About book Our Lives Are The Rivers: A Novel (2007)
Doña Manuela Sáenz was an illegitimate daughter of a Spanish nobleman who left her husband and became the lover and supporter of Simón Bolívar. She was very much involved in his struggle for independence from Spain, rode beside him in battle and earned the title of "Libertadora del Libertador" when she helped him to escape mutinous officers plotting his death. History tells us that Manuela Saenz lived an amazing life and accomplished great things, and her story has plenty of potential for a powerful novel. Unfortunately, this book fails to deliver that story, at least for this reader. The narrative is in the first person, mainly from Manuela's POV, and interspersed with chapters from the POV of her two slaves, Jonotás and Natán. Unfortunately Manuela comes across as a bit too modern, extremely self-centered and spends much of the first third of the book stamping her feet in order to get her way and pouting that she'll only marry for *twu wuv* (that trope is so old). I didn't get a good feel for the historical period/settings and if it weren't for the dates at the beginning of some chapters I might have thought I was reading about events in the early 20C instead of 19C. Too much of the first third of the book is spent on Manuela's early life and would have been better served beginning around the time of her first meetings with Bolívar and then fleshing out the back history. And be warned, if you are like me and not familiar with this period in history, prepare to spend some time reading up on it elsewhere and even then some historical events barely get the briefest of mentions in passing conversations. A map and a brief narrative at the beginning might have helped alleviate some of that, but still...I thought it was the author's job to show us. Oh well. I really didn't pick up on much chemistry between Manuela and Bolívar (you would have expected them to sizzle off the pages), nor did I even care what happened between them. I had imagined Manuela a strong formidable woman and not the self-centered shrew she was here. And the Bolívar in this book was most definitely was not the stuff of which legends are made of - more of an aging, whiny boor. Meh. As for the writing itself, as a whole it was rather tepid and uninspiring but I'll let you be the judge, "As the general lathered me in my most intimate parts, the lover in him returned and I would take his hardness and ride it like a mermaid at sea." "His concern for me was touching. After I promised I would, he kissed my face, my neck, my hair, and roared as if he were a famished lion about to tear into my flesh." What really sent the book flying though, was Manuela's narrative at the end which continues after her death (no I'm not spoiling, history tells us she died), "I placed my hand over my heart. it had stopped beating-I was dead." And yes, this after death narrative continued for several more pages so we can hear about the spirit exiting the body and such. In the end it's an OK sort of novel, not terribly bad, but not terribly great either - it just doesn't live up to its potential. I'd very much like to see someone else take on Manuela's story and run with it though.
I had never heard of Manuela Saenz before picking up this book. Her story is fascinating: The illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Peruvian mother and an already-married Spanish father, she survived convent school, social scandal, and a bad marriage to become the mistress of Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America. Unfortunately, he predeceased her, she was cheated out of her inheritance, and Manuela ended her years in poverty and was buried anonymously in a mass grave for plague victims.That being said… this book left a lot to be desired. The writing was stilted and choppy, the dialogue was unbelievable, the “sex scenes” were laughable… oh my gosh I could list so many things. Mainly though, the problem was no emotional connection with Manuela. She just didn’t seem real. Neither did her slaves, Natan and Jonotas, whose chapters were narrated in exactly the same “voice” as Manuela, and seemed completely unnecessary. I want to learn more about Manuela Saenz and hope there is a better book about her out there.
Do You like book Our Lives Are The Rivers: A Novel (2007)?
From the book: Our lives are the rivers that flow into the seat of Death. At sunrise tomorrow, night’s darkness would be dispelled for another day. But not or me. Not for me. Not for as long as I lived and remembered. Ahead of me, in a future full of tomorrows, I saw nothing but an unremitting darkness no moon, no starts. Yet the oncoming darkness did not fighter me, because I knew it would never life, would never changed, would never trick me with a new beginning in which there might blossom again the promise of love, in which happiness would turn to grief. I would float down the river until the day I entered the sea, a dead woman on a raft, en roué to eternity. As I closed my eyes I knew that if I chose to live, is old have to go on and anon until I met the pitch blackness beckoning at then of the long road ahead. In the meantime, tonight, I was relieved and thankful that I could not foretell what was ripening for me in time’s dim unknowable womb.
—Posh Able Paula
This felt more like a novelistic retelling of history, than a "novel" per se. I enjoyed it but it didn't quite measure up as a story. I wished the narratives of Manuela's slaves had been filled out more - the narratives didn't really change much about how we saw the main character, and the strands of their stories were often dropped ((view spoiler)[like when Natan wants to marry her boyfriend, and then we don't hear about it again for like half the book. Also, I was kind of shocked that Natan got over it so quickly when Manuela wouldn't give her her freedom. (hide spoiler)]
—Meg
Overall, the author of this book took an interesting premise and an interesting real woman and turned them into a dreadful novel. I don't think I have rolled my eyes or yelled at a book this often in quite some time. The tone of the book felt too modern for a book supposedly set in the early 1800s. Manuela did not feel genuine to me. The times when the author tried to convey what Manuela may have been thinking felt forced and from a point of view of a man's belief of what a woman thinks. The dialogue was poorly written and often unbelievable. The course of the book was severely aggravating as it never flowed, it was very stilted. The book moves in the general correct direction but the flashbacks can be confusing, especially when the author does not indicate when the flashback has truly ended. There was little elaboration, especially in scenes where there felt like there needed to be. I think the author left some scenes to our imagination just because he couldn't come up with anything himself. What elaboration there was included the author telling us rather than showing us what was going on. The inclusion of Manuel's two slaves as additional narrators of the story was completely unnecessary. Their parts rarely added anything to the story. Often the point of view was also misplaced and off by a few years. The novel essentially felt like Manrique took facts of Manuela's life and wrote things around them and inserted paragraphs when he felt necessary. It was on the level of a boring term paper written in the first person narrative.Also, while some of the scenes may have actually occurred Manrique wrote them in a very unbelievable style. **Spoiler** Such as when Manuela catches Bolivar in bed with another woman. She attacks the woman and Bolivar. But immediately after she treats Bolivar's wounds. The immediate next paragraph has Bolivar asking her to move in with her and everything is just peachy! Are you kidding me? No elaboration regarding Manuela's feelings? Her contemplations? Nada? Insane! *End of Spoiler*In addition, one thing that annoyed me was the sex scenes, if you will call them that. There was little actual romance in the novel aside from Manuela's pining for Bolivar so when there was suddenly a sentence or two about them being intimate it felt out of the blue. The few sex scenes (well, sentences) there were felt out of place, laughable and quite frankly disturbing in the manner they were written. Want a laugh? See page 149 and 193. This entire novel did nothing but frustrate me!
—Nikki
