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Elena Knows
A unique tale that interweaves crime fiction with intimate tales of morality and search for individual freedom.
After Rita is found dead in the bell tower of the church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.
After Rita is found dead in the bell tower of the church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.
143 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
1,033 people are currently reading
68.2k people want to read
About the author
Claudia Piñeiro
54 books1,826 followersClaudia Piñeiro is an Argentine novelist and screenwriter, best known for her crime and mystery novels, most of which became best sellers in Argentina. She was born in Burzaco, Buenos Aires province.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,910 reviews
November 7, 2023
Caregivers are often the unsung heroes of society, spending their time keeping the vulnerable alive and very rarely getting much credit. These jobs are often difficult and underpaid, but many caregivers receive no compensation such as those caring for elderly parents or mothers. Elena Knows by international superstar crime writer, Claudia Piñeiro from Argentina, is a book that shook me to the core and became an impassioned ode to understanding and supporting these caregivers and those with disabilities. This book is wonderfully translated by Frances Riddle, a translator who I’ve been consistently awed by. Set up like a dark crime story, this short but overwhelmingly powerful novel follows Elena, a woman suffering severely debilitating Parkinson’s, over the course of one day as she attempts to uncover a killer behind her daughter’s tragic death. Ruled a suicide by police when she is found hung from a churchbell, Elena believes she insights into her daughter that seem to point towards foul play. The problem is, she can only move during in short blocks of time following her 4-a-day medicine schedule and society’s tendency for abelism and ageism means her pleas are often ignored. Brutally honest and upfront, this book is a direct punch wrapped up in a taut crime narrative that explodes into a whirlwind of social investigations on aspects of society that take away bodily agency from women and dehumanize those with disabilities.
‘Her time is measured in pills.’
There is a ferocity to this novel that really keeps the reader going. While not much actually happens—Elena travels across the city to someone’s home as well as intermittent flashbacks to her tumultuous relationship with her daughter Rita and the aftermath of Rita’s body being discovered—the structure of the book keeps the tension high as it slowly teases out details. Much like when directors in theater play with the limitations of the stage as an opportunity to create rather than restrict, Piñeiro uses Elena’s physical limitations to tautly structure the novel and as an opportunity for social exploration. The three sections are divided around Elena’s pill times as she is only mobile for short intervals following her pills, filling each section with tension as Elena hopes she can make it to a resting spot for her next pill before her legs stop listening to her.
We begin to notice the lack of accommodations for those with mobility restrictions and the slow-yet-intense pace of the book highlights just how difficult everyday life can be for some. ‘They want you to get exhausted and give up,’ a doctor tells Elena as she is dealing with the labyrinth of medical paperwork in order to afford the prescriptions she needs, ‘don’t let them win.’ Being sidelined and outcast from everyday society becomes much of a burden on Elena, as well as on Rita who is her full-time caregiver in addition to a job at a local school. While Elena often comes across as brash and rather rude, it becomes clear much of this is self-defense in a world all too ready to brush her aside. After finally getting government insurance for the pills she needs to live, she breaks down and cries. When asked why she responds ‘because they were kind.’ Kindness and understanding, it seems, is a rarity and to be shown even a little is monumental for Elena.
These limitations also confine the reader primarily in Elena’s mind, much like she is, which we find to be a rich but tormented interior life with private speech and a constant need to know step by step how to do any action due to the extreme difficulties she has in doing them. ‘Elena knows’ almost becomes a mantra as she recites what she knows over and over again. The title, however, is ironic, as this book becomes more about what, specifically, Elena does not know, and what she as yet doesn’t even know she doesn’t know.
‘She trudges on, one foot in front of the other, despite the fact that no one can restore the king to his throne, or restore life to her daughter, or restore her daughter to her.’
As the crime intrigue progresses, and the plot is very textured and well-crafted making the reader understand why Piñeiro has been so well regarded as a crime writer, social insights slowly seep in adding more pieces to the puzzle that is bodily control and agency. ‘Our bodies do not belong to us,’ Father Juan declares, the priest who discovers Rita’s body and decides to hold mass anyways with her swinging in the rafters so as not to disrupt his schedule (which reminds me of the Raymond Carver story So Much Water, So Close to Home in which men tie a dead body to the dock instead of reporting it so they can enjoy their fishing weekend first). ‘Our bodies belong to God’ he adds, reminding Elena that he condemns Rita’s suicide. This sort of lesson becomes one element in the way people are taught to submit and reject their own agency over their body and choices. ‘The church condemns,’ Father Juan continues as he direct scorn at Elena, ‘any wrongful use of the body that does not belong to us, whatever name you want to give the action, suicide, abortion, euthanasia.’ When she adds Parkinson’s to this list he chastises her, ignoring that an illness could possibly be in control and directing a body against its will. Elena, in his opinion, is less entitled to her own body than the disease. This becomes just one of many ways Piñeiro demonstrates the church having a hold over society.
The rights to bodily autonomy become even more pronounced in the jaw-dropping final section of this novel. Claudia Piñeiro has been a prominent activist for abortion rights in Argentina, which did not legalize until December of 2020, and Elena Knows becomes a powerful look at the lives of those denied options facing a pregnancy not only against their will but from an act of violence and degredation. Dr. Kate Manne has written extensively on bodily control of women, particularly in her book Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women where she examines how misogyny is used to police women’s bodies and also demonize any who reject a patriarchal control:
Elena Knows tackles a situation very much like this and dives into the emotional and physical labor a woman must endure in these situations. The notion of a woman’s body being something anyone else can utilize for their own purposes is so grossly normalized in society that even Elena doesn’t notice she is demanding just that of a character when asking her to be her body since her own can move about easily. ‘She is meant to care for the child, afterward, in a self-effacing manner (and far in excess of the expectations placed on her male counterparts),’ Manne explains, ‘but even if her humanity is not in doubt, it is perceived as owed to others.’ This idea that a body is owed to others and not belonging to oneself permeates this novel, from Parkinson’s affecting Elena at all times to the mother who didn’t wish to be a mother having serious mental health struggles after being physically forced to raise a child she does not want.
This idea is juxtaposed with the plight of Rita, who has to spend all her time caring for Elena. She does it because she loves her mother, even despite their frequent arguments and annoyances with each other, but the mental toll it takes is severe. There is not enough money for her to seek any outside assistance and here we also see how our own agency to our bodies and our lives is affected by our financial status. Elena Knows looks at all the ways outside influences are vying for possession of bodies and the costs of being the victim in these situations.
While this book was not what I expected going into it, Elena Knows has a twist that completely floored me and is more shocking than many whodunnits can accomplish. This is a bold and brave book that takes a searing look into the struggles of those who must be subjected to outside control. Caregivers, people with disabilities, and women in general face these difficulties that society likes to sweep under the rug and not talk about. Claudia Piñeiro lifts up the rug and blows the dust in our faces, making us take a long hard look at society and reflect on the ways we can better accommodate everyone and make society more humane. An absolute stunner, bleak and brutal but so necessary.
4.5/5
‘Her time is measured in pills.’
There is a ferocity to this novel that really keeps the reader going. While not much actually happens—Elena travels across the city to someone’s home as well as intermittent flashbacks to her tumultuous relationship with her daughter Rita and the aftermath of Rita’s body being discovered—the structure of the book keeps the tension high as it slowly teases out details. Much like when directors in theater play with the limitations of the stage as an opportunity to create rather than restrict, Piñeiro uses Elena’s physical limitations to tautly structure the novel and as an opportunity for social exploration. The three sections are divided around Elena’s pill times as she is only mobile for short intervals following her pills, filling each section with tension as Elena hopes she can make it to a resting spot for her next pill before her legs stop listening to her.
We begin to notice the lack of accommodations for those with mobility restrictions and the slow-yet-intense pace of the book highlights just how difficult everyday life can be for some. ‘They want you to get exhausted and give up,’ a doctor tells Elena as she is dealing with the labyrinth of medical paperwork in order to afford the prescriptions she needs, ‘don’t let them win.’ Being sidelined and outcast from everyday society becomes much of a burden on Elena, as well as on Rita who is her full-time caregiver in addition to a job at a local school. While Elena often comes across as brash and rather rude, it becomes clear much of this is self-defense in a world all too ready to brush her aside. After finally getting government insurance for the pills she needs to live, she breaks down and cries. When asked why she responds ‘because they were kind.’ Kindness and understanding, it seems, is a rarity and to be shown even a little is monumental for Elena.
These limitations also confine the reader primarily in Elena’s mind, much like she is, which we find to be a rich but tormented interior life with private speech and a constant need to know step by step how to do any action due to the extreme difficulties she has in doing them. ‘Elena knows’ almost becomes a mantra as she recites what she knows over and over again. The title, however, is ironic, as this book becomes more about what, specifically, Elena does not know, and what she as yet doesn’t even know she doesn’t know.
‘She trudges on, one foot in front of the other, despite the fact that no one can restore the king to his throne, or restore life to her daughter, or restore her daughter to her.’
As the crime intrigue progresses, and the plot is very textured and well-crafted making the reader understand why Piñeiro has been so well regarded as a crime writer, social insights slowly seep in adding more pieces to the puzzle that is bodily control and agency. ‘Our bodies do not belong to us,’ Father Juan declares, the priest who discovers Rita’s body and decides to hold mass anyways with her swinging in the rafters so as not to disrupt his schedule (which reminds me of the Raymond Carver story So Much Water, So Close to Home in which men tie a dead body to the dock instead of reporting it so they can enjoy their fishing weekend first). ‘Our bodies belong to God’ he adds, reminding Elena that he condemns Rita’s suicide. This sort of lesson becomes one element in the way people are taught to submit and reject their own agency over their body and choices. ‘The church condemns,’ Father Juan continues as he direct scorn at Elena, ‘any wrongful use of the body that does not belong to us, whatever name you want to give the action, suicide, abortion, euthanasia.’ When she adds Parkinson’s to this list he chastises her, ignoring that an illness could possibly be in control and directing a body against its will. Elena, in his opinion, is less entitled to her own body than the disease. This becomes just one of many ways Piñeiro demonstrates the church having a hold over society.
The rights to bodily autonomy become even more pronounced in the jaw-dropping final section of this novel. Claudia Piñeiro has been a prominent activist for abortion rights in Argentina, which did not legalize until December of 2020, and Elena Knows becomes a powerful look at the lives of those denied options facing a pregnancy not only against their will but from an act of violence and degredation. Dr. Kate Manne has written extensively on bodily control of women, particularly in her book Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women where she examines how misogyny is used to police women’s bodies and also demonize any who reject a patriarchal control:
‘[T]here is a prevalent sense of entitlement on the part of privileged men to regulate, control, and rule over the bodies of girls and women—cisgender and trans alike. And as a direct result of this, those subject to such misogynistic policing are often impugned as moral monsters, even though they’re the ones being made to suffer horribly.’
Elena Knows tackles a situation very much like this and dives into the emotional and physical labor a woman must endure in these situations. The notion of a woman’s body being something anyone else can utilize for their own purposes is so grossly normalized in society that even Elena doesn’t notice she is demanding just that of a character when asking her to be her body since her own can move about easily. ‘She is meant to care for the child, afterward, in a self-effacing manner (and far in excess of the expectations placed on her male counterparts),’ Manne explains, ‘but even if her humanity is not in doubt, it is perceived as owed to others.’ This idea that a body is owed to others and not belonging to oneself permeates this novel, from Parkinson’s affecting Elena at all times to the mother who didn’t wish to be a mother having serious mental health struggles after being physically forced to raise a child she does not want.
This idea is juxtaposed with the plight of Rita, who has to spend all her time caring for Elena. She does it because she loves her mother, even despite their frequent arguments and annoyances with each other, but the mental toll it takes is severe. There is not enough money for her to seek any outside assistance and here we also see how our own agency to our bodies and our lives is affected by our financial status. Elena Knows looks at all the ways outside influences are vying for possession of bodies and the costs of being the victim in these situations.
While this book was not what I expected going into it, Elena Knows has a twist that completely floored me and is more shocking than many whodunnits can accomplish. This is a bold and brave book that takes a searing look into the struggles of those who must be subjected to outside control. Caregivers, people with disabilities, and women in general face these difficulties that society likes to sweep under the rug and not talk about. Claudia Piñeiro lifts up the rug and blows the dust in our faces, making us take a long hard look at society and reflect on the ways we can better accommodate everyone and make society more humane. An absolute stunner, bleak and brutal but so necessary.
4.5/5
April 29, 2023
wow.
this was the least enjoyable read ever. but it was brilliant.
the exploration of what we owe to each other, and especially of what women owe, what it means to be a mother and a daughter and if we have any choice in being either, was excellent and — to my experience — one of a kind.
wrenching and disturbing and sad and clever and just very, very good.
bottom line: the best thing a book can be is short literary fiction.
this was the least enjoyable read ever. but it was brilliant.
the exploration of what we owe to each other, and especially of what women owe, what it means to be a mother and a daughter and if we have any choice in being either, was excellent and — to my experience — one of a kind.
wrenching and disturbing and sad and clever and just very, very good.
bottom line: the best thing a book can be is short literary fiction.
May 9, 2022
4.5*
Shortlisted for Booker International Prize 2022
Elena Know is my favourite among the 3.5 out 6 shortlisted books that I’ve read. What makes this novel so special? Its deepness in contrast with its shallo 1st appearance.
If you read the blurb, the novel might appear as a murder mystery. Elena tries to find who killed her daughter. However, the book is so much more. Elena is suffering fromadvanced Parkinson and every day is a struggle for her. The novel begins with her waiting for a pill to become affective in order to allow her to move. She carefully planned a trip to a woman’s house who should be able to help Elena find the truth about her daughter, Rita. The novel consists of the carefully planned and difficult journey and of flashbacks. We are slowly revealed details about Elena’s and Rita’s past and about the unknown woman’s connection with them.
It is a harrowing, honest novel about the burden of coping with an incapacitating disease, which is felt by both the sufferer and the caregiver. It also explores aging, the influence of church on society and women’s freedom of choice. There are other themes discussed but they might be considered spoilers so I will stop here.
Elena Knows is short but very well written and it stabs you directly in the heart.
Shortlisted for Booker International Prize 2022
Elena Know is my favourite among the 3.5 out 6 shortlisted books that I’ve read. What makes this novel so special? Its deepness in contrast with its shallo 1st appearance.
If you read the blurb, the novel might appear as a murder mystery. Elena tries to find who killed her daughter. However, the book is so much more. Elena is suffering fromadvanced Parkinson and every day is a struggle for her. The novel begins with her waiting for a pill to become affective in order to allow her to move. She carefully planned a trip to a woman’s house who should be able to help Elena find the truth about her daughter, Rita. The novel consists of the carefully planned and difficult journey and of flashbacks. We are slowly revealed details about Elena’s and Rita’s past and about the unknown woman’s connection with them.
It is a harrowing, honest novel about the burden of coping with an incapacitating disease, which is felt by both the sufferer and the caregiver. It also explores aging, the influence of church on society and women’s freedom of choice. There are other themes discussed but they might be considered spoilers so I will stop here.
Elena Knows is short but very well written and it stabs you directly in the heart.
October 16, 2022
Elena Knows is the first work by Claudia Piñeiro to be published by Charco Press. Piñeiro is a well regarded writer of crime fiction in her native Argentina and prior English translations of her work were marketed as such. But what’s so intriguing about Piñeiro is that crime fiction is just an outer layer - a MacGuffin of sorts - a vehicle through which Piñeiro tells a compelling story, often grounded in her work as an activist. Elena Knows is no different. This work explores disability, aging, memory, religiosity, suicide, and, ultimately, abortion with an admirable mixture of sensitivity and conviction. The entire work is less than 200 pages and enfolds in a single day while the prematurely aged Elena, suffering from advanced Parkinson’s, haltingly traverses outer Buenos Aires in an effort to solve the mystery of her daughter’s death. Flashbacks and memories are seamlessly woven into the present. At its heart, the novel shows how dogma is used as a weapon to control others, yet disregarded by those wielding it when their own tragedy strikes. It is a subject that was of particular salience when this was first published in Argentina and is now tragically of utmost importance in the United States. Nicely translated by Frances Riddle.
July 11, 2022
This book snuck up on me like one of those stealth aircraft at the local air show! I’m not sure what I was expecting, but Claudia Piñeiro knocked me for a loop. On the surface, it seemed like a relatively simple novel. Elena suffers from Parksinson’s disease. Every day is a struggle. The medication just barely allows her to get by on her own. Her daughter, Rita, has recently committed suicide, but Elena refuses to believe that it was anything short of murder. She is on a mission to prove this on her own, as the police have nothing further to say in the matter. When she decides to call in an old debt, she must cross town by foot, by subway and by cab. The minute details of her undertaking are excruciating and wholly believable. I’ve known people both past and present that have been victims of this debilitating illness and it was not difficult at all to imagine Elena’s journey.
