendless's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A flash from the past. I was born after the time the book describes but every Colombian my age knows of the 80s and 90s. Guerrilla and Narcos and assassinations and car bombs and kidnappings. 
The book captures Colombians' relationship with violence. An eternal Civil war with changing factions that have left millions upon millions without a home. The narrator is a child which is by far the best way to try and explain to people how it was, how it feels the first time you turn on the news and something horrible happened near to you. 
Written from a priveledged perspective, it is nonetheless powerful and emotionally charged. The book hits very close to home, since I too left Colombia for more hopeful horizons. The protagonist's older sister acts pretty much as I have these last year's in expatriation, trying to forget, trying to excel and overcome. The feeling of smallness you have. People don't understand where you've come from. 

I am distraught. The writing is very good and I don't know if I can say anything too damning of the book. Unsure what non-colombian US/European audiences will get out of this book. Some sick sense of voyeuristic smugness? 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

abbasaurusrex's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

aduran037's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rachelita's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

wifeslife's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

annreadsabook's review against another edition

Go to review page

  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I was an enormous fan of Ingrid Rojas Contreras’ stunning memoir/family biography The Man Who Could Move Clouds, so I knew I had to pick up her debut novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree—and I was of course not disappointed.

This novel follows, chiefly, a young girl by the name of Chula who lives a fairly privileged, sheltered life within a gated community in Bogotá during the height of Pablo Escobar’s cartel empire. but things begin to change when her mother hires a preteen by the name of Petrona to help around the house. As Chula begins to learn more about Petrona, whose family is plagued by poverty and violence in the nearby invasiónes, both girls become mired in secrets that become increasingly difficult to keep, particularly as the violence begins to spill into Chula’s own community.

This was a fantastic read—I loved how Rojas Contreras considers childhood, class, and privilege when one’s country is embroiled in chaos. She in particular does a stellar job of considering who primarily bears the weight of sociopolitical violence. There are questions of who gets to be considered “political,” whose life will be protected, and who gets to have any semblance of childhood. The characterization of Chula in particular is fantastic—it can be hard to write a book for adults from the perspective of a child, but I think Rojas Contreras pulls it off fabulously.

The only thing I would’ve liked to have seen more of was Petrona’s character—although there are plenty of chapters devoted to Petrona’s story and experiences, they are all quite short and I felt as though we could’ve gotten more of a sense of her desires and feelings.

But that small critique aside, this was an absolutely fantastic read and I really hope more people dig into it! Rojas Contreras is a phenomenal writer and I am definitely a fan—if/when she writes anything else, I will automatically read it, no questions asked.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kld2128's review

Go to review page

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

moniipeters's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings