Margarita García Robayo
Список книг автора Margarita García RobayoHoliday Heart
Lucía and Pablo are Colombian immigrants who’ve built their lives together in the US yet maintain conflicting attitudes towards their homeland and the extent to which it defines their identity. After undergoing fertility treatment, Pablo finds himself excluded from raising their twins, and the new family situation seems to question the very nature of their relationship and of who they believed they were. In search of respite and time to reflect, Lucía takes the kids to her parents’ apartment in Miami. Meanwhile, Pablo learns he is suffering from a syndrome known as ‘Holiday Heart’. But is this just a break, or is it really the final days of their marriage?
Fish Soup
From internationally acclaimed author Margarita García Robayo comes Fish Soup , a unique collection comprising two novellas and the book of short stories Worse Things (winner of the prestigious Casa de las Américas Prize). Set on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, Waiting for a Hurricane follows a girl obsessed with escaping both her life and her country. Emotionally detached from her family, and disillusioned with what the future holds if she remains, she takes ever more drastic steps to achieve her goal, seemingly oblivious to the damage she is causing both herself and those around her. The seven tales of Worse Things offer snapshots of lives in turmoil, frayed relationships, dreams of escape, family taboos and rejection of and by society. García Robayo paints in just enough detail to evoke the intensity of the situation, while leaving it to the reader to unravel the true meaning of events. Sexual Education examines the attempts of a student to tally the strict doctrine of abstinence taught at her school with the very different moral norms that prevail in her social circles. Semi-autobiographical, the frank depiction of these opposing forces makes it deeply unsettling. Throughout the collection, García Robayo’s signature style blends cynicism and beauty with a rich vein of dark humour. The prose is at once blunt and poetic as she delves into the lives of her characters, who simultaneously evoke sympathy and revulsion, challenging the reader’s loyalties throughout the remarkable universe that is Fish Soup .
Primera persona
Margarita García Robayo nos entrega en este libro sus crónicas de la intimidad. Con una prosa por momentos despiadada y sin concesiones recrea una suerte de novela familiar donde indaga en su niñez y adolescencia, la admiración por su padre, la compleja personalidad de su madre, las fobias y las manías.Los textos de Primera persona conforman una trama conceptual que es la obsesión por la identidad, el sentido de las cosas y el lugar de pertenencia. Quizá, el atractivo se desprende de ese desacomodamiento que transmite la autora cuando se siente acorralada en la pertenencia."Mi primer recuerdo es molesto, el escozor de la sal en las heridas de la infancia". Así comienza su primera crónica sobre el mar de su niñez y la vida familiar, que se continúa en otros textos que exploran la necesidad de huir de la educación religiosa, sus relaciones con hombres mayores o las imposiciones de la maternidad y la lactancia. De una honestidad sin mezquindades, García Robayo alcanza, como en sus otros cuentos y novelas, un bello y delicado equilibrio en un relato personal que logra huir de la mirada autocomplaciente.