“What’s left of you when your arm can’t even put on a jacket and your leg can’t even take a step and your neck can’t straighten up enough to let you show your face to the world, what’s left? Are you your brain, which keeps sending out orders that won’t be followed? Or are you the thought itself, something that can’t be seen or touched beyond that furrowed organ guarded inside the cranium like a trove?”
As Elena makes her way across town we catch glimpses of the past. We learn about her life with Rita. We see what a strain such an illness can become on not just the patient but the caregiver as well. Mother-daughter relationships are never a breeze and no less so under such circumstances. What does it mean to be a parent once you have lost your child? We learn more about this debt that Elena is going to collect. Along the way, I felt that this was a cautionary tale. Never, ever should we assume that we know what anyone else is going through. Unless perhaps we walk along in their shoes for a time - much as we did with Elena on this day. We must defend our personal freedoms – they are not to be given away carelessly or taken from us so thoughtlessly. I can’t say anything more other than I believe this was brilliantly written! Please read this book!
“[They] were united by their convictions more than anything else, that way they both had of stating the most broad, arbitrary, clichéd notions as absolute truths. Convictions about how another person should experience something they themselves had never experienced, how people should walk through life along the roads they’d walked down and the ones they hadn’t, issuing decrees about what should and shouldn’t be done.”
“What’s left of you when your arm can’t even put on a jacket and your leg can’t even take a step and your neck can’t straighten up enough to let you show your face to the world, what’s left? Are you your brain, which keeps sending out orders that won’t be followed? Or are you the thought itself, something that can’t be seen or touched beyond that furrowed organ guarded inside the cranium like a trove?”
As Elena makes her way across town we catch glimpses of the past. We learn about her life with Rita. We see what a strain such an illness can become on not just the patient but the caregiver as well. Mother-daughter relationships are never a breeze and no less so under such circumstances. What does it mean to be a parent once you have lost your child? We learn more about this debt that Elena is going to collect. Along the way, I felt that this was a cautionary tale. Never, ever should we assume that we know what anyone else is going through. Unless perhaps we walk along in their shoes for a time - much as we did with Elena on this day. We must defend our personal freedoms – they are not to be given away carelessly or taken from us so thoughtlessly. I can’t say anything more other than I believe this was brilliantly written! Please read this book!
“[They] were united by their convictions more than anything else, that way they both had of stating the most broad, arbitrary, clichéd notions as absolute truths. Convictions about how another person should experience something they themselves had never experienced, how people should walk through life along the roads they’d walked down and the ones they hadn’t, issuing decrees about what should and shouldn’t be done.”
July 17, 2024
‘A memory for details, Elena knows, is only for the brave, and being cowardly or brave is not something one can choose.’
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro is a beautifully crafted novel that I found utterly absorbing. Piñeiro's storytelling is exceptional, effortlessly blending a gripping mystery with profound reflections on aging, disability, and autonomy. The protagonist, Elena, is wonderfully complex, a stubborn, determined woman who refuses to accept the official version of her daughter Rita's death. As we follow Elena on her journey to uncover the truth, Piñeiro masterfully reveals layers of character and emotion, making the narrative both poignant and thought provoking.
The book's structure, unfolding in real time over the course of a single day, adds a sense of urgency and intimacy that keeps you hooked from start to finish. Piñeiro's writing is elegant yet accessible, and she deftly explores themes of faith, family, and justice without it ever feeling heavy handed.
Elena Knows is a short read, but it packs a powerful punch, leaving you contemplating its themes long after you've turned the last page. It's a must read for anyone who enjoys a mix of mystery and literary fiction.
I Highly Recommend.
4.5
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro is a beautifully crafted novel that I found utterly absorbing. Piñeiro's storytelling is exceptional, effortlessly blending a gripping mystery with profound reflections on aging, disability, and autonomy. The protagonist, Elena, is wonderfully complex, a stubborn, determined woman who refuses to accept the official version of her daughter Rita's death. As we follow Elena on her journey to uncover the truth, Piñeiro masterfully reveals layers of character and emotion, making the narrative both poignant and thought provoking.
The book's structure, unfolding in real time over the course of a single day, adds a sense of urgency and intimacy that keeps you hooked from start to finish. Piñeiro's writing is elegant yet accessible, and she deftly explores themes of faith, family, and justice without it ever feeling heavy handed.
Elena Knows is a short read, but it packs a powerful punch, leaving you contemplating its themes long after you've turned the last page. It's a must read for anyone who enjoys a mix of mystery and literary fiction.
I Highly Recommend.
4.5
December 15, 2024
"الأم تعرف طفلها..الأم تحبه....هكذا يقولون، هكذا هو الأمر..."
هل فعلاً كل أم بتعرف إبنها؟هل بتحس بيه لو مضايق من حاجة و مش قادر يستحمل؟
بيقولوا إن لا أحد يعرف ما تعرفه الأم عن أولادها و لكن الحقيقة إن في أمهات كتير بتكون فاكرة إنها تعرف ولكن في الواقع هي متعرفش حاجة خالص!
إيلينا تعرف ...رواية للكاتبة الأرجتينية كلوديا بينيرو وهي كاتبة مهمة و بارزة في المشهد الأدبي الأرجتيني المعاصر...
الرواية بتتكلم عن إيلينا السيدة التي كانت تعاني مرحلة متقدمة من مرض باركنسون اللي حنعرف عنه تفاصيل كتير مؤلمة وحنشوف كيف فرض هذا المرض قيود شرسة علي بطلة الرواية سواء عقلية أو جسدية...
أحلي حاجة في الرواية إن الكاتبة إستطاعت ببراعة إنها تتكلم عن علاقة إلينا بإبنتها التي كانت تقوم برعايتها و كيف كانت علاقتهم صعبة و متوترة وكيف أثر هذا المرض ليس فقط علي إلينا ولكن علي إبنتها أيضاً و رد فعلها في الرواية حيوضح قد ايه كان الموضوع عليها صعب جداً وفوق إحتمالها...
ألقت الكاتبة الضوء من خلال الأحداث علي الإجهاض و عن حق المرأة في السيطرة علي جسدها والجدير بالذكر إن الكاتبة كانت من ضمن المشاركين في حملة في الأرجنتين نجحت في إعطاء المرأة حق الإجهاض حيث صدر قانون بعدم تجريمه...
رواية جميلة ،مؤثرة جداً..نهايتها حلوة و ترجمتها ممتازة..
ينصح بها..
هل فعلاً كل أم بتعرف إبنها؟هل بتحس بيه لو مضايق من حاجة و مش قادر يستحمل؟
بيقولوا إن لا أحد يعرف ما تعرفه الأم عن أولادها و لكن الحقيقة إن في أمهات كتير بتكون فاكرة إنها تعرف ولكن في الواقع هي متعرفش حاجة خالص!
إيلينا تعرف ...رواية للكاتبة الأرجتينية كلوديا بينيرو وهي كاتبة مهمة و بارزة في المشهد الأدبي الأرجتيني المعاصر...
الرواية بتتكلم عن إيلينا السيدة التي كانت تعاني مرحلة متقدمة من مرض باركنسون اللي حنعرف عنه تفاصيل كتير مؤلمة وحنشوف كيف فرض هذا المرض قيود شرسة علي بطلة الرواية سواء عقلية أو جسدية...
أحلي حاجة في الرواية إن الكاتبة إستطاعت ببراعة إنها تتكلم عن علاقة إلينا بإبنتها التي كانت تقوم برعايتها و كيف كانت علاقتهم صعبة و متوترة وكيف أثر هذا المرض ليس فقط علي إلينا ولكن علي إبنتها أيضاً و رد فعلها في الرواية حيوضح قد ايه كان الموضوع عليها صعب جداً وفوق إحتمالها...
ألقت الكاتبة الضوء من خلال الأحداث علي الإجهاض و عن حق المرأة في السيطرة علي جسدها والجدير بالذكر إن الكاتبة كانت من ضمن المشاركين في حملة في الأرجنتين نجحت في إعطاء المرأة حق الإجهاض حيث صدر قانون بعدم تجريمه...
رواية جميلة ،مؤثرة جداً..نهايتها حلوة و ترجمتها ممتازة..
ينصح بها..
December 12, 2023
“Elena Knows”, by Claudia Pineiro was short-listed for the International Booker Prize 2022. Frances Riddle is the translator of this Argentinian story.
From the start, I was consumed by this story. The issues raised by Pineiro in this story are women’s rights, especially abortion; furthermore, motherhood is studied, especially mother-daughter relationships, along with the challenges of the ill and aging body. The bureaucracy involved to get Elena the care that she required is heart-wrenching.
Elena has Parkinson’s disease. The reader is educated on the horrors of the disease. Elena’s life revolves around her three pills a day. The story is structured about her medication: Morning, Midday, and Afternoon. These pills are the only thing that can make her body move. I was anxious waiting for her medication to take effect. Elena is on a mission: her daughter Rita died under suspicious conditions at her Catholic Church (she was found hung in the church belfry). Elena KNOWS that Rita would never go into the church when it’s raining. There’s no way she went there of her own free will. Her opinions falls on deaf ears. Her dialogues with the local priest made me so angry. When Elena informs the Priest that she KNOWS that Rita didn’t go into the church on a rainy day, the priest declares Elena of the “sins of pride and arrogance, to think that you know everything, even when the facts show something else.”
Pineiro shows the duplicity of the catholic church. The doctrine of the church worms it’s way into people’s minds. Elena notes that Rita and her middle-aged boyfriend seem to rigidly accept the church’s doctrines to the extent of imposing the doctrines on strangers. Pineiro writes Rita and Roberto are “united by their convictions about how another person should experience something they themselves had never experienced”. In fact, one theme is about not really knowing what you would do under a particular situation until it happens to you directly. “The Church condemns any wrongful use of the body that does not belong to us, whatever name you want to give the action, suicide, abortion, euthanasia”.
Yes, Elena had a difficult relationship with her daughter Rita. Rita is her main caretaker. What they say to each other is painful. When Rita dies, Elena is hellbent on proving that Rita did not kill herself. She tells anyone who will listen that Elena loved Rita and Rita loved her. It may not have appeared that way, but they did love each other.
The story is one day in the life of Elena as she travels to see a woman who came into Rita’s and Elena’s life 20 years ago. Elena thinks this woman, Isabel, can help Elena in sleuthing Rita’s death. Elena begins the story righteous in her beliefs. Through her day, we learn the backstory to Rita and Elena’s life.
A bit of history on Pineiro, she was part of the activism that changed the abortion law in Argentina. In 2021 abortion became legal for the first time since 1886. She mostly known as a crime writer. She also was instrumental in the movement against femicide.
Translator Frances Riddle has translated many Spanish authors including Isabel Allende, Claudia Pineiro, Leila Guerriero, Maria Femanda Ampero and Sara Gallaro. She’s originally from Houston, Texas and lives in Buenos Aires.
I was very moved by this story.
From the start, I was consumed by this story. The issues raised by Pineiro in this story are women’s rights, especially abortion; furthermore, motherhood is studied, especially mother-daughter relationships, along with the challenges of the ill and aging body. The bureaucracy involved to get Elena the care that she required is heart-wrenching.
Elena has Parkinson’s disease. The reader is educated on the horrors of the disease. Elena’s life revolves around her three pills a day. The story is structured about her medication: Morning, Midday, and Afternoon. These pills are the only thing that can make her body move. I was anxious waiting for her medication to take effect. Elena is on a mission: her daughter Rita died under suspicious conditions at her Catholic Church (she was found hung in the church belfry). Elena KNOWS that Rita would never go into the church when it’s raining. There’s no way she went there of her own free will. Her opinions falls on deaf ears. Her dialogues with the local priest made me so angry. When Elena informs the Priest that she KNOWS that Rita didn’t go into the church on a rainy day, the priest declares Elena of the “sins of pride and arrogance, to think that you know everything, even when the facts show something else.”
Pineiro shows the duplicity of the catholic church. The doctrine of the church worms it’s way into people’s minds. Elena notes that Rita and her middle-aged boyfriend seem to rigidly accept the church’s doctrines to the extent of imposing the doctrines on strangers. Pineiro writes Rita and Roberto are “united by their convictions about how another person should experience something they themselves had never experienced”. In fact, one theme is about not really knowing what you would do under a particular situation until it happens to you directly. “The Church condemns any wrongful use of the body that does not belong to us, whatever name you want to give the action, suicide, abortion, euthanasia”.
Yes, Elena had a difficult relationship with her daughter Rita. Rita is her main caretaker. What they say to each other is painful. When Rita dies, Elena is hellbent on proving that Rita did not kill herself. She tells anyone who will listen that Elena loved Rita and Rita loved her. It may not have appeared that way, but they did love each other.
The story is one day in the life of Elena as she travels to see a woman who came into Rita’s and Elena’s life 20 years ago. Elena thinks this woman, Isabel, can help Elena in sleuthing Rita’s death. Elena begins the story righteous in her beliefs. Through her day, we learn the backstory to Rita and Elena’s life.
A bit of history on Pineiro, she was part of the activism that changed the abortion law in Argentina. In 2021 abortion became legal for the first time since 1886. She mostly known as a crime writer. She also was instrumental in the movement against femicide.
Translator Frances Riddle has translated many Spanish authors including Isabel Allende, Claudia Pineiro, Leila Guerriero, Maria Femanda Ampero and Sara Gallaro. She’s originally from Houston, Texas and lives in Buenos Aires.
I was very moved by this story.
November 7, 2023
Very pleased to see that this book was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022! Also there is a Netflix movie adoption coming up this November!
After two rather sluggish parts, the third section of the book was absolutely brilliant and tackled themes like abortion, euthanasia and the influence of the church on society
They could’ve told you a dozen times what it feels like to have Parkinson’s, in precise, graphic words, sparing no details, but you only knew the truth once the disease was inside your body. You can imagine the pain, the guilt, the shame, the humiliation. But you only know something once you’ve experienced it in your life, life is our greatest test.
For anyone interested the digital launch event recording with the author and translator can be found here:
https://youtu.be/p0yxNIp4onk
Narrator Elena (who reminded me quite bit in stubbornness and demeanor to the main character of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk) struggling with Parkinson, is on a quest to find out the reason behind the death of her daughter.
The first two parts of the book, structured around pills that make her illness a little bit more manageable, are quite slow in pace but give a lot of flashbacks and insights into the relationship between mother and daughter throughout the last 20 years.
But boy, did Claudia Piñeiro in part three just pull the carpet right under my feet with one of the most intense dialogs between two women I remember to have read! The themes of the novel seemingly effortlessly fall in place and the emotional impact is comparable to the best that Kazuo Ishiguro manages.
Elena Knows is highly recommended, and truly breaks out of any crime writing mould one could imagine the author to occupy, as my two Nobel laureate comparisons hopefully should make clear.
Quotes:
But Elena is not astray. Elena knows. She waits. With her bowed head and her shuffling feet, without seeing the road or what it will bring. She doesn’t go astray, even if she sometimes wanders.
As if her religion were based more in the rituals, in the folklore and traditions, than in the dogma or faith. Rita, in her way, had God, a God of her own who she put together like a puzzle with her own rules. Her God and her dogma. Elena didn’t.
And even though Elena showed no concern for the roughness of her heels, Mimí said, I’m going to send you some calendula cream with Roberto. It’ll just go to waste, Elena thought, because she wasn’t willing to add any more chores to the unending list of daily challenges: walking, eating, going to the bathroom, lying down, standing up, sitting in a chair, getting up from a chair, taking a pill that won’t go down her throat because her head can’t tip back, drinking from a straw, breathing. No, she definitely wasn’t going to put calendula cream on her heels.
Sometimes it’s easier to shout than to cry.
After two rather sluggish parts, the third section of the book was absolutely brilliant and tackled themes like abortion, euthanasia and the influence of the church on society
They could’ve told you a dozen times what it feels like to have Parkinson’s, in precise, graphic words, sparing no details, but you only knew the truth once the disease was inside your body. You can imagine the pain, the guilt, the shame, the humiliation. But you only know something once you’ve experienced it in your life, life is our greatest test.
For anyone interested the digital launch event recording with the author and translator can be found here:
https://youtu.be/p0yxNIp4onk
Narrator Elena (who reminded me quite bit in stubbornness and demeanor to the main character of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk) struggling with Parkinson, is on a quest to find out the reason behind the death of her daughter.
The first two parts of the book, structured around pills that make her illness a little bit more manageable, are quite slow in pace but give a lot of flashbacks and insights into the relationship between mother and daughter throughout the last 20 years.
But boy, did Claudia Piñeiro in part three just pull the carpet right under my feet with one of the most intense dialogs between two women I remember to have read! The themes of the novel seemingly effortlessly fall in place and the emotional impact is comparable to the best that Kazuo Ishiguro manages.
