August 2009: The World in Half

Latino Book Club will meet August 29th to discuss Cristina Henríquez' The World in Half at 3PM at Francesco's Cafe.

Themes of discussion:
1. Daughter-Mother Relationship: In many of the books we have read, we find a typical/stereotypical Latina mother who will do anything for the child. The mother is the caring parent till the end. Here of course the mother is not Latina, but the roles seem to have reversed. The child is the caretaker. As the daughter is still very young, in her 20ies, it is a hard job, and the frustration comes through. It is certainly one of the first we have seen. For comparison sake here are some mother-daughter(child) relationships we have seen before: Geographies of Home, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, What Night Brings, Rain of Gold.

2. Child and the Missing Parent: I was almost mad at Mira for not looking for her father, and frolicking with the good-for-nothing Danilo, till Hernán and Danilo's concern about disappointment seem to calm my anxiety. It is interesting to read how Mira imagines her father's way of being.

3. Language: I thought it was interesting that the author includes Mira's Spanish limitations, even though writing in English, to constantly remind that the conversations are taking place in another language other than the one used to narrate them.

4. The Title: The World in Half refers to the Panama Canal dividing the Americas into 2 separate land masses, and Mira's life.

5. The Geographical Metaphors: Don't forget to take a look at the titles of each chapter. Earth's history and human history is a profound philosophical comparison.

Looking forward to other comments.

August 29th, 2009
Lauren, Lizzy, Irene, Cathy, Olga and I met at our usual meeting place. It was the last time at that place, as we had all noticed that the service had deteriorated, especially one of the server wasn't very "happy" to be there. So we decided that we would move to our initial intended place: The Pomegranate Books at the corner of Kerr and Park. Kathleen, the owner of the store kindly agreed to make the space available and also have the next months' book available for us to pick up when we meet there.

For ONCE, we all agreed that we all liked the book, although we had trouble with some things.
WHO IN HER RIGHT MIND GOES AND LIVES WITH TWO GUYS SHE DOES NOT KNOW! What did our mothers teach us about not speaking with strangers. In spite of the fact that Mira thinks that Danilo and his uncle are NICE people, one does not go and live with them.

Another that I had not put in the THEMES above, was Danilo. He got a lot of our talk-time. He seemed like a sweet guy and even though he comes across as the useless vagabond, but he redeems himself with his drawings, in abandonment tale, and of course the letters that he writes to Mira. It was refreshing to see that it does not end up in a clichéd "love-affair."

Irene thought that may Germán was the father! That was the reason he invited Mira. I guess Irene was trying to rationalize Mira's living with strange men.

We did have some disagreement with how the mother dealt with her affair and her family. Some said why didn't she leave her family and when she did why did she continue to be so hard and distant from the daughter and also Mira's real father. The others thought that it isn't easy for people to change completely, having been brought up in a style of living. I would think that Mira's grandparents weren't the best role models for Mira's mother, and hence we do not see any outward show of love.

Also, we thought her prose was beautiful. Henríquez has a style of writing which flows easily. Her geographical metaphors worked for some of us but not for all, but we were open to reading something by her.

Next time we will be reading Luis Rodríguez' Always Running. That will be a drastic change. The e-newsletter is available now.