 Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book with magical realism.
Swift as Desire, by Laura Esquivel. This book is supposed to be loosely based on the author's parents. The sections set in the past have an omniscient narrator. The present-day sections are narrated by the aging couple's daughter, Lluvia (the name, which, means "rain," is explained in a moving scene). Jubilo ("Joy") is a telegraph operator with supernatural hearing: he can hear the ones behind the ones spoken. He has a magical talent for bringing about reconciliations - except with his wife, Luz Maria, referred to as Lucha ("Struggle"). Although Jubilo's life and job revolve around communication, Lucha is forever the exception. The early years together are filled with love (and a whole lotta lust, discussed in detail - which feels a little weird with the daughter as the narrator, even though she's not directly narrating those sections). Inevitably, the marriage goes through ups and downs: financial struggles, cultural differences, bout of depression and Jubilo's clueless jealousy of Lucha's harasser boss. When tragedy strikes, the marriage is irrevocably broken. Years later, with Jubilo facing terminal illness, Lluvia tries to take on her father's role of bringing about a reconciliation. Does she have the family magic? The book did a subtle shift from initially seeming to sympathize with Jubilo over Lucha, then gradually showing Lucha's side of the story. At the end, Lluvia and the reader can embrace them both.
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