Elena Knows is highly recommended, and truly breaks out of any crime writing mould one could imagine the author to occupy, as my two Nobel laureate comparisons hopefully should make clear.
Quotes:
But Elena is not astray. Elena knows. She waits. With her bowed head and her shuffling feet, without seeing the road or what it will bring. She doesn’t go astray, even if she sometimes wanders.
As if her religion were based more in the rituals, in the folklore and traditions, than in the dogma or faith. Rita, in her way, had God, a God of her own who she put together like a puzzle with her own rules. Her God and her dogma. Elena didn’t.
And even though Elena showed no concern for the roughness of her heels, Mimí said, I’m going to send you some calendula cream with Roberto. It’ll just go to waste, Elena thought, because she wasn’t willing to add any more chores to the unending list of daily challenges: walking, eating, going to the bathroom, lying down, standing up, sitting in a chair, getting up from a chair, taking a pill that won’t go down her throat because her head can’t tip back, drinking from a straw, breathing. No, she definitely wasn’t going to put calendula cream on her heels.
Sometimes it’s easier to shout than to cry.
Read
February 7, 2023A curious thing happened at my bookgroup while we were discussing Elena Knows.
The thing is, we meet in a public place, and because there was a spare chair in the circle, somebody sat in it.
The 'somebody' became loudly incredulous when he realised that we had gathered there to discuss a 'story' about people who don't exist but have simply been invented by an author. That we should choose to talk about things that are 'only made up' was beyond his comprehension.
We are polite people so we explained that we discuss such 'stories' about invented characters regularly, and that if he is patient and listens to the discussion, he might see how useful not only for understanding other people but also for understanding ourselves such 'made-up stories' can be.
He wasn't patient though, and he kept cutting people off and changing the subject as if he were somehow the facilitator. But we were united in wanting to keep our discussion on track and managed to steer it around his interruptions, albeit with an increasing sense of frustration.
Then the discussion turned to the episode in Elena Knows where an abortion clinic is mentioned. Well, it was as if a trigger switch had been flipped. The man in the spare chair exploded into a long incoherent rant about abortion, and about how his girlfriend had wanted one but 'he knew' she must carry the baby until birth, and how right that was, and something about another girlfriend and another baby, and basically the entire story of his parenting life and his pro-life beliefs. He even threw in a mention of Ronald Reagan, insisting he was the 'wisest' man in the world.
Our calm discussion had been hijacked completely and we might have given up and gone home but for one soft-spoken person who surprised us all by telling the man in the spare chair that she found him annoying, rude and intrusive, and she wished he'd leave.
He didn't leave but he became quite subdued after that. And while we went on to discuss further aspects of one of the main themes in Elena Knows, the Parkinson's theme, and spoke about the dilemma of being a carer for a parent with the disease, we all seemed of one mind in avoiding any further mention of the other important theme, abortion.
That was a pity as the two themes, abortion and Parkinson's, are intertwined in the book—the burden of carrying another body and the right to refuse if the burden is too much for us, seems to have been what motivated the writing of Elena Knows.
We did talk about the meaning of the title however, and we mentioned the irony of the fact that while the phrase 'Elena knows' rhythms the narrative, Elena learns during the course of the story that she 'doesn't know' as much about everything as she thought she did.
I think that message was probably lost on our certainty-filled spare-chair man. But who can say, perhaps something of Claudia Piñiero's insightful fictional take on real-life issues may make him question some of the things he takes so readily for granted.
The thing is, we meet in a public place, and because there was a spare chair in the circle, somebody sat in it.
The 'somebody' became loudly incredulous when he realised that we had gathered there to discuss a 'story' about people who don't exist but have simply been invented by an author. That we should choose to talk about things that are 'only made up' was beyond his comprehension.
We are polite people so we explained that we discuss such 'stories' about invented characters regularly, and that if he is patient and listens to the discussion, he might see how useful not only for understanding other people but also for understanding ourselves such 'made-up stories' can be.
He wasn't patient though, and he kept cutting people off and changing the subject as if he were somehow the facilitator. But we were united in wanting to keep our discussion on track and managed to steer it around his interruptions, albeit with an increasing sense of frustration.
Then the discussion turned to the episode in Elena Knows where an abortion clinic is mentioned. Well, it was as if a trigger switch had been flipped. The man in the spare chair exploded into a long incoherent rant about abortion, and about how his girlfriend had wanted one but 'he knew' she must carry the baby until birth, and how right that was, and something about another girlfriend and another baby, and basically the entire story of his parenting life and his pro-life beliefs. He even threw in a mention of Ronald Reagan, insisting he was the 'wisest' man in the world.
Our calm discussion had been hijacked completely and we might have given up and gone home but for one soft-spoken person who surprised us all by telling the man in the spare chair that she found him annoying, rude and intrusive, and she wished he'd leave.
He didn't leave but he became quite subdued after that. And while we went on to discuss further aspects of one of the main themes in Elena Knows, the Parkinson's theme, and spoke about the dilemma of being a carer for a parent with the disease, we all seemed of one mind in avoiding any further mention of the other important theme, abortion.
That was a pity as the two themes, abortion and Parkinson's, are intertwined in the book—the burden of carrying another body and the right to refuse if the burden is too much for us, seems to have been what motivated the writing of Elena Knows.
We did talk about the meaning of the title however, and we mentioned the irony of the fact that while the phrase 'Elena knows' rhythms the narrative, Elena learns during the course of the story that she 'doesn't know' as much about everything as she thought she did.
I think that message was probably lost on our certainty-filled spare-chair man. But who can say, perhaps something of Claudia Piñiero's insightful fictional take on real-life issues may make him question some of the things he takes so readily for granted.
April 7, 2022
I can't think of another novel that has so deeply and intimately drawn me into the experience of someone living with a debilitating illness. Elena is in a late stage of Parkinson's disease where every physical action is timed around when her pills can be taken as these allow her a limited amount of movement. In the interim periods her body refuses to respond to messages from her brain and, even with the pills, normal actions which we take for granted are an enormous struggle. This is especially problematic as Elena is determined to visit someone on this day to call in an old debt. Her daughter Rita was recently found hanging in the belfry of a church. Elena doesn't accept the police's conclusion that it was a suicide and is determined to uncover the mystery behind her daughter's death. We follow her journey as she discovers the truth behind this tragic event and, in the process, get a profound insight into the challenges of her daily existence. However, this isn't a story that's as miserable as it sounds. Elena isn't the nicest person - often with good reason. She's irascible, extremely rude to some people and has a keen sense of irony. So following her thoughts and reflections is often a darkly funny and entertaining experience, but it's also very moving and enlightening. All these elements make this a riveting, revelatory and brilliantly imaginative story.
Read my full review of Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro at LonesomeReader
Read my full review of Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro at LonesomeReader
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April 20, 2022
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022
Have I ever —? Actually, have you ever been deeply affected – physically – by a novel, to the point of mentally associating it with a very bodily feeling? Because – truth be told – I finished reading this novel many days ago, and the very thought of it is still very instantly-instinctively and automatically supplanted by a weighty, anxiety-ridden feeling seemingly integrated in my body. As if my own body has assimilated the awful, stressful, and painful awareness of its hypothetical – or impending – dysfunctionality. Kudos to Piñeiro – because I had never actually envisaged the factual possibility of this ever happening through the act of reading.
Elena Knows is an exceptionally moving and impactful novel that solicits an urgent reconsideration of the human body and the moral precepts that circumscribe our understanding of human agency vis-à-vis the body itself. It persistently and palpably calls for a more self-conscious and self-aware interaction with the body, of one’s body and its interactions with and response to others’ bodies; of the judgemental and unreasonable, preconceived ideas that people carry along with them as they navigate through the world. Piñeiro’s reframing of the body and all the contexts and environments in which its actioning is called forth reveals the essential fragility of the human body, exacerbated by the sum of exclusionary judgements which make for a destructive mentality and (self-)annihilating socio-political landscape.
Elena knows; she thinks she knows that her daughter Rita, found hanging from the church belfry, could not possibly have committed suicide. Because it was raining, and her daughter never dared go near the church when it was raining. (She thinks) she knows, therefore, that the police must conduct a full-scale inquiry into all possible situations that might have led to her demise. While (half-)consciously – because she is herself a human being with blind spots – avoiding and evading the possibility that circumstances leading to Rita’s death might have been of an order she is not able to face, Elena takes it upon herself to do the impossible, if she has to, in order that she might learn the truth. What she needs, for her to be (pro)active in her investigation, is a functioning body. Which is why she goes in search of Isabel, who might be able to ‘lend’ her the body she herself lacks. Of course, little did Elena know what the day’s laborious trip had in store for her: the crumbling of those very certainties that led her to undertake the trip in the first place.
In this novel, body-movement and mind-perception play an important role. Elena’s severe Parkinson’s – that ‘fucking whore illness’ – delimits and restricts her capacity for movement and range of vision (indicatively alluding to the likewise limited range of human perception). Hers is the body – with its ‘expressionless eyes’ – the reader is made to embody throughout Elena’s narration, in this way experiencing a day-in-the-life (but also a day defining a life) punctuated by the intake of the pills, Elena’s only means of securing for herself a limited measure of mobility, in the absence of which paralysis readily takes over. The experiential reality of this – as we are led to feel more than perceive – is humiliating, physically painful, depressing. Because human beings depend on their body. Without it, they simply cannot be. And taking on Elena’s illness, as it were, for the duration of the narrative means having to endure Rita’s austere and hurtful tirades, her explicit and extended account – perhaps motivated by grief, tiredness, frustration – of all the particularities that make Elena’s condition hateful and disgusting for those around her: saliva, smell, slowness. That Elena should refuse to be pitied, and manifests a sober acceptance which also defies self-pity, works to counter the mortifying sentiment foregrounded by Rita (as representative of external, unsympathetic perception).
And yet, through the very crisp articulateness of her gaze and her condition, the body is brutally divested of its religious, metaphysical, or mystical dimension. There is indeed a symptomatic overlapping and layering of the narrative’s conversely profane understanding of the body. From Elena’s illness – presented as debilitating for the body of the person inhabiting it – to her daughter’s body: a ‘body that no longer holds the person it was, a body that no longer belongs to anyone, like an empty bag, incomplete, a pod without seeds.’ Also, to the body carried within one’s body – motherhood – considered, for some, as a curse: ‘Another person’s body, sometimes, can be terrifying.’ Elena’s for Rita. Isabel’s husband – his body – for her, and the child she did not desire, at all.
In this way, crime and morality enter a convoluted space of complex intertwining. What could the real crime in this novel be, in the absence of one? Is it not, perhaps, that Father Juan – in the name of Christian morals – denominates Rita’s alleged suicide as a sin, and those unable to accept the harsh finality of death foolish? Is it not that Rita – herself defined by strict moral precepts, herself without child – insists on Isabel having her child, notwithstanding the latter’s certainty on wanting to proceed with abortion, and notwithstanding Rita’s complete ignorance on the matter of Isabel’s circumstances?
Through a compounded deconstruction of both crime and morality, Elena Knows points to the limitations of human perception (thinking that one does know, while, really, not knowing much at all) and human endurance. The implication being that a person can be brought to go against what seems to most define their personality, thus revealing the Emptiness underneath, in its crude and indelible concreteness. And, ultimately, the essential aloneness of the human condition.
The crime, therefore, is not to be sought where one would expect to find it. It is, more so, a displaced crime; much like the possibility of knowledge itself. Because – surely – Elena did not seek Isabel for her one certainly – the Certainty of certainties – to be no more. In fact, the question ‘Why did you come here?’ dominates the latter part of the narrative, and Elena must go from knowing to questioning all that she thinks she knows. (fragmentary) Perception might just be all there is.
4.5 stars. An important, powerful novel from Argentinian author Claudia Piñeiro.
Elena Knows could be said to embody a Joycean journey in miniature: the diminished epic of a maimed and degenerate body, in its search for knowledge and truth.
Have I ever —? Actually, have you ever been deeply affected – physically – by a novel, to the point of mentally associating it with a very bodily feeling? Because – truth be told – I finished reading this novel many days ago, and the very thought of it is still very instantly-instinctively and automatically supplanted by a weighty, anxiety-ridden feeling seemingly integrated in my body. As if my own body has assimilated the awful, stressful, and painful awareness of its hypothetical – or impending – dysfunctionality. Kudos to Piñeiro – because I had never actually envisaged the factual possibility of this ever happening through the act of reading.
Elena Knows is an exceptionally moving and impactful novel that solicits an urgent reconsideration of the human body and the moral precepts that circumscribe our understanding of human agency vis-à-vis the body itself. It persistently and palpably calls for a more self-conscious and self-aware interaction with the body, of one’s body and its interactions with and response to others’ bodies; of the judgemental and unreasonable, preconceived ideas that people carry along with them as they navigate through the world. Piñeiro’s reframing of the body and all the contexts and environments in which its actioning is called forth reveals the essential fragility of the human body, exacerbated by the sum of exclusionary judgements which make for a destructive mentality and (self-)annihilating socio-political landscape.
Elena knows; she thinks she knows that her daughter Rita, found hanging from the church belfry, could not possibly have committed suicide. Because it was raining, and her daughter never dared go near the church when it was raining. (She thinks) she knows, therefore, that the police must conduct a full-scale inquiry into all possible situations that might have led to her demise. While (half-)consciously – because she is herself a human being with blind spots – avoiding and evading the possibility that circumstances leading to Rita’s death might have been of an order she is not able to face, Elena takes it upon herself to do the impossible, if she has to, in order that she might learn the truth. What she needs, for her to be (pro)active in her investigation, is a functioning body. Which is why she goes in search of Isabel, who might be able to ‘lend’ her the body she herself lacks. Of course, little did Elena know what the day’s laborious trip had in store for her: the crumbling of those very certainties that led her to undertake the trip in the first place.
In this novel, body-movement and mind-perception play an important role. Elena’s severe Parkinson’s – that ‘fucking whore illness’ – delimits and restricts her capacity for movement and range of vision (indicatively alluding to the likewise limited range of human perception). Hers is the body – with its ‘expressionless eyes’ – the reader is made to embody throughout Elena’s narration, in this way experiencing a day-in-the-life (but also a day defining a life) punctuated by the intake of the pills, Elena’s only means of securing for herself a limited measure of mobility, in the absence of which paralysis readily takes over. The experiential reality of this – as we are led to feel more than perceive – is humiliating, physically painful, depressing. Because human beings depend on their body. Without it, they simply cannot be. And taking on Elena’s illness, as it were, for the duration of the narrative means having to endure Rita’s austere and hurtful tirades, her explicit and extended account – perhaps motivated by grief, tiredness, frustration – of all the particularities that make Elena’s condition hateful and disgusting for those around her: saliva, smell, slowness. That Elena should refuse to be pitied, and manifests a sober acceptance which also defies self-pity, works to counter the mortifying sentiment foregrounded by Rita (as representative of external, unsympathetic perception).
And yet, through the very crisp articulateness of her gaze and her condition, the body is brutally divested of its religious, metaphysical, or mystical dimension. There is indeed a symptomatic overlapping and layering of the narrative’s conversely profane understanding of the body. From Elena’s illness – presented as debilitating for the body of the person inhabiting it – to her daughter’s body: a ‘body that no longer holds the person it was, a body that no longer belongs to anyone, like an empty bag, incomplete, a pod without seeds.’ Also, to the body carried within one’s body – motherhood – considered, for some, as a curse: ‘Another person’s body, sometimes, can be terrifying.’ Elena’s for Rita. Isabel’s husband – his body – for her, and the child she did not desire, at all.
In this way, crime and morality enter a convoluted space of complex intertwining. What could the real crime in this novel be, in the absence of one? Is it not, perhaps, that Father Juan – in the name of Christian morals – denominates Rita’s alleged suicide as a sin, and those unable to accept the harsh finality of death foolish? Is it not that Rita – herself defined by strict moral precepts, herself without child – insists on Isabel having her child, notwithstanding the latter’s certainty on wanting to proceed with abortion, and notwithstanding Rita’s complete ignorance on the matter of Isabel’s circumstances?
Through a compounded deconstruction of both crime and morality, Elena Knows points to the limitations of human perception (thinking that one does know, while, really, not knowing much at all) and human endurance. The implication being that a person can be brought to go against what seems to most define their personality, thus revealing the Emptiness underneath, in its crude and indelible concreteness. And, ultimately, the essential aloneness of the human condition.
‘Never isn’t a word that applies to our species, there are so many things that we think we’d never do and yet, when put in the situation, we do them.’
‘And on that day we will finally realise that we are all alone, forced to face ourselves, with no lies left to cling to.’
