cbr17bingo – Rec’d (found on a list of book suggestions for National Hispanic Heritage Month)
I’m going to let the first line of the book do some heavy lifting here: “The first time Tere Sánchez levitated, she was in the garden.” Tere is a 60-year-old widow who has been grieving her husband’s death for the past year while taking a leave from her work as a professor. Understandably, the levitation freaks her out. She recalls that her family is distantly related to Saint Teresa of Ávila, who also levitated, and heads to Spain for answers.
This is a slow-paced, meandering novel. Tere doesn’t talk to anyone about what happened for fear of their potential reaction and seems to be hoping to stumble into an answer as she researches the life of Santa Teresa. While Tere could be a frustrating character at times, I enjoyed her blunt interpersonal style. I also really appreciated the setting, the way the author made Ávila come to life, though I think she could have done this even more with added textural and sensory details. But it was enough to make me wish I could visit. It seems beautiful.
The writing style itself is what fell a bit flat for me. The prose was clunky enough to take me out of the story on multiple occasions, which is surprising, especially as this isn’t a debut novel. The biographical information about Santa Teresa wasn’t inserted smoothly into the text, instead feeling more like parts of a book report, and some of the phrasing would have benefited from additional polishing. However, I generally enjoyed this tender story about grief and self-discovery. 3.5 stars, rounded down for the writing style.