I really really enjoyed this reading. I think it’s my favourite so far. I loved how much information was packed into the 60 pages, and how much we learned about the shrouded woman, Ana Maria’s life. The more I read, the more I realized it wasn’t just about the life of Ana Maria but was an attempt to ask significant questions about the essence of life, love, and death. At first, the movement between first person and third person confused me, but I think it meant to symbolize death taking her and how she no longer is a person in the same way as when she was alive. I personally loved the characters in this reading, every single one was so unique and in turn, was easy to tell apart. The dynamics of Ana Maria’s family were so clearly represented and each personality added a bit of humour to what you would think would be a sad tale of a woman after she dies. One quote I loved that perfectly encapsulates the text’s deepness is “Must we die in order to know certain things?” (pg 20). Here Ana Maria is, watching her loved ones react to her death, and reminiscing on her life. She’s getting the bird’s eye view of events, and truly seeing, as if for the first time, the ones closest to her. It’s almost like she’s getting closure on the past events of her life, especially near the end of the text when her husband finally comes to see her. She realizes she doesn’t hate him anymore and but doesn’t love him either. It is then she finally starts to fade away, potentially leaving the mortal realm and going to “heaven”. Ana Maria actually tries to get the hate back when she realizes that is what’s keeping her tied to life. I wrote down in my notes- is death not caring? Because it seemed that only once Ana Maria reached that point of indifference and peace, was she finally able to fully leave her body and for her spirit to be free. Another line I loved about this was, “She longs to let herself be borne backwards” (pg 34). I absolutely loved the imagery this line created and how beautifully it was phrased. I actually pictured her sinking into the earth from her bed.
Another character that piqued my interest was Maria Griselda. I ended up feeling bad for her, so my question for this post is what are your feelings toward the beauty? Should we feel bad for her because of how beautiful she is?
Hi! I hope Ana Maria still embraces her beauty. Though, appealing to the “male-gaze” unintentionally can be annoying for her too, honestly. I think we, as readers, should just feel bad for the fact she has to deal with such loser men, that only see her as an attractive ‘thing’ (not even human). Her beauty should never be the issue. It’s literally who she is and you can’t really change that (especially in those old times). Liked your question! There’s so much depth you can go with answering it.
I’m glad you enjoyed the book! I suspect you guys might like it. And yes, I think this is very much a book about what we’d now call “closure.” Though of course in some ways it’s very one-sided… only *she* is able to come to the insights she reaches. I also agree that María Griselda’s an interesting figure. In fact in general, aren’t the women here more interesting than the men?
I think we can feel sympathy for her treatment for sure, she doesn’t ask to be put on this pedestal. She reminds me of like a child star and all that they suffer being idolized without fully understanding why or being old enough to make decisions?
She will never be anything more that her beauty, and that is so devastating. I also enjoyed the book!
Dalia Currie
Hi grace! I also enjoyed the descriptions of Ana Maria’s familial dynamics – especially how her kids all came to see her (especially her daughters). I definitely do think we should feel bad for Maria Griselda. Her husband forces her to stay at home all day as he is insecure that other people will see her beauty and fall in love with her, not to mention how her brother in-law had also fallen in love with her, creating tension within the family. She is a woman whose beauty put her in an unfortunate circumstance.
Hi! To answer your question, I don’t feel bad for her because she’s beautiful but rather I feel bad for her for the way she is treated because of her beauty. They way she looked made her miserable and led her to live a very lonely life. So I think that she got unlucky with her beauty since she even referred to it as a curse.