Birds Without a Nest: A Novel (Texas Pan American Series)

Rating:
Summary: LIfe in Peru
Review: This novel is a great example of a mixture of romanticism and naturalism. Although it is at times over-dramatic, the social injustice that Matto de Turner shows is a good historical analysis of Peru in the 19th century. The characters seem to be portrayed more as collective ideals or stereotypes, but the message is still shown that the people with power abused their stations. A must read for people interested in the history of Peru or even of social injustice in South America. Reading it in its original spanish is usually the best to get the full meaning, but it is a pretty rare book to find, so the english version is still very good.

Rating:
Summary: A seldom told story
Review: This woman dared to tell the story of the exploitation of the Quechua people in Peru. She shows through her romance how, the state - in the hands of the hispanic -, the church and the law were united in the colonization of Peru, exploiting the native populations as much as they could, keeping the descendents of the Inca empire either captive or as slave workers. Well a surprising fact, is that this woman wrote the book around 1889 (when it was first published) a time, when a woman writter was not seen with good eyes. She was excommunicated by the bishop and The book was - of course - burnt and remain almost unknown till the late 60's when it was reedicted.