The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind -- Meg Medina
Sixteen-year-old Sonia Acampo bears a heavy burden: everyone in her village believes that she's blessed, that she was sent from God Himself to protect them from harm, that when she asks, He listens. She's long suspected that their beliefs are based on coincidence rather than truth, but when her prayers aren't enough to save the life of her friend Luis, she feels that her theory has been validated.
So, although she feels guilty about leaving—her fellow villagers, after all, still feel that their well-being is dependant on her—she goes down the mountain and takes a job at a wealthy household in the city. While she enjoys her new independence, the delights of the city, and being free of the impossible weight of feeling responsible for an entire village, her new life isn't perfect: some of her co-workers are quite unpleasant, and her employer's nephew is handsome enough, but seems... untrustworthy.
So, The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind. It's got some beautiful imagery, the atmosphere feels heavy and rich, the Latin American setting and culture is a treat, and Medina's writing has a lovely, lulling rhythm. Which is all super.
However. It's less than 250 pages long, but it feels a whole lot longer. Not because of richness of story or character, but because it feels like a short story that got stretched into a novel. There's just not 250 pages worth of story here, whether it be action or character development or emotional journey. In this book, form trumps function, style trumps substance... and, rats. I can't think of another similar cliche to trot out.
Hesitantly recommended to those looking for something with that Latin-American-magical-realism flavor, but definitely not to those who want anything remotely meaty.
(Or am I crazy? Am I just not DEEP enough to GET it? Please, please, let me know if your experience was different!)
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Book source: ILLed through my library. This book was read for the 2012 Cybils season.