Read Women discussion

This thread is where we’ll discuss our Shorty Septembet read, Not a River by Selva Almada. I’m on a redeye flight, and will add more content tomorrow when we land. I’m planning to read it en route.

Who is planning to join?

I have this and hope to start it next week.

I'm not sure yet. My plan was to get it from the library but I had to make an emergency trip to my son's yesterday. May be here for three weeks at least. Unless I break down and buy it...

I've reserved the library ebook. It's saying I'll get it on the 17th but maybe I'll get it early with it being a short book

I hope you and your family are ok Gail

A friend gifted me the book, so I'll join when I finish my current read in a few days

I had not planned on joining in with this read because I am bogged down with another book. But I found an audio version on YouTube. I think it is also available on Hoopla. Since it is a short book I gave it a listen. I won't comment until others have had a chance to read it. : )

Hi all. Sorry for my absence despite it being my nomination. Thanks for setting up the thread, Carol. Delighted to see all the interest in this one! I got the ebook from library. Will start soon.

Has anyone read up on the author? I can try to find some stuff this weekend.

Jen wrote: "Hi all. Sorry for my absence despite it being my nomination. Thanks for setting up the thread, Carol. Delighted to see all the interest in this one! I got the ebook from library. Will start soon.

..."

I have not - that would be great, Jen. I’d love to know more about her.

I started the other day and want to whiteboard the characters. She shifts back and forth in time enough that I was getting confused. (A me problem, not the author). There’s something about her writing style I’m loving, but I’m unable to identify it yet.

@Carol, I was the same. Part of it is that I was reading very late and my headspace seems better suited to mystery novels right now. I really do need somebody to explain the two sisters to me when done reading. I was so confused that today I went looking for book reviews online and even those blatantly refused to discuss it. So either they got it but it would give too much away or they were covering the fact that they didn't get it either. (I do have an idea but I need to save it...) So, not my favorite read so far this year but also not my worst...

Some basic info to start, from Wikipedia…

Selva Almada is an Argentinian writer born April 5, 1973. She has 4 books translated to English- 3 novels/novellas and one nonfiction. It is said that the three novels translated to English are also known as “the trilogy of men”. So we are reading the final part.

Author’s Works
English translations added for the four, otherwise only the Spanish version is linked. Failed to find links for two before GR website function failed.

2003: Mal de muñecas. Poetry
2005: Niños. Novella
2007: Una chica de provincia. Short stories
2012: El viento que arrasa. Novel (2019: The Wind That Lays Waste, English translation by Chris Andrews)
2012: Intemec. Short stories
2013: Ladrilleros. Novel (2021: Brickmakers, English translation by Annie McDermott)
2014: Chicas muertas. Nonfiction (2020: Dead Girls, English translation by Annie McDermott)
2015: El desapego es una manera de querernos. Short stories (compilation)
2017: El mono en el remolino: Notas del rodaje de Zama de Lucrecia Martel. Film diary/nonfiction
2021: No es un río. Novel (2024: Not a River, English translation by Annie McDermott)

Her accolades include:

2010: Fondo Nacional de las Artes Fellowship
2014: Finalist for the Tigre Juan Award for Ladrilleros
2015: Finalist for the Rodolfo Walsh Award for Chicas Muertas
2024: Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize for Not a River
2025: Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award for Not a River

“In a country where the literary scene is concentrated in the capital, writer Selva Almada claims to belong to the ‘interior’ of Argentina, the province where she grew up. A finalist for the prestigious Booker Prize in 2024, she is one of the most powerful voices in Argentine literature, translated into many languages. She is also one of the region's most influential feminist intellectuals.”
That is the intro preceding an interview with the author here:
https://courier.unesco.org/en/article...

From the Booker Prize and the International Literature Festival Berlin, I see her style is compared to Faulkner, as well as others:

“Almada works in the tradition of William Faulkner and major Latin American novelists, that is, with a confident prose that moves easily between the poetic and the hyper real. Critics characterize her as an author of unusual strength who succeeds in reinventing the pastoral world of Argentina.”
https://literaturfestival.com/en/auth...

The Booker site includes two more links- to Q&A with the author and translator as well as a reading guide.
https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booke...

I read The Wind that Lays Waste (My review here) and I liked it 3* and then early in 2024 I also read Not a River (my review here), which I found to be an exceptional 5* read, in part because of its more challenging non-linear style and attempt to show something greater than just the story.

The characters in my novel, men and women who live on what the river can provide, are a reflection of what the neo-liberalism of the 1990s has done to Argentina: impoverishing it, condemning a significant part of its citizens to poverty and marginalization.

I hadn't paid attention to the fact there are two other novels that precede it, I think it can easily stand alone. I have since obtained Brickmakers and Dead Girls and will read those, perhaps this month, since it seems timely.

Claire wrote: "I read The Wind that Lays Waste (My review here) and I liked it 3* and then early in 2024 I also read Not a River (my review here), which I found to be an exceptional 5* read, in pa..."

Thanks for sharing, Claire. Your take is insightful and wonderfully articulated as usual :)

The nonfiction work addresses the issue of femicide by looking at 3 incidents from the past that, I believe I read, happened in 3 different regions of the country. I gather that this work plays a big part in her being recognized as a feminist writer.

Claire wrote: "I read The Wind that Lays Waste (My review here) and I liked it 3* and then early in 2024 I also read Not a River (my review here), which I found to be an exceptional 5* read, in pa..."

