What's in My Heart

by Marcela Serrano

Book Overview

Una novela donde la revolucin mexicana sirve de paisaje de fondo para una conmovedora historia que invita a reflexionar, desde el punto de vista de lo femenino, sobre temas como la prdida de los... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9584202413
• ISBN13: 9789584202413
• Release Date: January 1900
• Publisher: Planeta
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Balances & contrasts

The story of a land - El Chiapas - and the story of a woman - Camila - meet each other in a novel where thematic balances and internal contrasts create a many-sided plot. A contrasted land, suffering, earlier, the aggressions of its conquerors and, today, the titanic ambitions of the last revolutionaries, represents the physical and political setting of the personal story of a woman,who finds herself to face her past and neglected origins in that remote place. Camila, narrator of the story, portrays, with anthropological flavour and fascination, the markets, the colourful streets and dwellers of the solar and picturesque San Cristobal, whose magical power lies in its capacity of keeping its authenticity, after all...Reina, attractive woman originally from Uruguay, old mate of Camila's mother, both committed in the political struggle against the dictatorship of Pinochet, carries on her revolution in San Cristobal, where she has settled herself together with a heterogeneous group of restless immigrants, each with a different story but same spirit. The meeting with this land and this charismatic woman will represent for Camila the beginning of a sort of initiation process. Admiration on one hand, and repulsion on the other hand, are the contrasting feelings experienced by Camila towards this figure mirroring the ideals of her own mother, towards which she admits a sort of guilt complex to have avoided a political protest she did not share completely, by emigrating to America, and preferring to lead an ordinary but 'safe' life.In this way the story is articulated on some contrasts: contrast between the rage amongst the guerrilla warfare and a sense of peace that place inspires; the intimate contrast hearth-consciousness in Camila; and, then, the fight natives-conquerors, revolutionaries-paramilitaries, mother-daughter, women-men, past-present, memory-reality... All these internal and ancestral contrasts are happily orchestrated in a balanced novel, which avoids any classification (love story, politics, psychology, mystery and suspense meet each other in this corner of the world).'Lo que esta in mi corazon' is the typical phrase used by the Mayan women to conclude their tales. Camila, like a Mayan story-teller, decides to tell a story (hers) containing other stories, and her new awareness. The insurrections, driven by the quasi-sacral figure of commander Marcos in Chiapas, the revolts in Chile and Cuba, the Mayan legends and rituals merge each other in a novel, which looses its socio-political coordination and ends up to acquire a mythical and timeless connotation.

Trata con respeto y responsabilidad el conflicto en Chiapas.

Le doy cuatro estrellas a Marcela Serrano porque su libro esta bien escrito y documentado, con una trama agil e interesante, aunque con muchos cabos sueltos. Toca el tema del conflicto armado con mucho respeto, tratando de no adoptar posiciones extremas, dando el punto de vista del extranjero observador, pues al fin y al cabo, la presencia de extranjeros en esa zona ha sido constante, ya sea como observadores, periodistas o activistas en pro del zapatismo. Es un buen libro para las personas que como yo, no somos expertas en el tema. Te da una idea general de los principales "bandos" y algunos de sus objetivos. Pero estoy segura de que a un experto en el tema, el libro le dejaria mucho que desear.No le doy cinco estrellas porque en realidad su analisis sobre el zapatismo es muy, muy femenino (como en todas sus obras), y en esta lucha tambien hay muchos hombres.En conclusion, me gusto el libro porque esta bien escrito, la historia es buena y nos da al publico general una "embarradita" de lo que es el zapatismo y en general, la lucha armada en latinoamerica por una mejor vida para las clases en desventaja.