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Wow - this book 🙌 I was reading it thinking how sad and harrowing it was to be experiencing Elena‘s Parkinson‘s and her grief at her daughter‘s death. And then Pineiro knocks you out as both Elena and the reader‘s eyes are opened to the underlying truths - the story behind the story. This is the sort of novel where you dont realise how clever it is until the end.
Photo: subterranean tunnel Waiheke Island

This book definitely lived up to the buzz. Elena‘s daughter has been found dead, and she doesn‘t believe it was suicide. In a single day, despite her Parkinson‘s, she traverses the city to the only person she believes can help. I do not want to give too much away, but it is a stinging indictment of the church and attitudes towards women, who holds control and the attitudes and hate women internalize. Definitely reading more Pineiro!

4.5/5 🌟

A gripping and honest story about a mother seeking answers after her daughter's death. It explores themes of religion, free will, motherhood, and illness with powerful, candid writing. A deeply moving and well-crafted book.

Definitely not my favourite of hers. But her usual social commentary and a great twist at the end.

Another Claudia Piñeiro, whose backlist I am eager to read. This one is completely different again. An architect is living a very predictable live at the agency where he works an at home with his wife. Three years ago however something happened that returns to him unexpectedly. A fun mystery, wit a surprising and rewarding ending. Not as good as her more recent work but still very readable. Recommended!

This was good, but not my favorite. The last 10% really salvaged it for me. The audiobook narrator was excellent!

3.5⭐️

The characters in this mystery is what makes this book so good. The mystery, the deaths of a husband & wife 3 years apart from each other, is fine but it‘s the cub reporter, a crime reporter, & a novelist and their work together to find the killer that I grew to care about. Pineiro‘s humor is not as prevalent in this one but you can feel it underneath. And the ending, one that seems much more realistic than many other thrillers, is satisfying.

Needed a Spanish book to throw in the mix…Might as well make it a Piñeiro! ?

This novel tends to have no paragraphs and never uses quotation marks. Multiple conversations can take place in a paragraph and you need to decipher who is speaking. It‘s a tiny bit like Sally Rooney‘s recent novel. When I read a book like this, I need the assistance of a bookmark to keep my place on the lines as I read down the page. It makes the experience of reading more enjoyable and less daunting.

August 2024 Book #5 Elena Knows
My first novel by this author. Short but powerful novel. So intense, well written. It was amazing how the illness was described, I almost felt I was inside Elena‘s body, feeling her frustrations to command her body to react, to follow her instructions. Characters were masterly described, so much was said in a short novel. It was so sad the story of Elena. I was just captivated by this stor, by this written style 5⭐️