Treinta anos (In Spanish)

by J.L. Conrad

In a home filled with tradition, a secret lies hidden behind every door. A flashback into the main character's childhood recreates the life of a family and its servants, of their conflicts, deceits, secrets, and lies. Recommended by the jury of the 1998 International Alfaguara Novel Award.

Genres: Fiction

261 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

J.L. Conrad is the author of the full-length poetry collections A World in Which (Terrapin Books) and A Cartography of Birds (Louisiana State University Press). Her chapbook Recovery (Texas Review Press) won the 2022 Robert Phillips Chapbook Prize, and her chapbook Not If But When (Salt Hill) won the third annual Dead Lake Chapbook Competition. Her poems have appeared in Pleiades, Sugar House Review, Jellyfish, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere.

Reviews

[Ruskanen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is kicking my butt! I'm reading it in Spanish and there is some tough vocabulary. I usually read it with my Spanish/English dictionary also close by. It's very surreal/fantasy fiction...plagues that come and go, people and objects floating in the air or disappearing...or sometimes I wonder, "Am I understanding that or is that really happening?" I read other stuff at the same time so it seems like I've been reading this book for over a year. Hope to finish it in a month.

UPDATE: Finally finished it. I don't know if I liked the ending so much because it was a good ending of the story, or because I finally got to it. Very challenging for me, and I'm glad I read it.

[Fernanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memorable, pacífico y muchas brisas de la playa. Relatos inspirados en un estilo epistolar, como si llevara un diario, o como si quisiera recordar hasta lo último posible. Bellísimos personajes femeninos.

[Clau Nyappy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lectura entretenida y disfrutable.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

La talentosa Carmen Boullosa teje con su pluma una historia fascinante de la niñez de Delmira Ulloa en Tabasco rural en los años 60, que explora temas tales como la tradición versus la modernidad, el comunismo y los cambios políticos de la region, las estructuras sociales en México, y más. Lo recomiendo por su manera de vislumbrar (aunque sea una obra de ficción) esta época de cambios históricos a través de los ojos de una niña creciendo en un pueblo rural y una familia de la clase alta. // Boullosa's talented storytelling weaves the fascinating coming of age story of a girl growing up in rural Tabasco in the '60s which explores themes such as tradition versus modernity, communism and political changes in the region, social structures in Mexico, and more. I highly recommend this as a (fictional) window into this era of historical changes through the eyes of a girl growing up in a small town in an upper-class Mexican family.

[Majo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen libro para cualquier persona que ha tenido que migrar de su país de origen. Fue casi como oír a mi abuela hablar de su pequeno pueblo tabasqueño y los "mágicos" eventos cotidianos en cualquier pequeña ciudad del sur mexicano, desconocida y casi olvidada por el resto del país. La autora utiliza no solo palabras chocas (tabasqueñas), sino también frases y expresiones típicas del estado. En cuanto a la historia, relata la niñez y juventud de una mujer que tuvo que migrar de su pueblo natal, haciendo una fuerte comparación entre todo aquello que se dejó atrás, positivo y negativo.

[Jimena Balcázar · Rating 5 out of 5]

“No hay dónde volver, Delmira, has vuelto al único sitio que quedaba: al recuerdo”.

[Sei Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good if you like to learn about Mexican culture and see magical things happen.