Review: The Volcano Daughters

Author: Gina María Balibrera

Genre: Historical Fiction, Magical Realism

Rating: 4 / 5

Features:

• Magical realism in an historical setting 

• Set mostly in El Salvador during the 1920s - 1930s, depicting events leading up to and in the aftermath of La Matanza

• Indigenous main characters

• Disenfranchised characters trying to navigate a dangerous political world 

Summary

Stolen away from her mother and home on the volcano, Graciela finds herself thrown into her father’s place as the oracle for El Salvador’s rising dictator. Though she has access to all of the comforts she could want, nothing can fill the void of losing her home. Thankfully, she still has her older sister Consuelo to lean on. However, the regime is falling apart and as a massacre hits Graciela and Consuelo’s home on the volcano, the two flee, unsure if the other has made it out alive. Through their struggle to survive, escape, and eventually reunite, Graciela and Consuela are accompanied by the opinionated spirits of their dead friends.

Thoughts

The Volcano Daughters is a dark and powerful piece that explores the subjugation and exploitation of indigenous women in a complex yet accessible way that I have to applaud. Where it doesn’t go into the details of the pseudoscience of racial mixing and the religious-like fervor around it, there is enough to understand the complicated position of Graciela and Consuela. Though the book discusses the indigo-turned-coffee plantation that the girls come from, more of it focuses on the socio-political ways they are exploited due to their mixed racial background. I could probably write a whole essay on all of the nuances this introduces that we don’t often get to see, but I’ll let you experience them for yourself!

From the beginning, you know that the story is being told by the ghosts of Graciela’s and Consuelo’s friends that are killed during a massacre. Their involvement as the story unwinds and the way that the mythology of the region is incorporated gives this book its magical elements. Where I like the chorus overall, the blunt and abrupt way some of the individual ghosts chime in feels at odds with the otherwise poetic prose in which the story is told. There are times that this still manages to work, but others where the interruption doesn’t add anything meaningful to the story and becomes irritating as a result. However, this happens less as the story progresses and the ghosts become more active in the story. 

Though I have not practiced in awhile, I know Spanish well enough that I really wasn’t put off by the amount that is used in this book. In fact, I really appreciate how it unapologetically bounces between languages and embraces that cultural element. However, I feel like readers with more limited knowledge of Spanish will find this hard to navigate at times. Unlike many books that bounce between languages, this one occasionally uses Spanish for multiple sentences at a time rather than mixing just a few words in. As a result, there sometimes isn’t quite enough context to tell what is being said without knowing or looking up a few words. I could easily see some readers struggling to stay engaged with this book if they have to frequently pause to try and translate. 

Get this book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Pantheon for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!