The crime, therefore, is not to be sought where one would expect to find it. It is, more so, a displaced crime; much like the possibility of knowledge itself. Because – surely – Elena did not seek Isabel for her one certainly – the Certainty of certainties – to be no more. In fact, the question ‘Why did you come here?’ dominates the latter part of the narrative, and Elena must go from knowing to questioning all that she thinks she knows. (fragmentary) Perception might just be all there is.
4.5 stars. An important, powerful novel from Argentinian author Claudia Piñeiro.
Elena Knows could be said to embody a Joycean journey in miniature: the diminished epic of a maimed and degenerate body, in its search for knowledge and truth.
March 2, 2024
شكرا للصديق أسامة على ترشيح الرواية وشكرا لأصدقاء القراءة على هذه المشاركة الخفيفة والبائسة في ذات الوقت ( نوعي المفضل بلا منازع 😅 )
"إيلينا تعرف"
" لا أحد يعرف ما تعرفه هي عن ابنتها؛ أو هكذا تعتقد "إيلينا"، لأنها والدتها، أو كانت والدتها. تعتقد "إيلينا" أن الأمومة تأتي مع أشياء معينة؛ الأم تعرف طفلها، الأم تعرفه، الأم تحبه. هكذا يقولون، هكذا هو الأم "
""إيلينا" تعرف أن كونها أمًا لا يتغير بسبب أي مرض، حتى لو منعك من ارتداء السترة، أو جمَّد قدميك ولم تتمكن من الحركة، أو أجبرك على العيش ورأسك منحنٍ لأسفل. لكن هل من الممكن لموت "ريتا" أن يكون قد أخذ جسد ابنتها، وأخذ معه أيضًا الكلمة التي تصف "إيلينا" أمًا؟"
نتعرف على إلينا من خلال رحلتها للبحث عن الحقيقية ومحاولتها للوصول لمساعدة للتعرف على قاتل إبنتها فهي لا تستطيع تصديق فكرة انتحار ابنتها . خاصة في ظل الظروف التي وجدوا بها جثتها معلقة في برج الجرس في الكنيسة في يوم ممطر فهي تعلم جيدا ان إبنتها تخاف من البرق من طفولتها وتعلم أن الصليب على قمة الكنيسة يجذبه كما قال لها والدها في طفولتها عن الصليب أنه "إنه مانع الصواعق في المدينة" وهذا التعليق منعها من الإقتراب من الكنيسة في الأيام الممطرة. لذا ترفض إيلينا تماما فكرة إنتحار إبنتها في هذا المكان وفي هذا الطقس لذا فهي مصممة ان هناك من أجبر إبنتها على الصعود هناك وقتلها .
"إيلينا" تعرف أن ابنتها قُتلت. إنها لا تعرف من فعلها أو لماذا. لا يمكنها معرفة الدافع. ولا تستطيع رؤيته، فهل عليها أن تتقبل الأمر عندما يقول الطبيب الشرعي والمحقق "أفييانيذا" و"روبرتو ألمادا" إنه انتحار؟ الجميع يقولون ذلك لأنفسهم سرًا. لكنها كانت تمطر. إنها الأم، وكانت السماء تمطر. هذا يغير كل شيء. لكنها لا تستطيع إثبات ذلك بمفردها. لن تكون قادرة على ذلك بنفسها لأنها لا تمتلك جسدًا سليمًا."
نتعرف خلال قيامها لهذه الرحلة لقطات من ماضيها وعلاقتها بإبنتها ريتا .كما نتعرف على حياتها ومعاناتها مع مرض الباركنسون " الشلل الرعاش". نعيش مع إيلينا تفاصيل يوم من حياتها وهو نبذة عن معاتاتها اليومية و عجزها عن التحكم في جسدها.
" ماذا تفعل إذا كان جسدك لا يطيعك ؟
ماذا يتبقي منك عندما يتعذر على ذراعك ارتداء سترة ولا تستطيع قدمك حتى أن تخطو خطوة ولا تستطيع رقبتك أن تستقيم بما يكفي للسماح لك بإظهار وجهك للعالم ؟ ماذا يتبقى منك ؟
هل ستصبح أنت عقلك الذي يستمر في إرسال الأوامر التي لن يتم تنفيذها، أم أنك الفكرة نفسها، شيء لا يمكن رؤيته أو لمسه يختفي وراء ذلك العضو المجعد المحمي، مدفونًا داخل الجمجمة"
علاقة ريتا مع والدتها علاقة معقدة . سيحكم البعض على كليهما، سيكرهم البعض ، ربما تصيب البعض بالغضب او الاشمئزاز ، لكن دقق النظر قليلا ، انظر وراء الكلمات والنظرات والتعبيرات ، انظر وراء الصراعات والأحاديث اللازعة ستستطيع ان ترى الحب والرعاية لكن احيانا يظهر الحب بطرق غريبة . لكل حب طريقته وشكله الخاص .
" أحبت ابنتها ولا تزال تحبها رغم أنها لم تقل لها ذلك مطلقًا، رغم أنهما كانتا تتعاركان وتبتعدان عن بعضهما، رغم أن كلامهما معًا كان مثل ضربات السوط، حتى لو لم تعانق ابنتها أو تقبلها، فقد شعرت بحب الأم".
علاقتهم ببعض صعبة وقد يتهم البعض ريتا في بعض الاحيان بالجفاء تجاه والدتها . نعم قالت لها وعنها الكثير من الكلمات والتعبيرات السيئة "أحيانا يكون الصراخ أسهل من البكاء "
لكن هناك أشياء لا تعرفها . اولا : طبيعة العلاقة بينهم وطبيعة علاقة امها بها .كلاهما لم يعتاد على إحتضان الآخر او مبادلة كلمات الحب والحنان، لم تعتاد ريتا في حياتها على ذلك ، لم تقدم لها والدتها هذا ، لم تعلمها التعبير عن المشاعر بينهما . عندما يكون الانتقاد محور العلاقة تختلف أشياء كثيرة .
ثانيا هل جربت أن تحيا مكانها ؟ ليس فقط مكانها بل تحيا حياتها بالكامل وبشخصيتها وأفكارها وطاقتها الجسدية والنفسية.
المريض يعاني معاناة رهيبة لكنه لا يعاني وحده فمقدم الرعاية له يعاني هو أيضا .. ليس من السهل ان تجد شخص تحبه يخبو أمامك، يتوقف عن كونه هو الشخص الذي أعتدت الحياة معه . أصبح شبحاً له .. على قيد الحياة نعم لكنه لم يعود نفس الشخص ... ليس من السهل التعامل مع الضغط الجسدى والنفسي والعصبي ..يتحول المريض لطفل كما يقولون لكن هناك فرق كبير فالطفل تراه يتطور ويكبر أمام عينيك لكن المريض يخبو ويضعف ، عندما تقوم بإطعام طفل مثلا ترتسم إبتسامة تلقائيا على وجهك وترغب في مداعبته لكن ان تطعم والدتك وتراها لا تستطيع ان تفعل شيئا هناك جزء بداخلك يعتصر ألماً ، ليست عدم رغبة منك او ضيق بسبب خدمتها لكن ببساطة لأنك لا تستطيع إستيعاب تدهور حالتها بهذا الشكل وفي حالة ايلينا وأمثالها كثيرون ليس هناك أيضا أمل في التحسن . فحينها انت فقط ترى شخص تحبه يتلاشى أمامك، وتعامل كل شخص منا مع الألم يختلف من شخص لآخر فهناك مثلا من ينهار ويبكى وهناك من يصبح غاضبا من كل شئ وهناك تصرفات ومشاعر أخرى، لكل منا طريقته.
"طفلة، ماذا تقول يا دكتور؟ الأطفال جذابون، الأطفال لديهم بشرة ناعمة بيضاء، لعابهم نقي، يتعلم جسد الطفل الجلوس والوقوف، ويومًا ما سيتعلم المشي، ويحصل على أسنان جديدة بيضاء وصحية. ما تمر به والدتي هو عكس ذلك تمامًا. بدلًا من أن تتعلم التحكم في عضلاتها، فإنها ستتبول وتتبرز لا إراديًا، بدلًا من أن تتعلم الحديث، ستصبح صامتة، بدلًا من الوقوف مفرودة الجسم، ستصبح منحنية أكثر فأكثر، ومهزومة أكثر فأكثر، وأنا محكوم عليَّ أن أشاهدها وجسدها يموت دون أن تموت."
"ألقِ نظرة، إذا كنت تجرؤ، في عينيها الميتتين، في وجهها الخالي من التعبيرات، وابتسامتها الجوفاء، هل ستطلب حقًا من هذه المرأة المسكينة المزيد؟
- والدتك قوية، يجب أن تكوني ممتنة لذلك.
- ولكن ماذا عني؟ ماذا تطلب مني؟"
الجميع يشعر بالتعاطف والألم من اجل المريض ويطالب من يقوم برعايته ببذل أقصي جهوده وإحتماله والوقوف بجانبه لكنهم ينسون انه يحتاج هو الاخر لمن يرعاه .وان كلما كان المريض قريبا منك كلما كان من الصعب رؤيته يخبو ويتعذب من مرضه امامك ولا يستطيع القيام بأبسط الأشياء . وتشعر بالعجز الشديد لأنك لا تستطيع فعلا شئ من أجله.
أسلوب الرواية يمتاز بالسلاسة والإنسيابية وجميل في نفس الوقت وإستطاعت الكاتبة دمجي مع الاحداث بسهولة وبراعة .
تفهمت إيلينا ورفضها لتقبل فكرة إنتحار إبنتها .وتقبلت ريتا أيضا وإنتهاء طاقتها وقدرتها على التحمل وطريقتها في التعبير عن الغضب والرفض لمرض أمها وتدهوراته ، حتى إيزابيل حين تحدثت أستطعت تفهمها والشعور بها وسماعها جيدا وشعرت بمعاناتها من صفحات وكلمات قليلة نوعا ما .
صور المراجعة من الصور الموجودة في بداية كل فصل في الرواية .
٢٨ / ١٠ /٢٠٢٢
"إيلينا تعرف"
" لا أحد يعرف ما تعرفه هي عن ابنتها؛ أو هكذا تعتقد "إيلينا"، لأنها والدتها، أو كانت والدتها. تعتقد "إيلينا" أن الأمومة تأتي مع أشياء معينة؛ الأم تعرف طفلها، الأم تعرفه، الأم تحبه. هكذا يقولون، هكذا هو الأم "
""إيلينا" تعرف أن كونها أمًا لا يتغير بسبب أي مرض، حتى لو منعك من ارتداء السترة، أو جمَّد قدميك ولم تتمكن من الحركة، أو أجبرك على العيش ورأسك منحنٍ لأسفل. لكن هل من الممكن لموت "ريتا" أن يكون قد أخذ جسد ابنتها، وأخذ معه أيضًا الكلمة التي تصف "إيلينا" أمًا؟"
نتعرف على إلينا من خلال رحلتها للبحث عن الحقيقية ومحاولتها للوصول لمساعدة للتعرف على قاتل إبنتها فهي لا تستطيع تصديق فكرة انتحار ابنتها . خاصة في ظل الظروف التي وجدوا بها جثتها معلقة في برج الجرس في الكنيسة في يوم ممطر فهي تعلم جيدا ان إبنتها تخاف من البرق من طفولتها وتعلم أن الصليب على قمة الكنيسة يجذبه كما قال لها والدها في طفولتها عن الصليب أنه "إنه مانع الصواعق في المدينة" وهذا التعليق منعها من الإقتراب من الكنيسة في الأيام الممطرة. لذا ترفض إيلينا تماما فكرة إنتحار إبنتها في هذا المكان وفي هذا الطقس لذا فهي مصممة ان هناك من أجبر إبنتها على الصعود هناك وقتلها .
"إيلينا" تعرف أن ابنتها قُتلت. إنها لا تعرف من فعلها أو لماذا. لا يمكنها معرفة الدافع. ولا تستطيع رؤيته، فهل عليها أن تتقبل الأمر عندما يقول الطبيب الشرعي والمحقق "أفييانيذا" و"روبرتو ألمادا" إنه انتحار؟ الجميع يقولون ذلك لأنفسهم سرًا. لكنها كانت تمطر. إنها الأم، وكانت السماء تمطر. هذا يغير كل شيء. لكنها لا تستطيع إثبات ذلك بمفردها. لن تكون قادرة على ذلك بنفسها لأنها لا تمتلك جسدًا سليمًا."
نتعرف خلال قيامها لهذه الرحلة لقطات من ماضيها وعلاقتها بإبنتها ريتا .كما نتعرف على حياتها ومعاناتها مع مرض الباركنسون " الشلل الرعاش". نعيش مع إيلينا تفاصيل يوم من حياتها وهو نبذة عن معاتاتها اليومية و عجزها عن التحكم في جسدها.
" ماذا تفعل إذا كان جسدك لا يطيعك ؟
ماذا يتبقي منك عندما يتعذر على ذراعك ارتداء سترة ولا تستطيع قدمك حتى أن تخطو خطوة ولا تستطيع رقبتك أن تستقيم بما يكفي للسماح لك بإظهار وجهك للعالم ؟ ماذا يتبقى منك ؟
هل ستصبح أنت عقلك الذي يستمر في إرسال الأوامر التي لن يتم تنفيذها، أم أنك الفكرة نفسها، شيء لا يمكن رؤيته أو لمسه يختفي وراء ذلك العضو المجعد المحمي، مدفونًا داخل الجمجمة"
علاقة ريتا مع والدتها علاقة معقدة . سيحكم البعض على كليهما، سيكرهم البعض ، ربما تصيب البعض بالغضب او الاشمئزاز ، لكن دقق النظر قليلا ، انظر وراء الكلمات والنظرات والتعبيرات ، انظر وراء الصراعات والأحاديث اللازعة ستستطيع ان ترى الحب والرعاية لكن احيانا يظهر الحب بطرق غريبة . لكل حب طريقته وشكله الخاص .
" أحبت ابنتها ولا تزال تحبها رغم أنها لم تقل لها ذلك مطلقًا، رغم أنهما كانتا تتعاركان وتبتعدان عن بعضهما، رغم أن كلامهما معًا كان مثل ضربات السوط، حتى لو لم تعانق ابنتها أو تقبلها، فقد شعرت بحب الأم".
علاقتهم ببعض صعبة وقد يتهم البعض ريتا في بعض الاحيان بالجفاء تجاه والدتها . نعم قالت لها وعنها الكثير من الكلمات والتعبيرات السيئة "أحيانا يكون الصراخ أسهل من البكاء "
لكن هناك أشياء لا تعرفها . اولا : طبيعة العلاقة بينهم وطبيعة علاقة امها بها .كلاهما لم يعتاد على إحتضان الآخر او مبادلة كلمات الحب والحنان، لم تعتاد ريتا في حياتها على ذلك ، لم تقدم لها والدتها هذا ، لم تعلمها التعبير عن المشاعر بينهما . عندما يكون الانتقاد محور العلاقة تختلف أشياء كثيرة .
" تتجادلان دائمًا، بعد ظهر كل يوم. حول أي شيء. لم يكن الموضوع الذي تتجادلان حوله مهمًا، المهم هو الطريقة التي اختارتها كلتاهما للتواصل. تتراكم الحجج بعضها فوق بعض، واحدة مخبأة تحت الأخرى، مستعدة وجاهزة للقفز إلى الأمام، بغض النظر عن مدى ارتباطها بالموضوع المطروح. تتصارعان كما لو أن كل كلمة تُقال عبارة عن لسعة سوط من الجلد، تبدأ إحداهما في الضرب، ثم تتبعها الأخرى. تجرح جسد المنافسة بالكلمات، ولا تترك للأخرى الفرصة لكي ترى ما إذا كانت قد أصابت هدفها أم ��ا. تتوقفان قبل أن يت��ول الأمر إلى مشاجرة جسدية"
ثانيا هل جربت أن تحيا مكانها ؟ ليس فقط مكانها بل تحيا حياتها بالكامل وبشخصيتها وأفكارها وطاقتها الجسدية والنفسية.
المريض يعاني معاناة رهيبة لكنه لا يعاني وحده فمقدم الرعاية له يعاني هو أيضا .. ليس من السهل ان تجد شخص تحبه يخبو أمامك، يتوقف عن كونه هو الشخص الذي أعتدت الحياة معه . أصبح شبحاً له .. على قيد الحياة نعم لكنه لم يعود نفس الشخص ... ليس من السهل التعامل مع الضغط الجسدى والنفسي والعصبي ..يتحول المريض لطفل كما يقولون لكن هناك فرق كبير فالطفل تراه يتطور ويكبر أمام عينيك لكن المريض يخبو ويضعف ، عندما تقوم بإطعام طفل مثلا ترتسم إبتسامة تلقائيا على وجهك وترغب في مداعبته لكن ان تطعم والدتك وتراها لا تستطيع ان تفعل شيئا هناك جزء بداخلك يعتصر ألماً ، ليست عدم رغبة منك او ضيق بسبب خدمتها لكن ببساطة لأنك لا تستطيع إستيعاب تدهور حالتها بهذا الشكل وفي حالة ايلينا وأمثالها كثيرون ليس هناك أيضا أمل في التحسن . فحينها انت فقط ترى شخص تحبه يتلاشى أمامك، وتعامل كل شخص منا مع الألم يختلف من شخص لآخر فهناك مثلا من ينهار ويبكى وهناك من يصبح غاضبا من كل شئ وهناك تصرفات ومشاعر أخرى، لكل منا طريقته.
