Rebozo de aromas - Rizo Campomanes, EstherSummary: A family’s intimate portrait is woven into the social changes that took place between the first half of the 19th century and the Mexican Revolution.
Library Journal Reviews
Rizo Campomanes's debut effort is published at the eve of her 89th birthday. This is the fictionalized story of her family's life from the mid 19th century to the 1920s. The author attended various writing workshops led by established Mexican writers, such as Elena Poniatowska and Monica Lavin, when Lavin recognized the quality of Rizo Campomanes' narrative. Born in Cuba of an exiled Mexican family, Rizo Campomanes here gives voice to her ancestors. Interweaving her own family tree, historical research, and the stories passed on through generations, she relates the past using a rich descriptive language, including Nahuatl. The dramatic story is not told in a linear fashion, although it does begin with an abandoned blonde baby of noble ancestry discovered by childless peasants (the author's great grandfather) and conclude with her mother arriving in Cuba to escape the Mexican Revolution. Notable characters are the author's two grandmothers (after both of whom the author is named): Eloisa, who cures people with psychic powers, and Esther, who remains mute after having left Mexico for Cuba. Rizo Campomanes, an avid reader, thinks of herself as having self-taught skills because she did not finish high school; we can only be grateful that she had the courage and stamina to finish this long-envisioned project.
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