The Weight of All Things

by Sandra Benítez

Book Overview

"Bentez's third novel seamlessly blends fact with imagination, evoking the trauma of war more vividly than any newspaper account . . . beautifully illuminating." (Publishers Weekly starred review)

Sandra Bentez 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" --Washington Post Book World) and Bitter Grounds ("The...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786887036
• ISBN13: 9780786887033
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Writing and Very Moving Story

After reading this book I ordered all of Sandra Benitez's other novels. The writing was gripping from the very first sentence ..."it would be clear it was a bullet to the head that killed her." Emotionally intense, historically and culturally correct and a story that both warmed and broke my heart at the same time. This is a very realistic story of innocent people caught up in the middle of political turmoil.

Weight of All Things...

As I was searching for something totally different, I stumbled across this book. Being a little skeptic about a writer that did not "grow up" in the region, I did not have a high level of confidence that the essence of the Salvadoran conflict could be captured. Nevertheless, I decided to buy this book. I was very surprised of not only the author's knowledge of the tragic events, but her ability to describe the environment (surroundings) in which these events were happening to the point that a native, like myself, was able to visualize the exact setting. In addition, the author did not get caught in the political analysis of this tragic era in the history of El Salvador, but truly described the feelings of the great majority of Salvadorans, which were truly caught in the middle, through the wonderful story of Nico. There was no vilifying of either the left or the right. A minor reference to the Salvadoran-Honduran war which hints at the reason for this war to be a soccer match was the only discrepancy I found. Even though it is a popular belief that this war was fought as a result of this match, scholars note and understand the reason to be mounting political tensions due to border disputes as the real reason. The author mentioned this fact in one part of the book, but made reference to the soccer match as being the reason for the war in another part of the book. Considering all this, this is an excellent novel. Kudos to Ms. Benitez

Benitez lets the truth be known about El Salvador

I have reviewed Sandra Benitez's "Bitter Grounds", and I have come back to review "The Weight of All Things" - How can I not praise a novel that has the potential to open so many eyes and move so many hearts? Few know or wish to admit the horrible truth of what happend in El Salvador - what was this war really about? How did it effect the people? Who was really in the wrong? Some may be shocked to find that the US Government funded (sending aid in the billions) this war - and on what many would consider, the wrong side. They gave a corrupt government the power, money, ammunition, training, even US Soldiers, and their approval in Hitler-like activities against the poor, common people of El Salvador. They are in part responsible for the deathes of countless innocents, including women and children - who died horrible deathes - who were caught in the middle of a war which, had the US supported the correct side, could have changed history forever, making the tiny Central American country, fair for all. Instead, in selfish interest and ignorant "fear" of communism, the US caused so much damage that this little country has been scarred for life. Benitez lends a sympathetic ear to the people who deserve it most - she tells the story which often goes untold - and she tells it in such a way that your heart will not go untouched. Benitez is a real asset to the writing world. She can tell a political and tragic story with the most poetic words and the most beautiful symobolism and imagery... I just want to thank her for another great book and most of all, for letting the truth be known.

A stunning narrative - at once both fierce and tender

THE WEIGHT OF ALL THINGS is Sandra Benitez's gripping third novel. Unlike the epic 'Bitter Grounds', which spanned the lives of three generations of women across almost half a century, THE WEIGHT OF ALL THINGS is a six-week snapshot in the life of nine-year old Nicolás de la Virgen Veras, sandwiched between two real events in the harsh backdrop of El Salvador's civil war. In and around the humble two-roomed hut his grandfather calls home - a two hour hike (the difficult terrain is made easier by Nicolás' sturdy rubber-soled boots) from the village of El Retorno ("whitewashed in hopefulness"), the scenes are so finely crafted that the reader can almost smell the wood smoke and "the odour of brewing coffee," or squint with Nicolás as he emerges from his hiding place (a cave) into the bright light of an April day. These scenes we see through the eyes of a child; we might even be only four feet tall. In others, our imagination - and what we know from historical fact - is left to fill in the gaps: the scorched earth, and the stench of human carnage left by the helicopter gun-ships.Separation is a central theme running through the book - from the opening pages when our courageous boy hero ("I am a lion now") begins the search for his mother, and again when he is dragged away from his doting grandfather ('Tata'). Nicolás' faith keeps him going (and alive), as others much his senior drop their guard and fall around him. He confides in his mother's spirit, gaining strength from the symbolism of the contents of his backpack: the "little boat" that was his mother's lost shoe and the chipped statue of 'La Virgen Milagrosa' ("another [gash], like a tiny teardrop, marred the cheek under one eye") salvaged from the bombed out shell of the village church. There are reunions - with Tata, by the empty niche (their chosen 'meeting place') in that same ruin - but not the reunion Nicolás seeks most of all. There are two particular moments of poignancy in the story where his solitude brought an ache to my heart: once when writing to his mother in el señor Alvarado's lilac house in Tejutla (a kindly man who becomes the boy's role model), and another, as he sleeps on a petate under the umbrella tree in the army compound soon after his capture, where he seeks comfort in the company of the guard dogs. It is there that it hits him - the realisation that his mother is dead. We feel his innocence slip another notch, as it does from one short chapter to the next.There are moments of almost dream-like tranquillity, like when Nicolás allows the lazy waters of the Sumpul river to flow over his prone body; like when Capitán (his grandfather's rusty-coloured dog) slumbers beneath Tata's hammock. Then there are the huddled displaced masses on the riverbank bordering two nations readying themselves for the crossing. These pauses, while enough for us to gain an impression of the beautiful but poverty-stricken and war-ravaged Salvadoran countryside, prove the calm before the storm. So

AN ELOQUENT VOICE FOR THE INNOCENT

War, as they say, is hell. It is hell compounded when endured by a nine-year-old boy who sees his mother killed. In later years he describes that moment as "Like water pouring over stone, that is how she slipped away from me." Ms. Benitez, who unforgettably drew Latin American life in "A Place Where The Sea Remembers" (1993) and "Bitter Grounds" (1997) now turns to a chaotic El Salvador. Born of both fact and imagination, "The Weight Of All Things" depicts that country's 1980s violence as seen through the eyes of Nicholas de la Virgen Veras. Nicholas lives with his grandfather, Tata, in the small village of El Retorno, a place of cane and mud buildings "whitewashed with hopefulness." Acceding to his mother's request, he joins her in the city for the funeral of a slain archbishop. It is here that mass murder takes place, and his mother dies shielding the boy with her body. Clinging to the belief that she still lives despite having seen her limp form dragged away, Nicholas begins a painful and dangerous search for her. His quest takes him throughout the ravaged Salvadoran landscape, into the hands of guerrilla rebels, the Popular Liberation Forces, who have commandeered his village. Nationalist soldiers, the Guardia, will later ransack El Retorno and take the boy captive. To escape the army compound takes all the wily courage and faith Nicholas can muster. With "The Weight Of All Things," a scorching but beautiful narrative, Ms. Benitez speaks for the innocent, those caught between forces who would eradicate all in their blind quest for power. When Nicholas is wounded he longs for a place "where there are no guns, no soldiers, no guerrilleros." So does the world.