I love a well-written historical fiction novel, especially if it is about a place and period I am only somewhat familiar with. Fruit of the Drunken Tree takes place in Pablo Escobar’s Columbia and transports you to that era. This book feels like traveling back to that place and time.

Something that makes this book so incredible is that the author based it on experiences from her own life, growing up in Columbia. Her story resonates throughout the book and makes it that much more powerful of a read.

I revived a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you net galley and double day books
Fruit of the Drunken Tree was a good read.
This novel was a coming of age story about two girls in Colombia; one from a well off family and one from an impoverished one. The story is told from two perspectives during the time when Pablo Escobar was in the height of his power.  Seven year old Chula lives with her family in a gated community. She sees the violence happening in her city and while she is somewhat insulated from it she is still greatly impacted by it. Thirteen year old Patrona is Chula’s family’s maid. She is burdened with no only surviving but with also supporting her family.
Although I was intrigued by the story from the very beginning, it took me some time to get into it simply because this is not my regular genre. I wanted to find out what happened to Patrona and see how Chula, at such a young age, dealt with all of the violence going on in her community. I was a bit confused on the time line and the age of the MC’s specifically Chula. Also, there were some Spanish terms and sentences that the author did not translate so I could only speculate or I only got part of the meaning.  My favorite character was Señora Santiago, I found her very interesting. I wanted to know the nature of her relationship with all her male “friends”. The middle of the book dragged a bit but it really picked up at the end.
While my favorite character was Señora Santiago, I sympathized with Patrona the most.
I enjoyed this book and would definitely read something else from this author.

Sandra Cisneros said it best: “When women of color write history, we see the world as we have never seen it before."

This book sent me on a wave of emotions: sadness, hopefulness, terror, to name a few. The story intrigued me quickly, however it did drag in the middle. I found myself speed reading to get back to Petrona's chapters (told in alternating perspectives of a young, wealthy girl and their also young, poor maid Petrona). I understand why the author chose to use the young girls perspectives but they left me wanting more substance, more of what was really going on.

Overall, this is a beautiful book that will teach us about a part of history that we may not know quite as well as we think we do. And in the end it will teach us what people who come to this country can feel like: “They told us to strive for assimilation. The quicker we transformed into one of the many the better. But how could we choose? The U.S. was the land that saved us; Colombia was the land that saw us emerge.”

Fruit of the Drunken Tree is a beautifully written novel set in Colombia during the time of Pablo Escobar. The story is told primarily by a young girl named Chula who lives in Bogota. The story also focuses on Petrona, a teenage girl who works for Chula's family. Chula and Petrona become friends and Petrona's presence ends up having a huge impact on Chula and her family.

I didn't know much about Colombia prior to reading this novel and I feel like I learned a lot about the country and I now want to learn more. I think the fact that the novel switched between Chula's perspective and Petrona's really help to describe how the political situation in the country affected the wealthy and the poor.

Overall, the book was really engaging and enjoyable! Plus, the cover is beautiful!

Fascinating historical fiction with compelling characters and wide-eyed childlike wonder. Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras is set in Bogota, Columbia during the time of Pablo Escobar, and is narrated by two different point of view characters. For the most part we get chapters told from the POV of young Chula, a seven-year-old who happens to be one of the most interesting voices and characters that I’ve read this year. We also get some, not as many, POV chapters from Petrona, a teenage maid who works for Chula’s family.
I just adored Chula’s voice. She’s seven, and she’s filled with so much imagination and curiousity. She reminded me somewhat of Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. Child POV’s can sometimes go drastically wrong, where they sound too immature and whiny (like in Room – not that it was a bad book, it wasn’t. But Jack’s POV was annoying at times). In Fruit of the Drunken Tree, while Chula definitely wasn’t perfect, I never was irritated with Chula and her voice. Chula tends to see something, and then conjure up a story to go with what she sees, from the cows in the field next door, to the lady down the street, to Petrona the maid, to her mother and father, even Pablo Escobar. Her imagination was at times hilarious, but could also be sad, and also dark. As Chula is seven, many times the reader is left to infer the truth, as Chula is innocent and just doesn’t understand what has happened.
The other POV character, Petrona, I didn’t have as much of a connection to. Petrona is a young teen girl, and she comes from a poor section of town and must work as a maid to help feed her family. The guerrillas come for her brothers, and one by one she loses her brothers to the guerrillas and/or drugs. She starts a relationship with Gorrion, a boy from her town, and I really could not stand Gorrion. He was obviously up to no good, and it was so irritating that Petrona was so blinded by love that she couldn’t see it. Every time Gorrion would appear in the book, I’d just grit my teeth and hope he would go away.
Other main characters are Chula’s older sister Cassandra, and Chula’s mother, Alma. I loved how we only saw glimpses into Alma, and how she was somewhat of a mystery that the reader needed to unravel. We only see her from younger POVs, and it’s hard to tell what exactly was going on with her. But, I enjoyed this ambiguity. I also enjoyed the character of Cassandra, and thought her and Chula’s conversations and relationship was hilarious and sweet. They are kids, and it was lovely to read a story with a positive sibling relationship, with two very different girls, but while they are different, they still very much love each other and their parents.
The violence in Columbia and the menacing Pablo Escobar looms over the characters (Escobar never appears in person, but his presence is felt throughout), and while Fruit of the Drunken Tree wasn’t overly graphic, there were some tough scenes that were tough to read because of the context, not because they were too graphic. There is one scene involving Chula’s grandmother and Chula’s cousins that was heartbreaking to read about.
Fruit of the Drunken Tree is a great historical fiction read, one that I truly enjoyed and was fascinated by. I loved Chula’s voice, and she is one of my favorite characters that I’ve read this year.

