Abandoned by the French years before, in 1903 the Panama Canal project is now under the control of the Americans in the newly independent country of Panama. The promise of work floods the country with immigrant laborers, one of whom is Ada Bunting from Barbados. She is desperate to earn the money required for her sister’s surgery. In a nearby village, Omar defies his father, a local fisherman, and becomes one of the few Panamanians to join the canal excavation workers. Their chance encounter puts Ada in a position to become a caregiver to Marian, the wife of an American doctor tasked with eliminating the threat of malaria. Meanwhile, other locals are fighting to save their homes in villages that lie in the canal’s path of destruction. Native Valentina explains her devotion to her hometown saying “…although she lived in the city, Gatún was the place who air she had breathed, whose dirt she had walked barefoot upon, whose streets she could follow blindfolded, the place where she had learned how to cook and how to climb and how to argue and how to love, the place that had made her.” The reader can’t help but cheer her on in her fight. The narration is well-paced, jumping frequently from person to person, including several minor characters who each represent a unique point of view. The result is not confusion as one might expect, but rather a beautiful tapestry of this specific time and place in history. The various storylines come together in emotionally satisfying ways, leaving the reader with a well-rounded story that feels full and complete.
Henríquez’s engaging narrative succeeds in giving a singular powerful voice to the many facets of the history of the Panama Canal not previously heard.
Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063291324
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Categories: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Hi Karis,
ReplyDeleteWow, I really enjoyed reading this review and think you have a handle on the Kirkus-style! Honestly, I probably would've glanced past this title if I had walked by it on a library/bookstore shelf, but your review has me intrigued. I also think it's something my Mom would enjoy, so I'm going to recommend it to her, too!
I like how you included information like page count, publisher, and categories; I wish I would've thought of that for mine... :)
Just want to add that I received this audiobook free through Libro.Fm's program for librarians! https://libro.fm/alc-program
ReplyDeleteI love that you mention that even though the narrative does jump from character to character, it is done in a way that cohesively weaves everything together. I am sometimes skeptical of books that try to work in multiple narratives because the results can be confusing and overwhelming. Based on this review, I would definitely be interested in picking up this book.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed that you mentioned the narrative of several characters weaving together a full story. I think that's a struggle for books with several narrators, so I appreciate you adding that. It must've been hard to do a short summary of each of the characters, but you did a wonderful job!
ReplyDeleteI like your well written review. I'm intrigued by the book and it's not my regular type of read. And thank you for the link to Libro.Fm's program.
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