I was just the opposite, Claire. I read "The Wind that Lays Waste" last year and gave it a 4. Thank you for sharing your review of "Not a River". It helped me immensely. This might go onto the "to be read again" pile.

I too thank you Clare. Your review gave me more understanding of where the author was going. I have a long drive ahead of me so I am going to take the opportunity to give it another listen.

I listened to the audiobook a second time, and also caught a Q&A with Selva Almada and the translator Annie McDermott. In that session, Almada said the book’s central theme is masculinity. I could see that—Enero and El Negro take Tino on a fishing trip to relive an earlier one with their late friend Eusebio. There’s drinking, bonding, and all the usual “bro” behavior. That part made sense.

But what really stayed with me was Siomara’s backstory—how she processes her anger and grief. Her emotional intensity hit me much harder the second time around. I also noticed the island villagers’ hostility toward the outsiders more clearly on this listen. That tension wasn’t something I focused on the first time, but it’s a key part of the atmosphere.

Almada chose the setting to reflect rural life, and McDermott did deep research to capture the original tone and language in translation. Listening to the audiobook meant I missed the poetic formatting of the dialogue that some reviewers mentioned, which I now wish I’d seen on the page.

In the end, this turned out to be a much darker and more layered story than I expected. I’m glad I gave it a second listen—it revealed so much more.

I'm very tempted to read it again after I read the other two, I love reading what more you got out of it Sophie, second time around. Knowing what happens makes us more aware of the other layers acting on the characters.

I just finished the book. It is beautifully written, but I'm not quite sure about the timeline.. My thoughts were different while reading it and now I have other ideas forming

I've JUST finished, so I'm still in my feelings and haze from its impact. But for me it's for sure 5 stars. I've not read reviews yet, so I'm sharing initial thoughts for now...

I love the prose and agree with the description I quoted in message 11 here which was from the Berlin Literature Festival site- "a confident prose that moves easily between the poetic and the hyper real." I just love that marriage of qualities and I think there is also something poetic in the disorienting structure and what felt to me like a shifting, and shifty, atmosphere. It felt both bleak and warm to me, and I'm glad cuz I think just bleak, or bleak and cold, is hard to bear. I like that Almada created many simple, subtle moments of warmth and connection in ordinary human interactions amid the sadness and hopelessness of the poverty... I think this helped to build the suspense too, as well as endear the characters to me. The confusing nature and the great writing make me want to reread as well.

Spoilers included now...
Going into it, I had heard masculinity was a central theme. But I felt surprised when the peak aggression turned out to come from the local men after the focus and suspense had revolved around the outsiders. And I thought the women and especially Siomara were an interesting contrast to the men characters. Women's fate seemed more hopeless, and sadder in their being used to it (Siomara not crying at the funeral, the mothers of boys in greater shock and crying dramatically). I also found interesting the difference in how Siomara processes frustrations with fire and the way the men did.
And it felt symbolic to me that Eusebio was revealed to be more open, less macho of that friend group, and he is the one who does not survive. I wonder if others have thoughts on this and what it might mean then that his son, Tilo, survives. Could this be a glimmer of hope then? I did love the bond Enero seemed to have with Tilo- the affectionate moments of dancing together and the comforting hug at the end, I think as they were leaving the island.

Or am I totally on my own trip compared to what others see or what directions your thoughts went?

I shall check out Claire's review now. Has anyone else written one? Or found one elsewhere online that resonated with them that you could link?

Sophie wrote: "I listened to the audiobook a second time, and also caught a Q&A with Selva Almada and the translator Annie McDermott. In that session, Almada said the book’s central theme is masculinity. I could ..."

Yea, I agree Siomara's backstory and the local men's hostility were really intense moments in the story. Considering the outsiders also seemed to come from impoverished lives, it felt quite tragic what they suffered, and also that the locals were driven to such extreme hostility by an understandable anger. It all brings to my mind the Almada quote that Claire shared about lives condemned to poverty from outside forces beyond their control.

As far as her creative storytelling, I thought other striking scenes were those in the woods- that eerie, blind scramble to the dance!, and of course the scenes with fires. It's occurring to me now, it's very elemental. Woods, river, fire, ... and I remember various descriptions of smells and smoke and such... Any thoughts on possible symbolism here? I love the imagery and atmosphere evoked in any case.

Jen wrote: "As far as her creative storytelling, I thought other striking scenes were those in the woods- that eerie, blind scramble to the dance!, and of course the scenes with fires. It's occurring to me now..."

I wish I could "like" this comment Jen, I completely agree. The most striking scenes for me where those that included something elemental; water, fire, darkness in the wood. I can't pinpoint the symbolism (if there is any), but it does give me a grounding sensation, touch our insticts and primitive traits maybe. (Not sure if I am making sense).

I loved the book, (I just changed my review to 5 starts, it was 4 before), I think it is very unsettling and claustrophobic, without being over the top. I found Almada's writing style brilliant, in the outskirts of poetry, very captivating (for me).

I am not sure about the end, not sure how I want to interpret that and explain what happened and I would read a whole novel about Siomara.

Crazytourists_books wrote: "Jen wrote: "As far as her creative storytelling, I thought other striking scenes were those in the woods- that eerie, blind scramble to the dance!, and of course the scenes with fires. It's occurri..."

I agree with all that :)