"طفلة، ماذا تقول يا دكتور؟ الأطفال جذابون، الأطفال لديهم بشرة ناعمة بيضاء، لعابهم نقي، يتعلم جسد الطفل الجلوس والوقوف، ويومًا ما سيتعلم المشي، ويحصل على أسنان جديدة بيضاء وصحية. ما تمر به والدتي هو عكس ذلك تمامًا. بدلًا من أن تتعلم التحكم في عضلاتها، فإنها ستتبول وتتبرز لا إراديًا، بدلًا من أن تتعلم الحديث، ستصبح صامتة، بدلًا من الوقوف مفرودة الجسم، ستصبح منحنية أكثر فأكثر، ومهزومة أكثر فأكثر، وأنا محكوم عليَّ أن أشاهدها وجسدها يموت دون أن تموت."
"ألقِ نظرة، إذا كنت تجرؤ، في عينيها الميتتين، في وجهها الخالي من التعبيرات، وابتسامتها الجوفاء، هل ستطلب حقًا من هذه المرأة المسكينة المزيد؟
- والدتك قوية، يجب أن تكوني ممتنة لذلك.
- ولكن ماذا عني؟ ماذا تطلب مني؟"
الجميع يشعر بالتعاطف والألم من اجل المريض ويطالب من يقوم برعايته ببذل أقصي جهوده وإحتماله والوقوف بجانبه لكنهم ينسون انه يحتاج هو الاخر لمن يرعاه .وان كلما كان المريض قريبا منك كلما كان من الصعب رؤيته يخبو ويتعذب من مرضه امامك ولا يستطيع القيام بأبسط الأشياء . وتشعر بالعجز الشديد لأنك لا تستطيع فعلا شئ من أجله.
أسلوب الرواية يمتاز بالسلاسة والإنسيابية وجميل في نفس الوقت وإستطاعت الكاتبة دمجي مع الاحداث بسهولة وبراعة .
تفهمت إيلينا ورفضها لتقبل فكرة إنتحار إبنتها .وتقبلت ريتا أيضا وإنتهاء طاقتها وقدرتها على التحمل وطريقتها في التعبير عن الغضب والرفض لمرض أمها وتدهوراته ، حتى إيزابيل حين تحدثت أستطعت تفهمها والشعور بها وسماعها جيدا وشعرت بمعاناتها من صفحات وكلمات قليلة نوعا ما .
صور المراجعة من الصور الموجودة في بداية كل فصل في الرواية .
٢٨ / ١٠ /٢٠٢٢
June 2, 2024
say mother-daughter relationship and i! am! sold! though not always, this dynamic tends to be tumultuous in nature — there exists a push and pull between mother and daughter, the protecter and the protected, the “experienced” and the “naive,” two sides of the same coin. i can’t speak on motherhood, but as a daughter, my most complex relationship is probably the one i have with my own mother. it follows no rules, managing to be as exhausting as it is rewarding, and yet, it remains a guiding light when i feel lost.
there is an art to writing this particular relationship. it is so easy to vilify one party (see, emily gilmore), to say with complete conviction that they are in the wrong. but whether internally or externally, it’s imperative to approach both perspectives, and the relationship as a whole, with context and compassion — only then can we be better mothers and daughters. and this, i think, is what claudia piñeiro does with expertise.
a poignant and heart wrenching depiction of motherhood, elena knows follows elena during the course of one day as she calls in a debt to prove that her daughter, rita, found hanging from the church near their house, did not commit suicide as everyone seems to believe. throughout the book, we get little fragments of elena and rita’s relationship, rife with disagreement and criticism directed at each other. and yet:
“if rita could see me now, she thinks, and elena knows what rita would say if she could see her, she knows the lecture by heart but would like to hear it, would like to even hear her scolding and her insults and her anger. she’d choose rita’s insults over her absence any day but she knows that it doesn’t matter what she’d choose because death has taken away her ability to choose.”
piñeiro subverts this typical mother daughter relationship through elena’s parkinson’s disease, which turns the daughter into the caregiver and the mother into the patient who needs caring. and with this she explores what it means to be a mother when you had no intention of doing so, upending your life for something you never saw coming — how devastating and destructive it can be.
and the irony in the title “elena knows” is just so brilliantly haunting. because elena didn’t know what happened to her daughter, as much as she liked to believe she did, as much as the rain confirmed her suspicions. she knew her daughter, and yet, she didn’t. not at all.
there is an art to writing this particular relationship. it is so easy to vilify one party (see, emily gilmore), to say with complete conviction that they are in the wrong. but whether internally or externally, it’s imperative to approach both perspectives, and the relationship as a whole, with context and compassion — only then can we be better mothers and daughters. and this, i think, is what claudia piñeiro does with expertise.
a poignant and heart wrenching depiction of motherhood, elena knows follows elena during the course of one day as she calls in a debt to prove that her daughter, rita, found hanging from the church near their house, did not commit suicide as everyone seems to believe. throughout the book, we get little fragments of elena and rita’s relationship, rife with disagreement and criticism directed at each other. and yet:
“if rita could see me now, she thinks, and elena knows what rita would say if she could see her, she knows the lecture by heart but would like to hear it, would like to even hear her scolding and her insults and her anger. she’d choose rita’s insults over her absence any day but she knows that it doesn’t matter what she’d choose because death has taken away her ability to choose.”
piñeiro subverts this typical mother daughter relationship through elena’s parkinson’s disease, which turns the daughter into the caregiver and the mother into the patient who needs caring. and with this she explores what it means to be a mother when you had no intention of doing so, upending your life for something you never saw coming — how devastating and destructive it can be.
and the irony in the title “elena knows” is just so brilliantly haunting. because elena didn’t know what happened to her daughter, as much as she liked to believe she did, as much as the rain confirmed her suspicions. she knew her daughter, and yet, she didn’t. not at all.
June 1, 2022
Now Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022
German: Elena weiß Bescheid (available since 2009)
The Argentinian journalist and star author lures her readers in with the deceit of a crime novel starring a Miss Marple-like elderly mother-turned-investigator, only to then discuss the personal and societal implications of chronic illness and women's issues - excellent move, Claudia Piñeiro (fun fact: Piñeiro is the third most translated Argentinian author, after Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar). The title-giving Elena - who, like all of us, is under the impression that she has figured all kinds of things out, thus amassing lots of false convictions - is very ill with Parkinson, when her daughter and caregiver Rita is found hanging in the bell tower of the church. Elena is convinced that Rita, a devout Catholic who feared lightning, would never have gone to the tower in the rain to commit the sin of suicide.
So Elena starts to investigate, and her severe illness gives the text its innovative form: Her body can only function from one tablet of medication to the next, and in between, she has trouble looking up, staying concentrated, moving. We, as readers, experience the same restrictions while accompanying her on her trip to Isabel, an enigmatic women Rita and Elena met almost 20 years ago on a faithful day (and only at the very end will we learn what happened and how it relates to Rita's death). In between the (for the sick woman) exhausting journey, flashbacks illustrate how Elena has already tried to alert the people around her to her suspicion that Rita was murdered, and how Elena and Rita have experienced living with Parkinson (the caregiver is also suffering due to the illness of the person they take care of, of course).
The whole plot plays out over one day, and while the text is rather short, the first 2/3 are very slow (which is also an aesthetic decision, as described above), but then the ending packs a real punch. Piñeiro tackles some very uncomfortable questions, especially for a religious society and a society that relies on women conforming and being caregivers to children and the elderly without questioning their roles or getting enough help (the latter being, well, pretty much all societies).
A great pick by the Booker judges, although I am still rooting for Fosse as the winner (btw: A New Name: Septology VI-VII also reflects the perspective of an elderly person with their body starting to fail them).
You can listen to my interview with Frank Wynne, jury president of the International Booker 2022, here.
German: Elena weiß Bescheid (available since 2009)
The Argentinian journalist and star author lures her readers in with the deceit of a crime novel starring a Miss Marple-like elderly mother-turned-investigator, only to then discuss the personal and societal implications of chronic illness and women's issues - excellent move, Claudia Piñeiro (fun fact: Piñeiro is the third most translated Argentinian author, after Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar). The title-giving Elena - who, like all of us, is under the impression that she has figured all kinds of things out, thus amassing lots of false convictions - is very ill with Parkinson, when her daughter and caregiver Rita is found hanging in the bell tower of the church. Elena is convinced that Rita, a devout Catholic who feared lightning, would never have gone to the tower in the rain to commit the sin of suicide.
So Elena starts to investigate, and her severe illness gives the text its innovative form: Her body can only function from one tablet of medication to the next, and in between, she has trouble looking up, staying concentrated, moving. We, as readers, experience the same restrictions while accompanying her on her trip to Isabel, an enigmatic women Rita and Elena met almost 20 years ago on a faithful day (and only at the very end will we learn what happened and how it relates to Rita's death). In between the (for the sick woman) exhausting journey, flashbacks illustrate how Elena has already tried to alert the people around her to her suspicion that Rita was murdered, and how Elena and Rita have experienced living with Parkinson (the caregiver is also suffering due to the illness of the person they take care of, of course).
The whole plot plays out over one day, and while the text is rather short, the first 2/3 are very slow (which is also an aesthetic decision, as described above), but then the ending packs a real punch. Piñeiro tackles some very uncomfortable questions, especially for a religious society and a society that relies on women conforming and being caregivers to children and the elderly without questioning their roles or getting enough help (the latter being, well, pretty much all societies).
A great pick by the Booker judges, although I am still rooting for Fosse as the winner (btw: A New Name: Septology VI-VII also reflects the perspective of an elderly person with their body starting to fail them).
You can listen to my interview with Frank Wynne, jury president of the International Booker 2022, here.
January 4, 2025
لم أختبر الأمومة. وعندما أتحدث عنها أو عما يتعلق بتربية الأبناء، أكاد أسمع الجملة الغير منطوقة ممن يسمعني...
"كيف لكِ أن تتحدثي عن ما لم تختبريه؟ أنتِ لا تعرفين"
فهل أنا حقيقة لا أعرف؟
اختبرت "إيلينا" الأمومة. أنجبت طفلة من لحمها ودمها، ظنت أنها تعرفها، فهل كانت حقيقةً تعرف؟
بصراحة مؤلمة تكشف لنا "كلاوديا بينيرو" المؤلفة وجهاً قبيحاً لأكثر العلاقات الإنسانية حميمية "العلاقة بين الأم والابناء". وجهاً نختار نحن كعالم شرقي متدين أن نغض الطرف عنه وندّعي عدم وجوده.
هل الحب في تلك العلاقة مضمون دائماً؟ هل العطاء اللا محدود مقدورٌ عليه عندما تَجِد على تلك العلاقة مُتغير مرعب مثل مرض إيلينا، تلك المرض الذي استنزفت قسوة أعراضه ابنتها الراعية لها "ريتا" صحياً وعصبياً؟ ريتا التي تفتقر للقدرة على العطاء من الأصل، مثلها مثل أمها التي أورثتها القسوة وجفاء المشاعر، هل علاقة الدم بأمها تلك كافية لجعلها تصبر على حِمل رعاية تلك الأم في مرضها اللعين؟
أتذكر كيف نُحاكم بكل قسوة من هم في وضع "ريتا" الإبنة، عندما يُظهرون عجزهم عن الإستمرار في رعاية أم/أب واقعين تحت سيطرة مرض لا يرحم. اتذكر كيف نُطالبهم بكل أريحية بالصبر، ونعدهم بنعيم ينتظرهم في الأخرة جزاء صبرهم. فالكلمات رخيصة لا تُكلف شيئاً.
لم أحب "ريتا". كرهتها وكرهت قسوتها على نفسها وعلى كل من حولها، حتى على الرجل الوحيد الذي أحبها. كرهت عجزها "الفطري" عن الحب والعطاء. ولكن شعرت بكل كلمة خرجت منها لدى زيارتها الأخيرة لطبيب إمها والتي عرفت فيها أن الأسوأ بانتظارهما معاً. أتفهم تماما يأسها الذي جعلها تفعل ما فعلته.
وبتبديل الأدوار، نرى نموذجاً أخر لعدم القدرة على منح حب يقال أنه "مضمون". عجزت "إيزابيل" عن حب ابنتها، وقد نبرر ذلك العجز بالظروف التي حملت فيها تلك الطفلة على غير رغبة منها. ولكن نستشعر من بين السطور، أن إيزابيل عاجزة من الأصل عن الشعور بعاطفة الأمومة بصرف النظر عن الكيفية التي ستتحقق بها تلك الأمو��ة.
حتى اليوم لا يريد المجتمع أن يفهم أن الأمومة ليست ذراعاً أو أُذناً تُخلق بهم كل امرأة. وأنها ليست "هدية مجانية" يتم توزيعها على كل أم فور تلقيها لطفلها بين ذراعيها. ولم تُم��ح "ايزابيل" بكل تأكيد تلك المنحة.
تُصنف تلك الرواية على انها تنتمي للأدب النسوي، وذلك لدعم كاتبتها الدائم لقضية حق المرأة في الاجهاض.
ولكن لم تكن هنا الحكاية عن مدى احقية المرأة في التحكم بجسدها على قدر ما كانت عن وجه قاس للبشر.
لم تكن رواية تنتمي لأدب التشويق أو الجريمة كما صنفها أخرون، بل هى عن الإنسان عندما يوضع تحت ظروف قاسية، هل سيتمسك بإنسانيته، أم أن تلك الإنسانية قناع زائف س��عان ما ينهار أمام أي اختبار مؤلم وقاس؟
"كيف لكِ أن تتحدثي عن ما لم تختبريه؟ أنتِ لا تعرفين"
فهل أنا حقيقة لا أعرف؟
اختبرت "إيلينا" الأمومة. أنجبت طفلة من لحمها ودمها، ظنت أنها تعرفها، فهل كانت حقيقةً تعرف؟
بصراحة مؤلمة تكشف لنا "كلاوديا بينيرو" المؤلفة وجهاً قبيحاً لأكثر العلاقات الإنسانية حميمية "العلاقة بين الأم والابناء". وجهاً نختار نحن كعالم شرقي متدين أن نغض الطرف عنه وندّعي عدم وجوده.
هل الحب في تلك العلاقة مضمون دائماً؟ هل العطاء اللا محدود مقدورٌ عليه عندما تَجِد على تلك العلاقة مُتغير مرعب مثل مرض إيلينا، تلك المرض الذي استنزفت قسوة أعراضه ابنتها الراعية لها "ريتا" صحياً وعصبياً؟ ريتا التي تفتقر للقدرة على العطاء من الأصل، مثلها مثل أمها التي أورثتها القسوة وجفاء المشاعر، هل علاقة الدم بأمها تلك كافية لجعلها تصبر على حِمل رعاية تلك الأم في مرضها اللعين؟
أتذكر كيف نُحاكم بكل قسوة من هم في وضع "ريتا" الإبنة، عندما يُظهرون عجزهم عن الإستمرار في رعاية أم/أب واقعين تحت سيطرة مرض لا يرحم. اتذكر كيف نُطالبهم بكل أريحية بالصبر، ونعدهم بنعيم ينتظرهم في الأخرة جزاء صبرهم. فالكلمات رخيصة لا تُكلف شيئاً.
لم أحب "ريتا". كرهتها وكرهت قسوتها على نفسها وعلى كل من حولها، حتى على الرجل الوحيد الذي أحبها. كرهت عجزها "الفطري" عن الحب والعطاء. ولكن شعرت بكل كلمة خرجت منها لدى زيارتها الأخيرة لطبيب إمها والتي عرفت فيها أن الأسوأ بانتظارهما معاً. أتفهم تماما يأسها الذي جعلها تفعل ما فعلته.
وبتبديل الأدوار، نرى نموذجاً أخر لعدم القدرة على منح حب يقال أنه "مضمون". عجزت "إيزابيل" عن حب ابنتها، وقد نبرر ذلك العجز بالظروف التي حملت فيها تلك الطفلة على غير رغبة منها. ولكن نستشعر من بين السطور، أن إيزابيل عاجزة من الأصل عن الشعور بعاطفة الأمومة بصرف النظر عن الكيفية التي ستتحقق بها تلك الأمو��ة.
