Reviews for Dona Ines vs. Oblivion

The average rating for Dona Ines vs. Oblivion based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-09-19 00:00:00 Steven Archuleta One of those books which is a terribly clever idea, and competently executed but just unutterably tedious. Torres takes us through the history of her native Venezuela, from the slave-owning elite of the 17th century through to the present day. The narrator is the ghost of Dona Ines, an embittered aristocrat from the early days, as her spirit prowls through her ancestral home seeking the long-lost documents that will recover her property. She harangues her husband - beloved but faithless; his illegitimate son by a slave woman, who went on to rise to prominence... And we follow their lineages through the natural disasters and political upheavals that marked the country's history. The conflict between black and white, and different factions; but, too, the coming together of those races. Because quite a lot of characters are introduced in a relatively short (250p) book, it's hard to recall who's who. The wars, the disputes at law, go on interminably, and while Torres succeeds in the more human stories (the slave woman fleeing through the jungle with her mistress's infant; the love affair), much of it just drones on. Now to read something for light relief!

Review # 2 was written on 2018-06-09 00:00:00 Collette Hardimon I was unable to finish this book which is rare for me, and unfortunate given the scarcity of books by Venezuelan authors that have been translated into English (this is the only one written by a woman, as far as I can tell). While I try to be open to different viewpoints, spending many hours in the head of a blatantly racist/colonialist narrator was a bit much for me. In addition, I felt the book was poorly written overall. Intergenerational sagas can be tough to pull off in general, but this book doesn't even come close; I never found a single character I could connect to. It did lead to an interesting discussion in my book club about the differences between having a character who is racist/sexist/etc. and a book that is racist/sexist/etc. altogether. Those who finished the book confirmed that the narrator's racist views were never challenged in any way, suggesting the latter. I was hoping for a sweeping view of Venezuelan history but left disappointed and surprised that this book received such good reviews.