"Eartheater" by Dolores Reyes (BR)

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

Join us in reading Eartheater (original title: Cometierra) by Dolores Reyes, the book chosen by the Amazin' Eights Challenge participants for the month of June. Everybody is welcome!

When talking about the book, please use spoiler tags and indicate which chapter you are talking about.

Dolores Reyes is a feminist, an activist and the mother of seven children. I found this interview, where she talks about her novel:
https://aldianews.com/articles/cultur...


Here are some questions to get us started:

Will you be reading the book in Spanish or English or another language?

How many books by argentinian authors have you read? How many set in Argentina?

Did you know the only other book that comes up in the goodreads search results for "Eartheater" is South American Eartheaters? Did you know a fish with that name existed?

[Feliciana]

I currently have the Spanish version on hold with my local library. I’m not sure how many authors from Argentina I have read, but Mariana Enriquez is one of my favorite, and I love everything done by Quino.

Thank you for sharing the article about the author.

[Shomeret]

I just downloaded the English version in Kindle format from my library. So I will be joining the BR.

[Emmett]

I am reading the Spanish version. I am a little past the halfway mark, but slowed down once I knew this would be a BR.

This is the first book I have read by an Argentinian author. Although I did listen to an audiobook earlier this year set in Argentina.

I just had to google that fish and gotta say- I thought it was gonna be way uglier. And thank you for sharing that article, Ines!

[Rachel]

I wasn’t originally planning on reading this as I was worried it would be too dark and intense(also still sad my pick came in second) but my library had it available. I’ve started and the writing has drawn me in quickly

[Feliciana]

I wonder how some of the translations will compare. I just finished tonight. Some of the Spanish slang is definitely regional to Argentina.

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

I recommended it to my library a few weeks ago and they actually got the ebook! I'm so surprised, this rarely happens with non-translated books. So I will be starting today.

[DivaDiane]

I finished this last week, wrote a relatively long review, which then got lost - arrrgh! I listened to it in English and the translation seemed very good. There was a definite disconnect between the narrator and the translation/book. The narrator had a very proper American manner of speaking. Her Spanish accent was authentic though, so I suppose that's why they chose her. The first time the character said sh*t or f**k or called someone a little snot, I thought, "What?" It seemed so out of character. But really it was the narrator who was out of character with the character of the book, if you know what I mean. Also, her cadence made everything sound the same and would've put me to sleep if the book weren't so riveting. As it was I found myself zoning out sometimes. I would've loved to hear Anika Noni Rose read this one. She would've struck the right tone.

I loved the book. Very powerful. I would definitely recommend reading/listening to the translator's notes at the end, if you listen to/read it in English. Unfortunately, there's a lot of feminism that is lost in translation.

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

I listened to the sample and decided against the audiobook, because the narrator's voice just wasn't for me, mainly because of the cadence. So you're definitely not alone with that.

[DivaDiane]

Yeah, there was no chance I was going to get the ebook from one of my libraries and it was on Scribd, so I stuck it out. A shame really.

[Meredith]

I finally cleared enough other books away so I can start this (tomorrow, probably). I am eye-reading the translation by Julia Sanches.

I am not sure I have read any Argentinian authors, or books set in Argentina.

[DivaDiane]

Those are excellent sentences, Lori. And I can’t believe I hadn’t notice that the MC wasn’t named.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Excellent observations

I also liked how the disjointedness and her powers (view spoiler)[ all mirrored the disjointedness of growing up in the society that made her power necessary. She doesn't want to, but she has to because it's the best they've got, when the real solution is that femicide needs to stop. And the distance allows us to see that, but it's clear she's trapped still in the cycle. (hide spoiler)]

[Meredith]

DivaDiane wrote: "Those are excellent sentences, Lori. And I can’t believe I hadn’t notice that the MC wasn’t named."

At the very end, (view spoiler)[in the last couple sentences, she talks about wanting to have a name, one all her own. (hide spoiler)]

[Meredith]

lori wrote: "Meredith wrote: "At the very end, [spoilers removed]"

Wow, I totally missed the significance of that."

It struck me because it reminded me of the point earlier in the story (view spoiler)[ when she bought a towel and was so happy at having a towel 'all her own' (hide spoiler)]

[Kaa]

I just finished listening to this today. I didn't have a lot of say about it myself, but I really enjoyed it and I agree with all of the comments regarding the way the language and the disjointedness of it really felt appropriate to the story and the context.

(Diane, I was listening while I was working, so I explained my zone-outs as related to that, but now that you point it out, I agree about the narrator. I am strongly considering re-reading by ebook.)