حتى اليوم لا يريد المجتمع أن يفهم أن الأمومة ليست ذراعاً أو أُذناً تُخلق بهم كل امرأة. وأنها ليست "هدية مجانية" يتم توزيعها على كل أم فور تلقيها لطفلها بين ذراعيها. ولم تُم��ح "ايزابيل" بكل تأكيد تلك المنحة.
تُصنف تلك الرواية على انها تنتمي للأدب النسوي، وذلك لدعم كاتبتها الدائم لقضية حق المرأة في الاجهاض.
ولكن لم تكن هنا الحكاية عن مدى احقية المرأة في التحكم بجسدها على قدر ما كانت عن وجه قاس للبشر.
لم تكن رواية تنتمي لأدب التشويق أو الجريمة كما صنفها أخرون، بل هى عن الإنسان عندما يوضع تحت ظروف قاسية، هل سيتمسك بإنسانيته، أم أن تلك الإنسانية قناع زائف س��عان ما ينهار أمام أي اختبار مؤلم وقاس؟
June 16, 2022
Shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Award
Argentinian author Claudia Pinera pushes the boundaries of crime writing in her finely crafted novel Elena Knows. The story centers on the death of Elena's 43-year-old, devoutly religious daughter. Rita, who the police found hanging in the local church belfry. They ruled her death a suicide. However, Elena, 63, who suffers from advanced stages of Parkinson' Disease, does not believe her daughter killed herself. Due to the limitations of her illness, she decides to seek the assistance of a woman, Isabel, whom her daughter helped twenty years ago.
The book, which takes place over one day, chronicles the arduous journey of Elena, who cannot move without the assistance of medications she takes throughout the day. As Elena traverses Buenos Aires, she remembers. Her flashbacks, coupled with her meeting with Isabel, provide the key to what happened to Rita.
On the surface, Elena Knows appears to be a mystery. However, it investigates more than Rita's death. It examines the impact of a chronic brutal illness on the mother-daughter relationship when the daughter becomes the caregiver. It also looks at how religious dogma influences life choices.
The book is short yet moves slowly and painfully like Elena and captures the trauma of having one's life governed by a disease progressively worsening. The writing is taut and captures the ambiance of sorrow and suffering. It is an excellent book, though sad, and I found it difficult to read at times because of the harsh reality it so vividly portrayed. Nevertheless, I felt Elena Knows deserved its Booker nomination.
Thanks to GR Friends Meike and Daniel Schindler for inspiring me to read this novel.
Argentinian author Claudia Pinera pushes the boundaries of crime writing in her finely crafted novel Elena Knows. The story centers on the death of Elena's 43-year-old, devoutly religious daughter. Rita, who the police found hanging in the local church belfry. They ruled her death a suicide. However, Elena, 63, who suffers from advanced stages of Parkinson' Disease, does not believe her daughter killed herself. Due to the limitations of her illness, she decides to seek the assistance of a woman, Isabel, whom her daughter helped twenty years ago.
The book, which takes place over one day, chronicles the arduous journey of Elena, who cannot move without the assistance of medications she takes throughout the day. As Elena traverses Buenos Aires, she remembers. Her flashbacks, coupled with her meeting with Isabel, provide the key to what happened to Rita.
On the surface, Elena Knows appears to be a mystery. However, it investigates more than Rita's death. It examines the impact of a chronic brutal illness on the mother-daughter relationship when the daughter becomes the caregiver. It also looks at how religious dogma influences life choices.
The book is short yet moves slowly and painfully like Elena and captures the trauma of having one's life governed by a disease progressively worsening. The writing is taut and captures the ambiance of sorrow and suffering. It is an excellent book, though sad, and I found it difficult to read at times because of the harsh reality it so vividly portrayed. Nevertheless, I felt Elena Knows deserved its Booker nomination.
Thanks to GR Friends Meike and Daniel Schindler for inspiring me to read this novel.
October 10, 2024
ماذا تسمى الأم التي تفقد ابنتها؟ هل تفقد أمومتها بفقدان ابنتها؟
هل تستكثر الأم الحب على ابنتها؟
و لأي مدى قد تتفاني الأبنة في رعاية أمها؟
و هل تتحول أكبر مخاوفنا لسبيل للنجاة؟
أسئلة مختلفة بتطرحها كلاوديا بينيرو بهدوء و روية. بتعرض الكاتبة صور من يوم مكرر من حياة مرضى الباركنسون " الشلل الرعاش"، تقسيم اليوم حسب حبوب الدواء.. تكرار الخطوات ببطء.. عجزها عن التحكم في جسدها.
-هل أسقطِ شيئاً؟
-لقد أسقطت نفسي..
تأخذنا الكاتبة في رحلة بدأتها إيلينا وحيدة تجر قدميها، مرورًا لمحاولات ايلينا لكشف قاتل ابنتها و رفضها المستميت للإقتناع بانتحارها.
" نسيت يا إيلينا انك أم"
الرواية أظهرت وجهات نظر مختلفة عن الحياة.
الحياة بالنسبة لإيلينا منحة متمسكة بيها لآخر لحظة حتي ولو على حساب سعادة و راحة ريتا.. لتتحول حياة ريتا الشابة من منحة لمحنة.
remove duplicates from large text file
طرحت الكاتبة تصور الشخصيات المختلف عن الجسد.
من خلال شخصيات نسائية مختلفة و لكنهم مشتركون جميعاً في القهر.. منهم من لا تملك جسدها بسبب المرض.. و منهم من أجبرها زوجها على الإنجاب.. و آخرهم ريتا و رغم شبابها الا انها ليست سيدة قرارها و انها سجينة مرض ايلينا.
"إنكِ مدينة لابنتي بشئ يمكنك سداده بإعطائي ما لا أملكه جيداً، جسداً قادراً على المساعدة"
علاقات الامومة في الرواية مختلفة.. عكس المعتاد في حالة زي حالة ايلينا و ريتا و التعاطف المفترض، علاقتهم كان فيها نفور.
"المشكلة ليست في مظهرك و لكن في من عليه أن ينظر إليكِ"
و رغم علاقتهم السيئة إلا إن ايلينا تعرف أنها أم و أنها تحب ريتا.
"تعتقد إيلينا أن الامومة تأتي مع أشياء معينة، الأم تعرف طفلها، الأم تحبه. هكذا يقولون، هكذا هو الأمر. لقد أحبت ابنتها و لا تزال تحبها رغم أنها لم تقل لها ذلك مطلقاً، رغم انهما كانتا تتعاركان و تبتعدان عن بعضهما، رغم أن كلامهما معاً كان مثل ضربات السوط، حتى لو لم تعانق ابنتها أو تقبلها، فقد شعرت بحب الأم "
أبدعت بينيرو في إظهار الحزن و الصدمة و الإنكار و إذلال المرض. و الجميل في الرواية ان قضاياها كلها نسائية و هادفة. ممكن تكون دعوة لرفع الوعي و تقدير مقدمي الرعاية لكبار السن حتى و لو كانوا الأبناء.. رسالة تذكير ان حب الأبناء و رعايتهم للآباء مش من المسلمات و ان قدرة الأشخاص مختلفة.. و مفيش ما يمنع من إظهار التقدير و الحب و الامتنان و التفهم و التعاطف لمقدمي الرعاية حتى و لو كانوا من الأبناء.
April 12, 2022
Shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize
Now he understood her, who had lived beside him so many years and been loved but never understood. You were never truly together with one you loved until the person in question was dead and actually inside you.
From the epigraph, by Thomas Bernhard, Gargoyles, as translated by Richard and Clara Winston
'Elena Knows' is the translation by Francis Riddle of 'Elena sabe' by Claudia Piñeiro and published by Charco Press, whose mission "focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world. We aim to act as a cultural and linguistic bridge for you to be able to access a brand new world of fiction that has, until now, been missing from your reading list."
This is Charco's 25th novel - see here for my reviews of all of them: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Piñeiro is best known as a writer of crime fiction, and four of her novels have been published in Miranda France's translation by Bitter Lemon Press, a London-based specialist in "high quality thrillers and other contemporary crime fiction books from abroad." As explained in an afterword by Dr Fiona Mackintosh, Charco Press, with this book, "intends to relaunch Piñeiro in English as a writer of ethical weight and commitment" and this book certainly does that.
The novel is narrated from the perspective of Elena, in her early 60s but suffering from Parkinson's Disease, a condition she refuses to accept as her having Parkinson's but rather personifies as her adversary, a "fucking whore illness".
Some months ago her daughter Rita, aged 44, was found hanged in a church tower. Everyone is convinced it was suicide but "Elena knows" it can't be, as it was a stormy day and her daughter, with a strong phobia of lightning, never went close to the church building in such weather.
No one knows as much about her daughter as she does, she thinks, because she's her mother, or was her mother. Motherhood, Elena thinks, comes with certain things, a mother knows her child, a mother knows, a mother loves. That's what they say, that's how it is. She loved and still loves her daughter even though she never said it, even though they fought and kept their distance, even though their words were like cracks of a whip, and even if she didn't hug or kiss her daughter, she felt a mother's love. Is she still a mother now that she doesn't have a child? If it had been her who'd died, Rita would have been an orphan. What name does she have now that she's childless? Has Rita's death erased everything she was? Her illness didn't erase it. Being a mother, Elena knows, isn't changed by any illness even if it keeps you from being able to put on a jacket, or freezes your feet so that you can't move, or forces you to live with your head down, but could Rita's death have taken not only her daughter's body but also the word that names what she, Elena, is?
Since Rita's death Elena has been urging the police to investigate, and providing her own evidence (such as her daughter's diary and knowledge of her movements in the previous days) and list of suspects. On the day over which the novel is set she is travelling to Buenos Aires to visit a woman Isabel, who she hasn't seen for 20 years but is convinced may help solve the murder.
Piñeiro's portrays Elena's symptoms in painstaking detail, her life and her tortuous journey to the capital regulated by the medication schedule for the levodopa pills she takes to control her symptoms and to allow her to function, the novel itself divided into three parts, Morning (Second Pill), Midday (Third Pill) and Afternoon (Fourth Pill) (the first having been taken on rising in the early hours).
And when Elena eventually reaches Isabel the women's conversation leads her to realise that she did know the truth of what happened to Rita all along.
Forwards and backwards and backwards and forwards, one, two, a hundred times, she wonders if she’ll be able to say her prayer for the dethroned king and the naked emperor, the messenger and the whore; the sternocleidomastoid, the substantia nigra, the whore, and the levodopa.
A powerful exploration of what it means to be a mother - are you still a mother if your daughter is dead; are you a mother if you never wanted to be a mother; and are you a mother when your become dependent on your daughter rather than she on you? - and on those, including other women and the disease itself, who control women's bodies.
Recommended and a novel I would see as a contender for the 2022 International Booker longlist.
Now he understood her, who had lived beside him so many years and been loved but never understood. You were never truly together with one you loved until the person in question was dead and actually inside you.
From the epigraph, by Thomas Bernhard, Gargoyles, as translated by Richard and Clara Winston
'Elena Knows' is the translation by Francis Riddle of 'Elena sabe' by Claudia Piñeiro and published by Charco Press, whose mission "focuses on finding outstanding contemporary Latin American literature and bringing it to new readers in the English-speaking world. We aim to act as a cultural and linguistic bridge for you to be able to access a brand new world of fiction that has, until now, been missing from your reading list."
This is Charco's 25th novel - see here for my reviews of all of them: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Piñeiro is best known as a writer of crime fiction, and four of her novels have been published in Miranda France's translation by Bitter Lemon Press, a London-based specialist in "high quality thrillers and other contemporary crime fiction books from abroad." As explained in an afterword by Dr Fiona Mackintosh, Charco Press, with this book, "intends to relaunch Piñeiro in English as a writer of ethical weight and commitment" and this book certainly does that.
The novel is narrated from the perspective of Elena, in her early 60s but suffering from Parkinson's Disease, a condition she refuses to accept as her having Parkinson's but rather personifies as her adversary, a "fucking whore illness".
Some months ago her daughter Rita, aged 44, was found hanged in a church tower. Everyone is convinced it was suicide but "Elena knows" it can't be, as it was a stormy day and her daughter, with a strong phobia of lightning, never went close to the church building in such weather.
No one knows as much about her daughter as she does, she thinks, because she's her mother, or was her mother. Motherhood, Elena thinks, comes with certain things, a mother knows her child, a mother knows, a mother loves. That's what they say, that's how it is. She loved and still loves her daughter even though she never said it, even though they fought and kept their distance, even though their words were like cracks of a whip, and even if she didn't hug or kiss her daughter, she felt a mother's love. Is she still a mother now that she doesn't have a child? If it had been her who'd died, Rita would have been an orphan. What name does she have now that she's childless? Has Rita's death erased everything she was? Her illness didn't erase it. Being a mother, Elena knows, isn't changed by any illness even if it keeps you from being able to put on a jacket, or freezes your feet so that you can't move, or forces you to live with your head down, but could Rita's death have taken not only her daughter's body but also the word that names what she, Elena, is?
Since Rita's death Elena has been urging the police to investigate, and providing her own evidence (such as her daughter's diary and knowledge of her movements in the previous days) and list of suspects. On the day over which the novel is set she is travelling to Buenos Aires to visit a woman Isabel, who she hasn't seen for 20 years but is convinced may help solve the murder.
Piñeiro's portrays Elena's symptoms in painstaking detail, her life and her tortuous journey to the capital regulated by the medication schedule for the levodopa pills she takes to control her symptoms and to allow her to function, the novel itself divided into three parts, Morning (Second Pill), Midday (Third Pill) and Afternoon (Fourth Pill) (the first having been taken on rising in the early hours).
And when Elena eventually reaches Isabel the women's conversation leads her to realise that she did know the truth of what happened to Rita all along.
Forwards and backwards and backwards and forwards, one, two, a hundred times, she wonders if she’ll be able to say her prayer for the dethroned king and the naked emperor, the messenger and the whore; the sternocleidomastoid, the substantia nigra, the whore, and the levodopa.
A powerful exploration of what it means to be a mother - are you still a mother if your daughter is dead; are you a mother if you never wanted to be a mother; and are you a mother when your become dependent on your daughter rather than she on you? - and on those, including other women and the disease itself, who control women's bodies.
Recommended and a novel I would see as a contender for the 2022 International Booker longlist.
October 4, 2022
رحلة شاقة وحزينة للوصول للحقيقة .. وكالعادة الحقيقة لها أكثر من وجه
تكتب بينيرو عن وهم المعرفة والاختيارات الانسانية وتصاريف الحياة
وتكشف عما لا تعرفه ايلينا بطلة روايتها العجوز المريضة
في سرد تفصيلي بارع برغم ما فيه من حزن ومعاناة
تكتب بينيرو عن وهم المعرفة والاختيارات الانسانية وتصاريف الحياة
وتكشف عما لا تعرفه ايلينا بطلة روايتها العجوز المريضة
في سرد تفصيلي بارع برغم ما فيه من حزن ومعاناة
September 6, 2022
SPANISH / ENGLISH!
Amé este libro. Es una historia muy emotiva, muy profunda, muy humana, y sobretodo muy muy fuerte, desgarradora.
Es de admirar cómo la autora mete al lector no solo en la mente de los personajes, sino también en su dolor, desamparo, desesperación, rabia e impotencia.
Asimismo, me parece maravilloso que en tan pocas páginas Claudia Piñeiro toque tantos temas tan controversiales y delicados, entre ellos la discapacidad, la eutanasia, el duelo, el fanatismo religioso, el suicidio, la relación madre-hija, el derecho a elegir ser madre o no, el trato a los ancianos, etc. En fin, temas tan universales como espinosos.
(Atención: SPOILER a partir de aquí)
Cuando Elena rememora la visita que hizo con Rita a un grupo de autoayuda para pacientes de Parkinson y narra cómo vio en otros enfermos más avanzados lo que le esperaba es terrible, brutal a más no poder. Como también lo es cuando Isabel le cuenta su historia a Elena, aclarándole como la decisión egoísta de Rita desgarró su vida para siempre.
Un libro cortito pero de excelente calidad que me ha hecho desear leer más de esta escritora nueva para mí -¡probablemente mi "descubrimiento del año"!.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I loved this book. It's a very emotional, profound, humane, but above all a very powerful and raw story.
I find it admirable how the author takes us readers not only into the minds of the characters, but also into their pain, helplessness, despair, rage and impotence.
It's also awesome how in so few pages Mrs. Pineiro manages to touch upon so many controversial and delicate topics, such as disability, euthanasia, grief, religious fanaticism, suicide, mother-daughter relationships, the right to choose or reject motherhood, our treatment of the elderly, etc. A myriad of topics as universal as thorny.
(SPOILER AHEAD!)
