The Sunday Tertulia

Rating:
Summary: short on substance and character development
Review: During the time I lived in Spain, I remember vividly tuning into the tertulias that were on every day, often featuring famous writers like Cela or Marquez commenting on issues of the day. I marveled over the fact that unlike in our American talk shows, they actually ate food, had coffee, and really got into their conversations in an in-depth manner.

Thus it was with much anticipation that I picked up this book which features a group of woman who meet in a tertulia fashion to discuss everything from beauty and dating to betrayal and loss. Our narrator is the only non-Latina, but she fits right in since she speaks Spanish and relates to the culture. The others hail from various professional fields. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I was slightly disappointed. I never felt that I learned enough about any one person to care that much about what happened to her. Therefore, I found myself feeling somewhat detached even through various tales of illness and infidelity. The narrative is a bit scattered and doesn't hold together at times. There is very little in the way of real character development. A good first novel with some promising scenes.

Rating:
Summary: the sunday tertulia
Review: For years I was one of the guys. It is only since graduating from college and joining the "real world" that I've developed girlfriends. This book made me think of our girls' night out meetings over coffee and wine, times that I both need and treasure.
I had been expecting more of a novel, more details about the characters' lives. The chapters, instead, were a brief statement of the characters' current lives and the reactions of the tertulia attendants. I did feel like there was wisdom and truth in the women's thoughts. One thing I did especially like was that the author made sure to provide translations of the Spanish comments and proverbs.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I had read a positive review of this book and, as a Hispanic woman, I was excited to see a subject close to my heart treated in a novel. However, pages into The Sunday Terulia, I was sadly disappointed by the style and content of the book. While I feel the idea of capturing a conversation, especially one ongoing over many years struck me as original and exciting, the author does a poor job of rendering the story believable. Much of the dialogue between the friends seems forced and trite and not at all the way I remember the kitchen table conversations of my mother, grandmother and aunts, as I was growing up in South Texas. Moreover, the narrorator asks the reader to accept her own assertions without giving us reason. For example, the narrorator mentions and over how intelligent these women are without demonstrating it through the dialogue. The author comes closest to authenticity when the characters tell stories from their own lives but even those are somewhat strained-- one of the women always shimes in with a recollection of a friend or a friend of a friend who had a similar experience. The only two stories that seemed to "work" were the personal ones of poverty and marital infedelity shared by two of the women. I have experienced the connectedness, comeraderie and closeness of female friendships. I have walked away from such gatherings feeling that I had participated in something mystical and miraculous (with a small "m"). With that in mind, I was sadly disappointed by Ms. Carlson's novel.

Rating:
Summary: tedious reading
Review: I minored in Spanish, was an exhange student in Madrid and embrace many aspects of Latin culture and devour lots and lots of Latino and Hispanic Lit. The idea for this book had so much potential, but the novel just doesn't work. It's hard to believe or get into the voice of the narrator, Claire, an adult young woman character because she comes off girlish, shallow, and wholly boring, and the Latina characters were just too superficially written to retain my interest and were unbelievable because they lacked depth and human oddities and characteristics that make characters in literature so memorable. The women either come off too saintly to believe or stereotypical. The concept for the novel was great, but the writer fails because this novel doesn't have ironies, interesting drama, complex personality contradictions within the characters, a fresh or provocative writing style, believable epiphanies, or any treats the reader can take away with her/him.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't meet my expectations
Review: I was soooo looking forward to reading this book but it just didn't do it for me. I was intrigued by the meetings of women of various generations and the Spanish (food) theme--just the right mix for me, so I thought. It just dragged and never made me feel involved or care about the characters. :(

Rating:
Summary: Has all the right ingredients but does not come out right
Review: This book has all the right ingredients to make a delicious dish: description of good food, a group of wise Latin women and a lot of Latin culture and folklore. This combined with the story of Claire, a young woman who struggles with life in New York, should have made this book into a treat. However the author, which no doubt has a lot of Latin knowledge - did not deliver. The dish that came out is tedious and didactic.
I assume that Lori Marie Carlson is very educated with the matter of Latin culture - and definitely has a vast knowledge about food, music and poetry. I also assume she chose this book as a means to enrich the reader with her wisdom. It is clear that a lot of research was done before writing this book; however the book does not rise above its didactic informative descriptions that seem to lead nowhere.
Claire meets her Latin friends to a monthly feast called "Tertulia" which is described as a "gathering of confidants who share poetic musings, secret sorrows and savory treats". Each chapter in the book is dedicated to one such meeting while in between we read something about Claire's life - but this serves only as a smooth passage to the "Tertulia" and its different monthly subject.
The main part of the book is dedicated to the different views, the diverse ways to translate life as experienced by the participants of the Tertulia: Sonia, Luna, Isabela, Pearl, Aroma, Winifred. Each one with her own philosophy. I cannot say that these women are not wise. They do have fine things to say and some of their stories can be interesting but all in all, the entire story does not get anywhere and the conversation between the women is wearisome and slow. I cannot believe that this is a true account of the way people speak. I have been in many women gatherings where one issue leads to another and a topic can be discussed with a lot of laughter and tears - but no informal conversation I have joined was ever held in a form of lecture where every woman says what she has to say in a sort of speech and then shuts up. At least, this does not happen with the women I know.
The book does not allow any real development of characters - not Claire, whom the other women wish so much to "educate" and not any one of the other wiser women. The reader does not really care what happens to them next or what they have to say.