BOTM Apr 2024 - Where There Was Fire

[GailW]

Written by John Manuel Arias, this debut novel is a historical fiction about a Costa Rican family wrestling with a deadly secret.

"Costa Rica, 1968. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed forever.

Now, twenty-seven years later, Teresa and her daughter Lyra are still picking up the pieces. Lyra wants nothing to do with Teresa, but is desperate to find out what happened to her family that fateful night. Teresa, haunted by a missing husband and the bitter ghost of her mother, Amarga, is unable to reconcile the past. What unfolds is a story of a mother and daughter trying to forgive what they do not yet understand, and the mystery at the heart of one family’s rupture, steeped in machismo, jealousy, labor uprisings, and the havoc wreaked by banana plantations in Central America."

Although I could not find that the American Fruit Company ever existed, the United Fruit Company (now a part of Chiquita Brands) certainly does and is known for it's "dark history of oppression and violence that would make even the drug cartels proud." Worth further research.

[Amanda]

I found the audiobook on audiobooks.com and am looking forward to listening to it as soon as I'm done with my current listen :)

[GailW]

I have finished it. I toyed between a 3 and a 4. It is the first book that I can remember where I thought, "Hmmm. If I had written it, I would have written it this way..." It was not a book to read over a two week period in short snippets. I lost too much focus stopping and starting. It is a great storyline, however.

There's too much to give away if I say anymore. So I'll wait!

[Amanda]

okay...so i listened to half of it on audio just today and i'm thinking so far "oh the flow is good, id just tighten up getting certain themes across" so...im going to guess this narrative style works better for mass listening than piece reading...ill put more thoughts out when I'm fully done too.

[Amanda]

So finished yesterday, I ended up giving it a 3 overall, but there were certainly 4 star worthy moments in it. The comedy of the "3 Marias" was great, and I enjoyed the different ways the family tries to reconcile their involvement with the fruit company. A few of the Central American books that I've read for this list include/center the 'Banana Republics' and the horrific violence surrounding them. It really does feel like this part of history has has a profound effect on Central America in a way we tend to gloss over in Northern America.

[Gail]

I had much the same reaction as Gail W and Amanda. The author has a handful of interesting themes and a collection of characters with great backstories but I didn’t feel that he had pulled them together sufficiently to make it a whole. I enjoyed the three Marias, the touch of historical background on the banana companies and the devastation they brought, and the fact that the love between the mothers and daughters never overcame life’s circumstances. As a debut novel it was fairly accomplished but I was constantly being pulled out of the story by thinking strange editorial comments; “if only he had moved this part over there and then lead us…”. I rarely think that way when reading. Happy to have read a book on Costa Rica however.

[K]

I can't add much to the comments above-----other than, I liked the corporate letters/memos as a nice touch. Also, the author is young and has potential. Hey, I ate an organic banana afterwards! lol

[Celia]

K wrote: "I can't add much to the comments above-----other than, I liked the corporate letters/memos as a nice touch. Also, the author is young and has potential. Hey, I ate an organic banana afterwards! lol"

I am smiling too. Thanks K