“Everything Must Go”

 

“There was honesty, and then there were the things that forever changed a person’s perspective.” (247)

I believe that books find you. Your life experiences change your perspective. Books we read at 23 feel differently at 60. I don’t re-read books. Once I’ve fallen into a book, I usually sit with it after I’ve finished. What did I learn? How do I feel? Where do I fit into the narrative? 

Sometimes the truth is terrible for the people you love, and so you decide to keep it to yourself.” (242)

Family. Family roles. Being non-confrontational. Finding the voice you need to speak up for yourself. These are the things that hit me like a ton of bricks. Yet, without having experienced some of these things recently, I would have felt differently about the novel. Relationships. 

Love. What is it we would do to keep our loved ones from feeling pain; feeling uncomfortable? Is it the right thing to do? When should we attack the problem head on? How do we move forward? How do we mend what needs to be fixed? How do we construct a “happily-ever-after” ending for our own lives?

Maybe we should just keep reading…

“Black Cake”

 

“…our identities can be shaped as much by untold stories as by the stories we choose to share.” (385)

There were so many parts of this novel that resonated with me. Family. Food. Secrets. Lies. I always thought that if I were going to write a book it would be titled: “Lies My Grandmother Told Me.” But the untold stories that she never shared, might have been far more interesting and telling, than the lies she perpetuated. Choices we make. The stories we tell ourselves. The lens with which we view our past. Out of focus? Sharp? Blind? Those of us left, with the fallout from those lies, feel betrayed, lost, hurt, doubting who we are. Those we love and trust, their lives affecting ours via the lies they told. Were they trying to construct a better narrative…a happily-ever-after? How do the decisions we make, in good faith, affect our story, and future stories?

“The Spanish Daugher”

 

“Oh what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.”

-Walter Scott

Ecuador, 1920

When do the “means justify the end?” How far will you take the deceit? When will you “come clean” with the truth? Is your righteous act any different from those trying to stop you from stealing their life?

Told through the voices of Don Armand’s children; love is what they’ve all been seeking from their father. Murder, deception, greed, jealousy, and cacao. So many secrets. So much pain. When will the lies and deceit end? Is reconcilliation even possible?