Of Women & Salt- Gabriela Garcia

After closing this book and considering what I’ve just read, I’m struggling to find the right words. I know this: Of Women and Salt is an important book. It is heavy and raw. It is painful and poignant.  I want to tell everyone to “just read it and see for yourself.” 

Of Women & Salt is an accumulation of the stories of several women as recent as present day and spanning back to the 19th century. It melds five generations of Cuban women and weaves in a Salvadoran woman and her young daughter. We are given glimpses of their lives and the horrors that have shaped them. The stories jump from a family detention center in Texas, to a sweaty cigar factory in Cuba.  What wouldn’t a mother do to ensure a better life for her children? What happens to a daughter who carries a shame that shouldn’t belong to her and searches for validation anywhere she can? 

What’s really going on in those detention facilities? How long will we pretend we don’t know the answers to avoid a truth that is inconvenient to us? How close could these stories be to being our own given a different flip of the coin?  How much longer will we tell ourselves that we have no control on what’s going on? 

More and more authors are stepping up to the plate to tackle these difficult but very real issues. No, you won’t feel comfortable reading this. That isn’t the point. It’s our time to listen to the voices that have been silenced. I feel Garcia does this marvelously. Her writing gets to the point without a lot of “fluff” and is yet filled with incredibly poetic symbolism and a raw emotion that will stay with you. 

Look, I have SO much more to say and I would delve in deeper. Are there any book clubs covering this book? If so, hit me up! 

(Also, another “hell yes” from me for another Lantinx novel. “We are force.”)