Salvador | Litsy

Salvador | Joan Didion

Latest secondhand #bookhaul for #readingtheamericas, which I have sadly neglected for a couple of months. Three countries here - El Salvador, Peru, Dominican Republic. I kept having to renew Salvador at the library due to getting distracted and not finishing, so I finally just bought a cheap used copy to read at my own pace. Trying to get back to reading paper books - much easier on my brain and eyes.

BarbaraBB Lots of Vargas Llosa. I hope you will like him. 2y

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Anna40

Salvador | Joan Didion

pick

The first half is vague and shallow, e.g. when she describes the journey to Gotera (Mozote massacre), she ends it with the observation that the woman in the taxi was using the perfume Arpège. I do not understand the relevance of this comment and in fact it often sounds like she stitched her journal entries together- e.g. no interviews with members of the opposition. The second part is better, the writing is outstanding! Between a pick and so-so

Anna40 To be fair, she travelled to El Salvador in 1982, US citizens were murdered, so it might not have been possible to interview anyone from the opposition. If you read it as a collection of observations from someone visiting the country at that time, it works but if you expect an in-depth analysis of the political situation and US involvement, you won't find it in this essay - or I missed it... 6y

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