Welcome to Litsy!

My trick for buckling down & reading books I‘m blasé about is to make sure that book is the only one I bring with me on a trip. I‘m in a hotel for two nights at a state conference so this was my approach to this #bookspin book that sounds great but for some reason I‘m on the fence about. I‘m 80 pages in and I‘m questioning whether I can stick with this title. ?

I really struggled to connect with this novel. I wish I could pinpoint exactly what didn‘t work for me but I‘m struggling there, too. The characters somehow lacked transparency or intimacy; I didn‘t feel close to them or inside of them; there was a layer of distance, which I think came from the author‘s choice of perspective or style. I didn‘t *dislike* her writing, however, and would be more than willing to try her short stories.

This book is incredible. Beautiful story of family both past and present. Being from Colorado made this one all the more special!

Kali is a powerful storyteller in this coming-of-age book. She weaves several different stories but primarily follows the life of Luce, a young woman of Mexican and Belgian heritage living in the 1930s in Denver, Colorado. Luce possesses what is known amongst her Latin American culture as the gift of sight, reads tea leaves, and has visions of events. Luce navigates society on the cusp of the civil rights movement from a mixed-race perspective.

This was really good. It jumps around between different generations of a family from 1860s-1930s Colorado.

A story told in two different eras. Both are full of loss and a desire to be more than what society allows. I enjoyed this story but I did not connect with Luz. She often stood at a crossroad and somehow managed to take no path. I wanted her to be a more active participant in her life. I wanted her to clearly lay down lines and make bold decisions. That said, the writing is beautiful and full of imagery.

Most of the 1 star ratings for this book were DNF‘d. We can‘t seek out #ownvoices and not accept different storytelling styles.
This story was beautifully written.

I love the idea of what Fajarso-Anstine attempted here. Just didn‘t love the actual execution, unfortunately. Multiple generations of women in the early years of colonized Colorado and surrounding territory. I wanted more of one character who wasn‘t the center. And wasn‘t as drawn to the main character, although the social issues of her time period are compelling. Too much meh.

Full review https://www.TheBibliophage.com #thebibliophage2022

After loving her short story collection, I was so excited for Fajardo-Anstine‘s first novel, but, unfortunately, it‘s a bit disappointing. The writing, characters, and setting are all good, but it falls a bit flat. Her short stories are gripping and this just wasn‘t.

Found myself pulled into the story of women across generations in a time period and geography I wasn‘t super familiar with. Tragic and beautiful.

This is a 3.5 star book for me. I really enjoyed the early Colorado setting and the multi-generational storyline. Some parts of the plot, specifically Luz‘s love life, were rushed and underdeveloped, causing the ending to fall flat. Good writing, interesting way to tell the story.

I really enjoyed reading this book but I couldn‘t tell exactly where it was trying to go. There were many time jumps between generations of women and their stories and some were sadder than the others but there was no real connection aside from family to make sense of. Despite that I loved the book and felt the women in the story were written well and showed real strength and I will pick up this authors other books!

#BOTM box arrived 😊

#botm arrived yesterday!

I received a complimentary ARC of this book courtesy of Netgalley and Random House in exchange for a fair review.

Woman of Light is a multi-generational story about the Lopez family which starts in 19th-century New Mexico and follows their migration to 1930s Denver. The story centers mainly on Luz who is a seer, but also includes her brother Diego who entertains and hustles with a snake charmer act.