{"id":8294,"date":"2020-09-24T12:06:43","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T06:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/?p=8294"},"modified":"2020-09-24T12:07:28","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T06:37:28","slug":"review-dead-girls-selva-almada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/review-dead-girls-selva-almada\/","title":{"rendered":"Review : Dead Girls by Selva Almada"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Almada focusses on three women who were murdered in the 1980s in Argentina. All three deaths are unresolved to-date and the culprits unpunished. The three deaths took place in 1983 (Mar\u00eda Luisa Quevedo\u2014a 15 year old who had just started work as a maid), 1986 (Andrea Danne\u2014a student stabbed in her bed) and 1988 (Sarita Mund\u00edn\u2014a 20 year old who worked several jobs before turning to sex work). During this time period, Argentina was in the throes of restoration of democracy (1983). In 1990, the case of Mar\u00eda Soledad Morales, was perhaps the first Argentinian femicide to lead to a national protest.<\/p>\n
True to the subject matter, Dead Girls<\/em> is different from Almada\u2019s The Wind that Lays Waste<\/em> though the finesse of her writing shines through. Dead Girls<\/em>, being a journalistic novel, calls for extensive field work\u2014Almada interviews family, friends and witnesses, researches the history through newspapers and surveys. Often her narration takes a fictional quality as she tries to imagine how a day in the life of the victim looked like. But more so, we are grounded to the reality by accompanying her on her bus journeys, sharing her eagerness to meet contacts (while also wondering if they will meet at all), impatiently waiting at cafes, and trying to piece together the predictions of a tarot reader. It is in the passages about the tarot reader that I felt I reached the core of Almada\u2019s writing, all too human and trying every way possible to get a glimpse at what actually happened.<\/p>\n Unlike many narratives that focus on the killers and violators, Almada has chosen the hapless victims at the forefront of the novel, to shine light on violence against women and femicide. A woman could get killed, simply for being a woman. If a woman was raped, it is usually her fault\u2014Times haven\u2019t changed even in 2020s, have they? By describing the daily life, dreams and aspirations of her victims, Almada makes us grieve for these three girls from whom the joy of life was snatched away in the most brutal manner.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a passage where Mar\u00eda Luisa\u2019s brother is in conversation with Almada. He owns a picture of Mar\u00eda in the morgue, bought off a police officer. The line gave me a feeling of being slapped on the face. Just a line, but the impact! Later he tells how they could not identify Mar\u00eda Luisa\u2019s body\u2014\u201cCompletely disfigured. I only recognized her because of a scar on her leg, from when I chucked a tape player at her one time.\u201d When it is discovered that the body washed up in the banks of Tcalamochita river\u2014thought to be Sarita\u2014is not in fact Sarita, I winced. A small part of me hoped she was alive somewhere, but I was also tormented by the reality that her missing body was not even granted a decent burial. Dead Girls<\/em> is gripping, saddening and makes you worried about the world we live in today.<\/p>\n In addition to the horrifying details of women simply being killed, Almada makes us reflect on poverty and class on the margins. One wonders why these girls\u2014and all girls\u2014who are victims of casual violence and gendered violence get less attention (in media, by courts, by authorities) than they deserve. I felt angry, but also a sense of shock at the society that we are inhabiting and contributing towards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Almada writes in her introduction \u201cAs I wrote the stories of Andrea, Maria Lu\u00ecsa and Sarita, fragments of my own life story and those of women I knew began to work their way in. My friends and I were still alive, but we could have been Andrea, Maria Lu\u00ecsa or Sarita. We were just luckier.\u201d Then later in the epilogue she writes that it has been a month since the new year (2016) and at least ten women (at least because it appeared in the news) have been killed simply because there were women. Almada\u2019s story might be about Argentina. But women\u2019s stories\u2014about being crushed, violated and killed\u2014are universal. This could be Argentina, my country\u2014India\u2014or your country. It could be anyone.<\/p>\n Almada does not write with the beat of your usual investigative journalism. Dead Girls<\/em> isn\u2019t a police chronicle, nor are there twists and shocks to sensationalize the murders. Rather, the novel unfolds in a quiet crumple which is even more terrifying, even more gut wrenching. <\/p>\nDead Girls is a journalistic novel about femicides in Argentina in 1980s and the violence against women, especially those at a disadvantage in the social class system. Gripping, shocking and sad. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\nDisclaimer : Much thanks to Charco Press for sending a copy of Dead Girls<\/em>. All opinions are my own.<\/em><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dead Girls by Selva Almada is a close look at murders and violence against women…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6307,16,6308,6309],"tags":[462,10152,10151,10153,8257,1631],"thb-sponsors":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nRating : 4\/5<\/p>\n