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A Melhor História Está Por Vir (2012)

by María Dueñas(Favorite Author)

3.26 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

857665976X (ISBN13: 9788576659761)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Planeta do Brasil

review 1: The publisher's summary calls this book "evocative, lyrical, and humorous."I agree with one of those.Blanca is, in many ways, emblematic of her name. She's white: she's a blank piece of paper, an innocent ready to be imprinted upon.When her husband announces that not only is their marriage over, he's expecting a child with his lover, Blanca knows she can't stay in their Spanish town. She jettisons herself to a small college outside San Francisco, where she takes a job researching a mysterious and long dead Spanish writer. His story becomes the parallel tale of the book, and we are meant to see certain reflections of it in Blanca's life.While it's easy to see the allusions, it feels heavy-handed and a bit forced. It doesn't help that Daniel, a professor at the school, is al... moreso somewhat involved in the Spanish writer's story. He knows things, and for some reason, he takes his time informing Blanca.Perhaps one reason for his drawn out explanations is that he is interested in her, and by slowly revealing what he knows, he can establish a relationship with her. She is hurting; she has been humiliated in her marriage, and her two grown sons don't need her as much as she wishes. She feels a bit redundant, and in moving to San Francisco, she becomes that blank sheet of paper. She's ready to be written upon, so to speak.As you get to know the Spanish writer, you also get to know Blanca, and you get to watch her relationship with Daniel unfold. Theirs is a sweet, patient romance. Passion does exist between them, but it's a timid passion, one that needs nurturing to come to life.I would not categorize this book as 'evocative' or 'humorous.' In fact, I'm hard pressed to identify much humor in it at all. It is, however, lyrical. There is something about Duenas' writing that makes it sometimes feel rhythmic. Perhaps it is because the English version of the novel is a translation from her native Spanish. This does not have an "English" sense of language to it, which is one reason I'm giving it three stars. Without that sense of lyricism, I'd give it only two.Published on VoxLibris.net@VoxLibris
review 2: I won a copy of this book in a giveaway on Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. I felt that the idea that this story was based on was a little bit cliche. There are so many books out there about a new life after divorce. I also felt that the characters were pretty bland and boring. There wasn't really anything special or memorable about any of them. At times, I felt lost because of the switch between present day and the past with little to no explanation or warning. I did like the past tense stories better than the present day one going on with Blanca. Didn't care for the way that the stories were all being told at once, kind of.The wording and phrasing seemed a bit uptight but I'm sure that's just because it was translated. The Spanish version is probably a lot better. I don't know, it just wasn't for me. less

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