Comment

Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Port Moody Public Library.
Sep 26, 2020librarianjessica rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I had high expectations for this one, and boy, did it meet them. This is a story of Spain in 1957: a country still under the control of dictator Franco and a country that provides very different experiences to different people. Daniel Matheson is a Texan, an aspiring photojournalist on a trip with his parents; Ana works at the hotel, providing services to its guests. Along with a cast of characters that include Ana's brother Rafa, her cousin Puri, American party boy Nick, weathered journalist Ben, and so many others, Dan will uncover what Spain is to its people, and how - or if - he can shed light on the dark inner workings of the country he grows to love. As with all of Ruta's books, this one is emotional, SO hard to put down, and important in shedding light on a tumultuous era of history. I had no idea about the history of Spain that is discussed here; Franco's dictatorship and its effects on Spain's people is very much swept over in our education system, and it's both painful and enlightening to begin to crack it open here. The subplot about the stolen babies is horrific, and the way these characters live in such a brutal world and deal with the kinds of consequences that would have been very real is just gut wrenching. What I really love about how Ruta writes is how engaging she makes her words. The short chapters make this feel like it flies by, even clocking in at almost 500 pages. Skipping from character to character so quickly could seem jarring but, given their proximity to one another and how their stories connect, it just kept me even more into the story and wanting to find out what would happen next. The characters are the heart of this one, as with all of Ruta's books. Ana is the absolute SWEETEST human I've encountered in fiction in a very long time, and her and Dan and their budding relationship had me swooning multiple times, but this was cut by the very real tension that Ruta built into their world. The reality of Julia and Antonio and their struggle to move up in the world, Rafa and Fuga and the tragedy of life as a survivor of a boys' home, all of it was just so heartbreaking. Every character here felt real for so many different reasons; even Buttons/Carlito the concierge has such a presence in my mind. The reason I take half a star off is because this felt slow-moving at times, for maybe the first third. I was into it, but I didn't fully invest until after, when I finally figured out exactly what was going on and who I was supposed to root for. It was all fascinating, all interesting as all hell, but I wanted to be head-over-heels for it sooner than I was. But that said, read this book. It's a peephole into an era of history that I have never come across otherwise in the literary world. I really, really enjoyed it.