When Elena thinks back about the visit she and Rita paid to a self-help group for Parkinson's patients and she tells how she saw in the people in a more advanced stage what awaited her, it's a terrible thing to read, absolutely brutal. And the same happens when Isabel is finally able to tell Elena her story, explaining how Rita's selfish decision destroyed her life.
This is indeed a very short read, but it's pure, solid quality. It made me want to read more by this writer new to me -the discovery of the year without doubt!.
Amé este libro. Es una historia muy emotiva, muy profunda, muy humana, y sobretodo muy muy fuerte, desgarradora.
Es de admirar cómo la autora mete al lector no solo en la mente de los personajes, sino también en su dolor, desamparo, desesperación, rabia e impotencia.
Asimismo, me parece maravilloso que en tan pocas páginas Claudia Piñeiro toque tantos temas tan controversiales y delicados, entre ellos la discapacidad, la eutanasia, el duelo, el fanatismo religioso, el suicidio, la relación madre-hija, el derecho a elegir ser madre o no, el trato a los ancianos, etc. En fin, temas tan universales como espinosos.
(Atención: SPOILER a partir de aquí)
Cuando Elena rememora la visita que hizo con Rita a un grupo de autoayuda para pacientes de Parkinson y narra cómo vio en otros enfermos más avanzados lo que le esperaba es terrible, brutal a más no poder. Como también lo es cuando Isabel le cuenta su historia a Elena, aclarándole como la decisión egoísta de Rita desgarró su vida para siempre.
Un libro cortito pero de excelente calidad que me ha hecho desear leer más de esta escritora nueva para mí -¡probablemente mi "descubrimiento del año"!.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I loved this book. It's a very emotional, profound, humane, but above all a very powerful and raw story.
I find it admirable how the author takes us readers not only into the minds of the characters, but also into their pain, helplessness, despair, rage and impotence.
It's also awesome how in so few pages Mrs. Pineiro manages to touch upon so many controversial and delicate topics, such as disability, euthanasia, grief, religious fanaticism, suicide, mother-daughter relationships, the right to choose or reject motherhood, our treatment of the elderly, etc. A myriad of topics as universal as thorny.
(SPOILER AHEAD!)
When Elena thinks back about the visit she and Rita paid to a self-help group for Parkinson's patients and she tells how she saw in the people in a more advanced stage what awaited her, it's a terrible thing to read, absolutely brutal. And the same happens when Isabel is finally able to tell Elena her story, explaining how Rita's selfish decision destroyed her life.
This is indeed a very short read, but it's pure, solid quality. It made me want to read more by this writer new to me -the discovery of the year without doubt!.
April 7, 2022
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022
Told over the course of a single day with flashbacks to an event that occurred twenty years prior, this novel follows Elena who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease as she attempts to uncover the truth of her daughter’s death.
Piñeiro does such an excellent job of putting you inside Elena’s experience as someone whose body is rapidly deteriorating due to her illness. It raises so many questions about bodily autonomy, caregiving, imposed structures of morality and more.
I found this short read to be compelling, engaging, thought provoking, and immersive.
My only qualm was the ending felt rather abrupt. Though I see why the author ended it there and I think with time to process it, I think the ending works.
All in all, a great first read from the longlist this year!
Told over the course of a single day with flashbacks to an event that occurred twenty years prior, this novel follows Elena who has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease as she attempts to uncover the truth of her daughter’s death.
Piñeiro does such an excellent job of putting you inside Elena’s experience as someone whose body is rapidly deteriorating due to her illness. It raises so many questions about bodily autonomy, caregiving, imposed structures of morality and more.
I found this short read to be compelling, engaging, thought provoking, and immersive.
My only qualm was the ending felt rather abrupt. Though I see why the author ended it there and I think with time to process it, I think the ending works.
All in all, a great first read from the longlist this year!
April 23, 2022
“Elena Knows”, by Claudia Pineiro, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize…..
I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!
At only 147 pages….it’s sleek contemporary page turning prose strings words together in the most invigorating way…..
I found it explosive - breathless - and very exciting to read the sentences & dialogue. They are haunting, but brilliantly alive!
I LOVE THESE TYPES OF BOOKS:
…not too long,
…the piercing fresh writing was as excitingly suspenseful as was the inquiry of a murder/ or/ suicide.
…reflective mother/daughter relationship [although very compelling- it didn’t ‘personally’ kill me, as did “Cold Enough For Snow”, by Jessica Au]
AND
…”It’s a highly accomplished and original novel”!!!! > AMEN > said the Irish Times.
BEST TO SIMPLY INCLUDE SOME SAMPLE WRITING….
….if they intrigue you —-then you’ll like the entire short novel.
They are long excerpts — (showing dialogue flavor),but….they do not give away spoilers to the twisty tale.
“Have you looked in the mirror, Mum? No Elena answers”.
“Why do you care so much about how I look, Rita? The problem isn’t how you look but who has to look at you. I’m the one who has to look at you, every day, Mum. I help you out of bed every morning and see your toothless mouth, your expressionless eyes, I have breakfast, lunch, and dinner across from you, watching you drool mixed with your food into a disgusting paste, I put you to bed at night and I bring you a glass of water so you can put your teeth inside it, but it’s hard for you to get them in so I have to touch them, they pick them, to pick them up in the glass with my own hands, I go to sleep but the day doesn’t end there because a few hours later you’ll be calling for me to take you to the bathroom, and I take you, I pull down your underwear, I pull it up, I don’t have to wipe you, that’s true, I won’t wipe you, that’s too much, but I sit you on the bidet and hand you a towel, and I hang it up to dry, I flush the toilet so the water will carry your urine away, I lie you back down on the bed, I tuck you in, you stare at me from the bed, toothless, with your eyes that look constantly surprised snd your whiskers sticking out of your cheeks like wires, and I’m about to leave when you call me back, again, to arrange your feet, or the sheet, or the pillow, so I go back, I see you again, and once again I smell that stench of piss that never goes away completely because it’s you, because it has saturated your skin, and I hear you take your hoarse, snoring breaths, I turn off the light on your bedside table and I see your teeth again, the ones I put into the glass myself, with my own hands, I wiped them off on my pajamas, but they still smell, like you. So the problem is me, Mum, the problem is that I have to look at you. And that’s going to change if I go to the hairdresser? No, you’re right, if it were up to you nothing would ever change, but you’re going to go away and you’re going to change. And she dragged her to the beauty salon and left her sitting on a wicker chair in the waiting area”.
“She thinks she should’ve had a lover, because the only sex she ever had was with Antonio, and that had been a point of pride, having been only for one man, but today, old, stooped, lying on her arm, knowing there will never again be any sex for her, Elena doesn’t feel pride, she feels something else, not sadness, not anger, she feels an emotion she doesn’t have a name for, the feeling you get when you realize you’ve been foolish. To have saved her virginity, for who, to have been faithful, for what reason, to have remained celibate after becoming a widow in hopes of what? believing what? Virginity or fidelity or celibacy means nothing now, lying there on the backseat of a taxi. Not sex either. She wonders if she could even have sex if she wanted to. She wonders why she doesn’t want to, if it’s because of the Parkinson’s, because she’s a widow, or her age. Or because she’s so out of practice after so long without even thinking about it. She wonders if a woman with Parkinson’s who wanted to have sex would be able to. She laughs imagining herself posing the question to Dr. Benegas at her next appointment. And a man with Parkinson’s? Could a man with Parkinson’s make love? Would he be able to penetrate a woman? It must be harder for a man, she thinks, because he can’t just lie there and let it happen. Does a man who’s ill like her have to time sex around when he took his pills?”
“A subtle and skillful exploration to how far women have the right to control their own bodies” — The Conversation!
An unrelenting and glorious haunting read! Loved it!!!
I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!
At only 147 pages….it’s sleek contemporary page turning prose strings words together in the most invigorating way…..
I found it explosive - breathless - and very exciting to read the sentences & dialogue. They are haunting, but brilliantly alive!
I LOVE THESE TYPES OF BOOKS:
…not too long,
…the piercing fresh writing was as excitingly suspenseful as was the inquiry of a murder/ or/ suicide.
…reflective mother/daughter relationship [although very compelling- it didn’t ‘personally’ kill me, as did “Cold Enough For Snow”, by Jessica Au]
AND
…”It’s a highly accomplished and original novel”!!!! > AMEN > said the Irish Times.
BEST TO SIMPLY INCLUDE SOME SAMPLE WRITING….
….if they intrigue you —-then you’ll like the entire short novel.
They are long excerpts — (showing dialogue flavor),but….they do not give away spoilers to the twisty tale.
“Have you looked in the mirror, Mum? No Elena answers”.
“Why do you care so much about how I look, Rita? The problem isn’t how you look but who has to look at you. I’m the one who has to look at you, every day, Mum. I help you out of bed every morning and see your toothless mouth, your expressionless eyes, I have breakfast, lunch, and dinner across from you, watching you drool mixed with your food into a disgusting paste, I put you to bed at night and I bring you a glass of water so you can put your teeth inside it, but it’s hard for you to get them in so I have to touch them, they pick them, to pick them up in the glass with my own hands, I go to sleep but the day doesn’t end there because a few hours later you’ll be calling for me to take you to the bathroom, and I take you, I pull down your underwear, I pull it up, I don’t have to wipe you, that’s true, I won’t wipe you, that’s too much, but I sit you on the bidet and hand you a towel, and I hang it up to dry, I flush the toilet so the water will carry your urine away, I lie you back down on the bed, I tuck you in, you stare at me from the bed, toothless, with your eyes that look constantly surprised snd your whiskers sticking out of your cheeks like wires, and I’m about to leave when you call me back, again, to arrange your feet, or the sheet, or the pillow, so I go back, I see you again, and once again I smell that stench of piss that never goes away completely because it’s you, because it has saturated your skin, and I hear you take your hoarse, snoring breaths, I turn off the light on your bedside table and I see your teeth again, the ones I put into the glass myself, with my own hands, I wiped them off on my pajamas, but they still smell, like you. So the problem is me, Mum, the problem is that I have to look at you. And that’s going to change if I go to the hairdresser? No, you’re right, if it were up to you nothing would ever change, but you’re going to go away and you’re going to change. And she dragged her to the beauty salon and left her sitting on a wicker chair in the waiting area”.
“She thinks she should’ve had a lover, because the only sex she ever had was with Antonio, and that had been a point of pride, having been only for one man, but today, old, stooped, lying on her arm, knowing there will never again be any sex for her, Elena doesn’t feel pride, she feels something else, not sadness, not anger, she feels an emotion she doesn’t have a name for, the feeling you get when you realize you’ve been foolish. To have saved her virginity, for who, to have been faithful, for what reason, to have remained celibate after becoming a widow in hopes of what? believing what? Virginity or fidelity or celibacy means nothing now, lying there on the backseat of a taxi. Not sex either. She wonders if she could even have sex if she wanted to. She wonders why she doesn’t want to, if it’s because of the Parkinson’s, because she’s a widow, or her age. Or because she’s so out of practice after so long without even thinking about it. She wonders if a woman with Parkinson’s who wanted to have sex would be able to. She laughs imagining herself posing the question to Dr. Benegas at her next appointment. And a man with Parkinson’s? Could a man with Parkinson’s make love? Would he be able to penetrate a woman? It must be harder for a man, she thinks, because he can’t just lie there and let it happen. Does a man who’s ill like her have to time sex around when he took his pills?”
“A subtle and skillful exploration to how far women have the right to control their own bodies” — The Conversation!
An unrelenting and glorious haunting read! Loved it!!!
September 22, 2024
Claudia Piñeiro is described as a crime writer, but I beg to differ. If THIS is "crime writing", then count me in as a "crime reader".
Maybe this is what Argentinians call "crime writing", in which case, lucky Argentinians.
We North Americans are used to a lot of formulaic silliness, for the most part, when it comes to crime writing (sorry, just my own opinion). And Piñeiro's novel is anything but that.
This short novel, at least in my view, is less about a crime (the hanging death of Rita, the daughter of titular Elena) than it is about agency. Though it IS about the crime - if indeed the hanging death could be considered a crime. If it was done by someone else, against Rita's will, which is what Elena "knows".
What do I mean about agency? I mean the ability to live the way one wants, without choices made for oneself by others, like the church, or the government, or even a well-meaning stranger. It's about the way illness and old age can cripple one's agency, to the point where a train trip across town feels like an Odyssey. This book is told over the course of a single day, when Elena, a woman in her 60s with advanced Parkinson's, takes a physically agonizing journey, fighting against her body's "fucking whore of an illness" every step of the way.
The writer is a thinker and an activist, and she cloaked her activism in the mystery of Rita's death, which was interesting, and an intriguing vehicle for this meditation on agency, or lack of it, and what that looks like to different people.
Religion, sexism, government all get the evil eye, but abortion is the main target here.
The story also explores how well we know those closest to us. The title "Elena Knows" is repeated throughout the novel, in incantatory fashion, and is turned on its head by the end. What does Elena really know? What does she know about her daughter? What can anyone know about anyone else?
Here in North America, we call this "Literary Fiction" of a high order.
Maybe this is what Argentinians call "crime writing", in which case, lucky Argentinians.
We North Americans are used to a lot of formulaic silliness, for the most part, when it comes to crime writing (sorry, just my own opinion). And Piñeiro's novel is anything but that.
This short novel, at least in my view, is less about a crime (the hanging death of Rita, the daughter of titular Elena) than it is about agency. Though it IS about the crime - if indeed the hanging death could be considered a crime. If it was done by someone else, against Rita's will, which is what Elena "knows".
What do I mean about agency? I mean the ability to live the way one wants, without choices made for oneself by others, like the church, or the government, or even a well-meaning stranger. It's about the way illness and old age can cripple one's agency, to the point where a train trip across town feels like an Odyssey. This book is told over the course of a single day, when Elena, a woman in her 60s with advanced Parkinson's, takes a physically agonizing journey, fighting against her body's "fucking whore of an illness" every step of the way.
The writer is a thinker and an activist, and she cloaked her activism in the mystery of Rita's death, which was interesting, and an intriguing vehicle for this meditation on agency, or lack of it, and what that looks like to different people.
Religion, sexism, government all get the evil eye, but abortion is the main target here.
The story also explores how well we know those closest to us. The title "Elena Knows" is repeated throughout the novel, in incantatory fashion, and is turned on its head by the end. What does Elena really know? What does she know about her daughter? What can anyone know about anyone else?
Here in North America, we call this "Literary Fiction" of a high order.
December 29, 2022
Este es mi libro del año.
El más doloroso.
El más perfecto.
El más perturbador y triste, como un rompecabezas, armado de forma increíble.
El más fuerte que me dejó destrozada.
Como una escoba vieja.
El que no me suelta y espero no olvidar.
Me maravilla y me angustia.
Rompe con los esquemas que conozco de los libros.
Se vuelve tan vivo como la vida misma.
Lo sufro. Lo devoro y me devora a mí.
El más doloroso.
El más perfecto.
El más perturbador y triste, como un rompecabezas, armado de forma increíble.
El más fuerte que me dejó destrozada.
Como una escoba vieja.
El que no me suelta y espero no olvidar.
Me maravilla y me angustia.
Rompe con los esquemas que conozco de los libros.
Se vuelve tan vivo como la vida misma.
Lo sufro. Lo devoro y me devora a mí.
April 9, 2022
... you're going to have to be your mother's mother, Rita, because Elena we know is going to be a baby.
This is a slow-burn of a novella but the last third packs a real emotional punch, especially for anyone of that age when caring for aged parents is an increasing practical and emotional burden. Dare I say, this role of caregiver still seems to fall disproportionately on daughters and this is the first fiction I've read which tackles the issue head on, with few qualms.
There are also broader issues of motherhood explored: the difficulties that can ensue between mothers and daughters, the stigmatising of women who don't want children - but these are increasingly being written about (at last) and discussed as part of a more public debate.
The tone of this book is grimmer than the only other Piñeiro I've read (Betty Boo) and you definitely shouldn't go into this expecting any kind of crime novel. Readers who dislike a free-flow narrative without speech marks and which eases between thoughts, exposition and direct speech may want to be wary.
But, ultimately, only 3 stars for me because I found the first two sections, however short, dragged with repetition though it's essential we read them to understand the final section which is searing and daring. A brief book but one with the courage to delve into some of the hidden pressures that can explode in families.
May 30, 2022
Δεν ξέρω αν έχω κλάψει περισσότερο διαβάζοντας ένα βιβλίο. Σίγουρα όχι τον τελευταίο χρόνο.
Δεν ξέρω αν έχω βιώσει ποτέ ξανά τόσο έντονα συναισθήματα από ένα βιβλίο μόλις 172 σελίδων, αλλά κάθε σελίδα με έπαιρνε από το χέρι και με οδηγούσε θριαμβευτικά προς τα τάρταρα.
