A snapshot of Franco's regime in Spain
This novel took me to a time and place in history I knew very little about. When WW2 ended, dictators like Hitler and Mussolini were toppled, but Franco remained in power in Spain until his death in 1975. The author gives us a peek at life under Franco's reign of fear and oppression brilliantly told through the eyes of four young people. Daniel is an American pursuing a future in photojournalism, visiting Madrid with his parents. At first glance, the Madrid of the 1950's seems to be a playground for American businessmen and tourists, but Daniel starts to see a darker side of Madrid thru his camera lens. When Daniel meets Ana, a hotel housekeeper, he becomes very aware of the limitations placed on the average citizen. The other perspectives are supplied by Ana's brother Rafael, who is helping a friend to become a bullfighter to escape poverty, and by Ana's cousin Puri, who works in one of Madrid's overflowing orphanages.
At first, I had trouble keeping the characters and their relationships to each other straight, so I made a few notes to help me, but I found this issue to be short lived as I was quickly pulled into the plot. I love how the author uses multiple characters to give us a well rounded view of this period in time. Reading about multiple characters' thoughts and plights, made me feel deeply immersed and involved in their lives. It stirred my compassion and kept me on the edge of my seat. I found the history covered to be so relevant for today, as we see human compassion struggling against nationalism. The author doesn't gloss over the hypocrisy in the history covered, but she lets the reader exercise their own judgment of the matter and there is much to contemplate. This is a novel not to be missed!
At first, I had trouble keeping the characters and their relationships to each other straight, so I made a few notes to help me, but I found this issue to be short lived as I was quickly pulled into the plot. I love how the author uses multiple characters to give us a well rounded view of this period in time. Reading about multiple characters' thoughts and plights, made me feel deeply immersed and involved in their lives. It stirred my compassion and kept me on the edge of my seat. I found the history covered to be so relevant for today, as we see human compassion struggling against nationalism. The author doesn't gloss over the hypocrisy in the history covered, but she lets the reader exercise their own judgment of the matter and there is much to contemplate. This is a novel not to be missed!