Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Feb 2001, 239 pages
Paperback:
Feb 2002, 239 pages
A novel about war -- and the lunacy of it -- seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. Set in El Salvador. "A strong and provocative novel"
Sandra Benítez received international acclaim for her first two novels: A Place Where the Sea Remembers ("A quietly stunning work that leaves soft tracks in the heart." --The Washington Post Book World) and Bitter Grounds ("The kind of book that fills your dreams for weeks." --Isabel Allende). Now she returns with an unforgettable tale of life in war-torn El Salvador.
The Weight of all Things is a novel about war -- and the lunacy of it -- seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. The battleground is El Salvador. The hero is Nicolás Veras. His story begins at the funeral of assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero. Along with thousands of others, Nicolás and his mother have crowded into the plaza of the capital's cathedral to pay homage. When gunfire erupts, pandemonium ensues. With bullets flying in all directions, his mother throws herself atop Nicolás to protect him, and is killed. When medics arrive to take her body away, the boy believes she is only wounded. In the melée of the moment, he loses sight of her.
The attempt to find his mother begins an odyssey that leads from one peril to another. Nicolás searches through a merciless no-man's-land menaced by guerillas on the left and the army on the right. It is a search that ends in still another massacre, and a heroic gesture by the boy who comes to understand, as grown-ups seemingly cannot, that guns and violence are not the answer; that, in war, there are no winners, and that the ultimate losers are the innocent caught in the middle.
Chapter One
Later, after the bombs went off, after the monstrous black clouds they sent up dissipated in the gentle breeze, after the shooters, whoever they might have been, pocketed their stubby handguns and vanished into the crowd, after the police ceased returning fire and attempted instead, with their superior presence, to control a multitude run amuck, it would be clear it was a bullet to the head that killed her.
But for now, she was alive. Until the shooting, the crowd had filled the cathedral to overflowing; it had backed up against the doors, spilled down the broad steps and out into the plaza, where tens of thousands of El Salvador's faithful drove elbows and shoulders into each other, where but a dozen held umbrellas over their heads as a hedge against the sun, and the majority stood acceptingly in the heat, sweat staining half-moons under their arms and triangles over their breastbones. Everywhere there was the stale odor of humanity pressed together in mourning.
...
Ana Veciana Suarez, author of The Chin Kiss King
Benítez does it again. From the first lyrical sentence to the last powerful scene, she draws us into a fascinating world of violence and love, death and redemption. What a read! Katherine Weber, author of Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear and The Music Lesson
The Weight of all Things, like Kosinski's The Painted Bird, illuminates and makes particular the horrors that people at war can inflict on a young boy. More than any report of events in El Salvador I have ever read, the story of Nicolás Veras and his terrible odyssey will stay with me. Mickey Pearlman, author of What to Read: The Essential Guide for Reading Group Members and Other Book Lovers
If your book club wants to know what to read this year, I wholeheartedly recommend The Weight of all Things. A lyrical parable about the folly of war set in 1980s El Salvador, it chronicles the experiences of a nine-year-old boy caught between battling factions as he searches for his mother. This odyssey is for all of us who are looking for 'a place where the river is wider and the water is not as deep.' Oscar Hijuelos, author of Empress of the Splendid Season and The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
The Weight of All Things is a strong and provocative novel. Oscar Hijuelos, author of Empress of the Splendid Season and The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
The Weight of All Things is a strong and provocative novel. Sandra Scofield, author of A Chance to See Egypt
In this fierce novel, events are dramatized with such sensory perception and narrative pulse, the reader must gasp, then weep. Sandra Benítez imbues this tragic history with dignity and optimism, through the medium of the perfectly rendered scene. She is a novelist of great anger and greater love. Sandra Scofield, author of A Chance to See Egypt
In this fierce novel, events are dramatized with such sensory perception and narrative pulse, the reader must gasp, then weep. Sandra Benítez imbues this tragic history with dignity and optimism, through the medium of the perfectly rendered scene. She is a novelist of great anger and greater love.
If you liked The Weight of All Things, try these:
by Kit De Waal
Published 2017
For fans of The Language of Flowers, a sparkling, big-hearted, page-turning debut set in the 1970s about a young black boy's quest to reunite with his beloved white half-brother after they are separated in foster care.
by Kaye Starbird
Published 2013
Spanning the tumultuous war years, The Lion in the Lei Shop deftly recaptures a dramatic chapter of American history, giving a rarely-heard voice to the women and children of Pearl Harbor.
The Stone Home
by Crystal Hana Kim
A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
