Well after a lengthy sojourn in Nicaragua due to ill health, I am glad to say my literary travels are now once more underway :) I spent my time mainly in the company of Anne, an American mother-of-two who comes to volunteer in Nicaragua and finds both a personal and political awakening by what she sees there, and Evelyn - also American but now a long term resident of the country.
Evelyn has lived through the Contra wars in the 80s, losing her husband and daughter in the process, yet still manages to balance her jaded experiences with an optimistic and humane approach to her fellow countrymen as she considers herself a naturalised Nicaraguan. This is seen most effectively in her charitable work - notably setting up a children's orphanage, and her highly cynical view of the US and its interventions in the country.
I said in a previous post I liked this book despite myself, and I should briefly explain (a fuller review will be posted later). My key niggle was, aside from the two central female protagonists, there is a bewildering array of secondary characters who come and go, sometimes without warning, and I did find myself having to flip back on occasions thinking = who is Camilo, who is Harry Abbett, who is Olga, Dr Manuela, Patricia, Ernesto etc? Also, author Sandra George often has the tendency to put current and historical political analysis of the country into the dialogue of her characters; which occasionally come across and stilted and artificial, as well as rather didactic.
But what finally won me over was the description of Nicaragua itself - in a way a character in itself. I loved the juxtaposition of the turmoil of the past (and the present; the Recontras are an ongoing threat, as one scene graphically shows), the poverty, the political frustrations of its citizens, the lack of resources - with the descriptions of a lush, beautiful verdant landscape populated by diverse flora and fauna - and the occasional volcano... in a way this encapsulates the paradoxical cynicism, yet optimism, of Everlyn, Anne and the Nicaraguan people; living with a legacy that has left a country devastated by war, yet with a love and belief and a will to make their country proud and beautiful once more.
And so, finally I am moving on to neighbouring Honduras, with 'Island Hummingbird' an autobiographcal tale of Faye, a young girl growing up in the idyllic white beach island of Utila. Honduras however, much like Nicaragua, is a country with two sides to it and once senses that as Faye matures into adulthood her perfect existence may not last...
Below is a picture of Honduras. More soon!
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