Review
In this rhapsodic debut by Carolina de Robertis, three women reveal bittersweet stories set against the backdrop of an "invisible mountain" - a play on the fact that Montevideo’s real mountain isn’t a mountain at all, but only a hill. The mountain can also be read as a metaphor for the private burdens mothers and daughters must carry. Between them, Pajarita, Eva, and Salomé experience: a move from the country to the city; child labor and sexual abuse; hospitalization; a marriage of convenience; birth; estrangement; the exhilarating re-discovery of a first (and now transgendered) childhood love; the publication of a first book; rebellion; political turmoil; prison rape; the loss of a daughter to adoption; reconciliation; and death. If the inclusion of these many life-changing events sounds intense, it is - but the multi-generational timeline allows for dramatic episodes,...
Beyond the Book
Uruguay
Uruguay (map
of South America) is home to about 3.5 million people about half of whom
live in or around the capital city of Montevideo. Montevideo was
founded by the Spanish in 1726 as a stronghold. Claimed by Argentina but
annexed by Brazil, the country won its independence in 1828 following a
500 day conflict.
Early 20th century administrations established widespread political, social, and
economic reforms; but a violent Marxist urban guerrilla movement named the
Tupamaros, launched in the late 1960s, led Uruguay's president to cede control
of the government to the military in 1973. Even though the rebels were
crushed by the end of the year, the military remained in control until civilian
rule was restored in 1985....