Δεν ξέρω αν θα νοιώσετε τα ίδια, αλλά διαβάστε το, σας εκλιπαρώ.
Άν έχετε γονείς που βιώνουν κάποια χρόνια ασθένεια που εκφυλίζει το σώμα τους, αν είστε παιδιά και σκέφτεστε πώς θα είναι όσο μεγαλώνουν οι γονείς σας και θα χάνουν την αίσθηση του σώματός τους και εσείς θα μπείτε στον ρόλο του γονιού τους, αν είστε μητέρες, αν σκέφτεστε να γίνετε μητέρες, αν ποτέ δεν θέλετε να γίνετε μητέρες, αν η σύντροφός σας είναι μητέρα ή είναι να γίνει μητέρα ή δεν θέλει να γίνει μητέρα.
Το βιβλίο αυτό με έκανε να σκέφτομαι την μητέρα μου συνεχώς στο πρόσωπο της Ελένας, παρότι είχαν διαφορετικές ασθένειες, όμως η θέλησή τους για ζωή δεν συμβάδιζε με την θέληση του σώματός τους. Με διέλυσε.
Είναι ένα βιβλίο που μιλάει για τόσα πολλά, με την μητρότητα σε πρώτο πλάνο, χωρίς να σε αναγκάζει να αποδεχτείς ότι η μάνα με την κόρη έχουν σχέση βγαλμένη από τα σύννεφα, χωρίς κακές στιγμές, χωρίς έχθρα, χωρίς εντάσεις.
Δεν έχω σωστό ειρμό λέξεων, γιατί πολύ απλά δεν μπορώ να το ξεπεράσω και ήθελα να γράψω ένα κείμενο όσο ακόμα ήμουν υπό την πλήρη επήρεια του βιβλίου.
"Αχ, Ελένα, Ελένα, ξεχνώ ότι πάνω από όλα είστε μητέρα" Εκείνη δεν τον κοιτάζει, σταμάει όμως και λέει: "Είμαι, άραγε, μητέρα, πάτερ;" "Γιατί αμφιβάλλετε;""Πώς λένε τις γυναίκες που τους πέθανε το παιδί; Δεν είμαι ορφανή, δεν είμαι χήρα, τι είμαι;" Η Ελένα περιμένει σιωπηλή, με την πλάτη γυρισμένη, και προτού της απαντήσει, λέει: "Όμως πιο καλά να μην μου δώσετε όνομα, πάτερ, μπορεί αν εσείς και η εκκλησία σας μου δώσετε όνομα, να έχετε μετά το δικαίωμα να μου πείτε και πώς πρέπει να ζήσω. Ή να πεθάνω. Καλύτερα όχι"
Υ.Γ. Τι διαμαντάκι ήταν αυτό από τις εκδόσεις Carnivora??? Θα αναζητήσω όλους τους τίτλους τους.-
Δεν ξέρω αν έχω βιώσει ποτέ ξανά τόσο έντονα συναισθήματα από ένα βιβλίο μόλις 172 σελίδων, αλλά κάθε σελίδα με έπαιρνε από το χέρι και με οδηγούσε θριαμβευτικά προς τα τάρταρα.
Δεν ξέρω αν θα νοιώσετε τα ίδια, αλλά διαβάστε το, σας εκλιπαρώ.
Άν έχετε γονείς που βιώνουν κάποια χρόνια ασθένεια που εκφυλίζει το σώμα τους, αν είστε παιδιά και σκέφτεστε πώς θα είναι όσο μεγαλώνουν οι γονείς σας και θα χάνουν την αίσθηση του σώματός τους και εσείς θα μπείτε στον ρόλο του γονιού τους, αν είστε μητέρες, αν σκέφτεστε να γίνετε μητέρες, αν ποτέ δεν θέλετε να γίνετε μητέρες, αν η σύντροφός σας είναι μητέρα ή είναι να γίνει μητέρα ή δεν θέλει να γίνει μητέρα.
Το βιβλίο αυτό με έκανε να σκέφτομαι την μητέρα μου συνεχώς στο πρόσωπο της Ελένας, παρότι είχαν διαφορετικές ασθένειες, όμως η θέλησή τους για ζωή δεν συμβάδιζε με την θέληση του σώματός τους. Με διέλυσε.
Είναι ένα βιβλίο που μιλάει για τόσα πολλά, με την μητρότητα σε πρώτο πλάνο, χωρίς να σε αναγκάζει να αποδεχτείς ότι η μάνα με την κόρη έχουν σχέση βγαλμένη από τα σύννεφα, χωρίς κακές στιγμές, χωρίς έχθρα, χωρίς εντάσεις.
Δεν έχω σωστό ειρμό λέξεων, γιατί πολύ απλά δεν μπορώ να το ξεπεράσω και ήθελα να γράψω ένα κείμενο όσο ακόμα ήμουν υπό την πλήρη επήρεια του βιβλίου.
"Αχ, Ελένα, Ελένα, ξεχνώ ότι πάνω από όλα είστε μητέρα" Εκείνη δεν τον κοιτάζει, σταμάει όμως και λέει: "Είμαι, άραγε, μητέρα, πάτερ;" "Γιατί αμφιβάλλετε;""Πώς λένε τις γυναίκες που τους πέθανε το παιδί; Δεν είμαι ορφανή, δεν είμαι χήρα, τι είμαι;" Η Ελένα περιμένει σιωπηλή, με την πλάτη γυρισμένη, και προτού της απαντήσει, λέει: "Όμως πιο καλά να μην μου δώσετε όνομα, πάτερ, μπορεί αν εσείς και η εκκλησία σας μου δώσετε όνομα, να έχετε μετά το δικαίωμα να μου πείτε και πώς πρέπει να ζήσω. Ή να πεθάνω. Καλύτερα όχι"
Υ.Γ. Τι διαμαντάκι ήταν αυτό από τις εκδόσεις Carnivora??? Θα αναζητήσω όλους τους τίτλους τους.-
April 7, 2022
Deservedly shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022
Another book that thoroughly deserves its place on the International Booker list, and one which could easily be a winner. It is a very cleverly constructed story of three women. The main protagonist is Elena, who suffers from an aggressive form of Parkinson's disease which means that she can only walk after medication. She has been cared for by her daughter Rita, whose body has recently been found hanging from a church bell tower.
Elena is unable to accept the police's view that Rita's death was suicide, and sets out to investigate, seeking help from the third main character Isabel. How Isabel fits into the story cannot be described without spoilers, but the plot is revealed very cleverly in ways that mirror Elena's own growing awareness of how little she knows.
The story also involves three issues in which the Catholic church dogma puts lives under great strain, namely abortion, suicide and euthanasia, and all of this is at least superficially within the narrative framework more usually associated with crime fiction.
A very impressive book.
Another book that thoroughly deserves its place on the International Booker list, and one which could easily be a winner. It is a very cleverly constructed story of three women. The main protagonist is Elena, who suffers from an aggressive form of Parkinson's disease which means that she can only walk after medication. She has been cared for by her daughter Rita, whose body has recently been found hanging from a church bell tower.
Elena is unable to accept the police's view that Rita's death was suicide, and sets out to investigate, seeking help from the third main character Isabel. How Isabel fits into the story cannot be described without spoilers, but the plot is revealed very cleverly in ways that mirror Elena's own growing awareness of how little she knows.
The story also involves three issues in which the Catholic church dogma puts lives under great strain, namely abortion, suicide and euthanasia, and all of this is at least superficially within the narrative framework more usually associated with crime fiction.
A very impressive book.
April 18, 2024
شكرا للصديق اسامة على ترشيح الرواية الجميلة 😍🌹وشكرا لأصدقاء القراءة على المشاركة فيها 🌹
الرواية تتحدث عن ايلينا المرأة العجوز المصابة بمرض باركينسون والتي تعاني من الحياة بكل خطواتها
تخبرها الشرطة بانتحار ابنتها من جرس الكنيسة في يوم ممطر لتصمم على ان تثبت للجميع ان هناك من قتل ابنتها وانها لا يمكن ان تنتحر في يوم ممطر في كنيسة
الرواية بالكامل عبارة عن رحلة ايلينا من بيتها وحتى بيت امرأة تدعى ايزابيل بينهم (ايزابيل وايلينا وابنتها ريتا) حكاية طويلة حدثت منذ حوالي عشرون عاما
نتعرف على تفاصيل المرض الذي تعاني منه ايلينا وعلاقة ايلينا بريتا المتوترة والتي تنتهي بالشجار دائما وابدا
نتعرف على قصة ايزابيل وعلاقتها بريتا وسبب ذهاب ايلينا اليها لتساعدها في اثبات جريمة القتل وليس الانتحار
رواية مليئة بالمعاناة وسوء الفهم والكبر .. تألمت كثيرا بسبب علاقة ريتا بوالدتها ايلينا على الرغم من الحب في القلوب ولكن التوتر والمشاكل قائمة بينهما دائما
والنهاية واكتشاف الحقيقة وسوء حالة ايلينا جرعة مركبة من الألم ولكن اعجبتني النهاية وتركها بهذا الشكل لنعرف بنفسنا مصير ايلينا النهائي
اسلوب الكاتبة سلس وجميل وسهل الفهم والترجمة ايضا كانت رائعة
الرواية تتحدث عن ايلينا المرأة العجوز المصابة بمرض باركينسون والتي تعاني من الحياة بكل خطواتها
تخبرها الشرطة بانتحار ابنتها من جرس الكنيسة في يوم ممطر لتصمم على ان تثبت للجميع ان هناك من قتل ابنتها وانها لا يمكن ان تنتحر في يوم ممطر في كنيسة
الرواية بالكامل عبارة عن رحلة ايلينا من بيتها وحتى بيت امرأة تدعى ايزابيل بينهم (ايزابيل وايلينا وابنتها ريتا) حكاية طويلة حدثت منذ حوالي عشرون عاما
نتعرف على تفاصيل المرض الذي تعاني منه ايلينا وعلاقة ايلينا بريتا المتوترة والتي تنتهي بالشجار دائما وابدا
نتعرف على قصة ايزابيل وعلاقتها بريتا وسبب ذهاب ايلينا اليها لتساعدها في اثبات جريمة القتل وليس الانتحار
رواية مليئة بالمعاناة وسوء الفهم والكبر .. تألمت كثيرا بسبب علاقة ريتا بوالدتها ايلينا على الرغم من الحب في القلوب ولكن التوتر والمشاكل قائمة بينهما دائما
والنهاية واكتشاف الحقيقة وسوء حالة ايلينا جرعة مركبة من الألم ولكن اعجبتني النهاية وتركها بهذا الشكل لنعرف بنفسنا مصير ايلينا النهائي
اسلوب الكاتبة سلس وجميل وسهل الفهم والترجمة ايضا كانت رائعة
November 14, 2021
#outubrohispanoamericano
I do want to live, you know? In spite of this body, in spite of my dead daughter, Elena says, crying, I still choose to live, is that arrogance? Not long ago I was told I was arrogant. Don’t keep the names other people give you, Elena.
Se não tivesse dado uma segunda oportunidade a Claudia Piñeiro, depois de ter largado “Uma Pequena Sorte” a meio, teria perdido um excelente livro.
Quando Rita aparece enforcada no campanário da igreja, Elena sabe que não pode ser sido suicídio, porque estava a chover e a sua filha nunca se aproximava da igreja nessas alturas, com receio dos relâmpagos. A Polícia, porém, dá o caso por encerrado, e é então que Elena decide investigar por conta própria, se não fosse um pormenor: sofre de doença de Parkinson e as pernas só lhe obedecem por um curto espaço de tempo, enquanto os medicamentos surtem efeito.
Elena knows she hasn’t been the one in charge of some parts of her body for a while now, her feet, for example. He’s in charge. Or she. And she wonders if Parkinson’s is masculine or feminine, because even though the name sounds masculine it’s still an illness, and an illness is something feminine. Just like a misfortune. Or a curse. And so she thinks she should address it as Herself, because when she thinks about it, she thinks ‘fucking whore illness.’
Começa assim este dia de Elena, dividido em Manhã, Meio-Dia e Tarde, os três capítulos de “Elena Knows”, desde que toma o segundo comprimido do dia, que lhe permitirá arrastar os pés até ao comboio, apanhar um táxi e chegar a casa de Isabel, alguém que não vê há 20 anos mas que acredita que vai ajudá-la a investigar a morte da filha, porque, a seu ver, ela lhes deve um favor.
É penoso acompanhar a protagonista nesta sua missão que parece decorrer a passo de caracol, ler o que sente uma mente intacta aprisionada num corpo incapaz de desempenhar os movimentos mais simples e as tarefas mais básicas, e compreender a revolta não só contra o sistema de saúde e as seguradoras mas também contra a indignidade da sua situação.
Esta obra, no entanto, não é só sobre uma doença degenerativa e incapacitante, já que aborda outras questões como o papel dos cuidadores e o aborto, uma causa por que Claudia Piñeiro se debateu até muito recentemente, quando este foi finalmente legalizado na Argentina. É aqui que a autora mete corajosamente o dedo na ferida: apesar das convenções sociais e das condicionantes culturais, nem todas as mulheres se consideram capazes de ser mães quando engravidam e nem todas as filhas têm capacidade de assistir à degradação física e mental das suas mães. O que acontece a uma pessoa quando é obrigada a ter um filho que não deseja? O que acontece a uma pessoa quando se vê forçada a ser cuidadora de um progenitor cujo estado se agrava todos os dias? Elena sabe.
What’s left of you when your arm can’t even put on a jacket and your leg can’t even take a step and your neck can’t straighten up enough to let you show your face to the world, what’s left? Are you your brain, which keeps sending out orders that won’t be followed? Or are you the thought itself, something that can’t be seen or touched beyond that furrowed organ guarded inside the cranium like a trove?
I do want to live, you know? In spite of this body, in spite of my dead daughter, Elena says, crying, I still choose to live, is that arrogance? Not long ago I was told I was arrogant. Don’t keep the names other people give you, Elena.
Se não tivesse dado uma segunda oportunidade a Claudia Piñeiro, depois de ter largado “Uma Pequena Sorte” a meio, teria perdido um excelente livro.
Quando Rita aparece enforcada no campanário da igreja, Elena sabe que não pode ser sido suicídio, porque estava a chover e a sua filha nunca se aproximava da igreja nessas alturas, com receio dos relâmpagos. A Polícia, porém, dá o caso por encerrado, e é então que Elena decide investigar por conta própria, se não fosse um pormenor: sofre de doença de Parkinson e as pernas só lhe obedecem por um curto espaço de tempo, enquanto os medicamentos surtem efeito.
Elena knows she hasn’t been the one in charge of some parts of her body for a while now, her feet, for example. He’s in charge. Or she. And she wonders if Parkinson’s is masculine or feminine, because even though the name sounds masculine it’s still an illness, and an illness is something feminine. Just like a misfortune. Or a curse. And so she thinks she should address it as Herself, because when she thinks about it, she thinks ‘fucking whore illness.’
Começa assim este dia de Elena, dividido em Manhã, Meio-Dia e Tarde, os três capítulos de “Elena Knows”, desde que toma o segundo comprimido do dia, que lhe permitirá arrastar os pés até ao comboio, apanhar um táxi e chegar a casa de Isabel, alguém que não vê há 20 anos mas que acredita que vai ajudá-la a investigar a morte da filha, porque, a seu ver, ela lhes deve um favor.
É penoso acompanhar a protagonista nesta sua missão que parece decorrer a passo de caracol, ler o que sente uma mente intacta aprisionada num corpo incapaz de desempenhar os movimentos mais simples e as tarefas mais básicas, e compreender a revolta não só contra o sistema de saúde e as seguradoras mas também contra a indignidade da sua situação.
Esta obra, no entanto, não é só sobre uma doença degenerativa e incapacitante, já que aborda outras questões como o papel dos cuidadores e o aborto, uma causa por que Claudia Piñeiro se debateu até muito recentemente, quando este foi finalmente legalizado na Argentina. É aqui que a autora mete corajosamente o dedo na ferida: apesar das convenções sociais e das condicionantes culturais, nem todas as mulheres se consideram capazes de ser mães quando engravidam e nem todas as filhas têm capacidade de assistir à degradação física e mental das suas mães. O que acontece a uma pessoa quando é obrigada a ter um filho que não deseja? O que acontece a uma pessoa quando se vê forçada a ser cuidadora de um progenitor cujo estado se agrava todos os dias? Elena sabe.
What’s left of you when your arm can’t even put on a jacket and your leg can’t even take a step and your neck can’t straighten up enough to let you show your face to the world, what’s left? Are you your brain, which keeps sending out orders that won’t be followed? Or are you the thought itself, something that can’t be seen or touched beyond that furrowed organ guarded inside the cranium like a trove?
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