Bottom Line: I really enjoyed this!

I am very impressed with this debut novel. Contreras really brings to life the fear of living in Columbia in a time of such violence. The experiences and perspectives of Chula and Petrona are gripping and the fact that the plot points are based in part on the author's personal experiences make this book even more interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a really good literary novel. Not for someone looking for a light easy read though.

Title: Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Author: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5

In 1990s Columbia, Pablo Escobar, drug lord, reigns through violence and cleverness as the police struggle to apprehend him. Violence and drugs are everywhere, and the threat of kidnapping by guerrillas looms over daily life.

Seven-year-old Chula and her sister, Cassandra, lead a mostly-sheltered life in their gated community, but sometimes outside events encroach on their happiness. Then Petrona comes to be their live-in maid. Petrona is from the slums, where the guerillas are, and she’s desperate to provide for her family, willing to do anything to keep them safe.

Chula and Petrona form an unlikely bond, as Chula struggles to unravel Petrona’s secrets, while Petrona fights to keep the darkness in her life from destroying everything that’s beautiful.

Fruit of the Drunken Tree is told in the alternating viewpoints of Chula and Petrona. It was a little bit slow to get going, but then I found myself engrossed in the vibrant culture of Bogota. The differences between Chula’s life and Petrona’s were startling, and sad, but the girls’ friendship was uplifting.

Ingrid Rojas Contreras is an award-winning author and a teacher. Fruit of the Drunken Tree is her new novel.

(Galley provided by Doubleday Books in exchange for an honest review.)

This was the first book I read set in Colombia and I was blown away. I learned so much about Colombia, Colombian culture, and Pablo Escobar. What we see in the news is so different than the perspective of actual Colombian citizens. I was surprised to learn that Pablo Escobar was not universally hated, but actually loved in his hometown. Ingrid Rojas Contreras' writing truly transported me to Colombia and made me feel as though I was there with Chula and Petrona throughout their journeys. This has absolutely been one of my favorite reads of the year and I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Y'all. This is the year of stellar debut novels: What We Were Promised, Whiskey & Ribbons and now Fruit of the Drunken Tree.

I had been seeing a lot of buzz around bookstagram about this book and rest assured, it does live up to the hype.

This novel follows two perspectives: Chula, a young girl who comes from an affluent family and Petrona, a young teenager who is from a guerrilla-occupied slum of the same city. The novel takes place in Pablo Escobar-era Columbia.

Petrona becomes the Santiago's (Chula's family) housekeeper and Chula becomes fascinated by Petrona, wondering why she acts the way she does.

Without giving anything away, this is a great account of innocence in the face of difficult circumstances and a turbulent political climate. In some ways it reminded me of Room by Emma Donoghue in that Chula's perspective is innocent while observing evil circumstances.

This is both a coming of age story and historical fiction. The author states at the end of the book that this novel is semi-autobiographical. I found myself researching many of the events and even the general era frequently, as I was previously unaware of the specific issues present in Columbia at this time.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy coming of age stories, historical fiction with a good helping of poltical turmoil and just if you're looking to learn a bit more about an era you may be unfamiliar with.

7-year old Chula and her family live an upper middle-class life in Colombia during the reign of Escobar. Her mother hires the mysterious Petrona, a 13-year old from the slums, as their maid. The two girls' lives become slowly intertwined as they grow closer and closer through the years. While this book was not for me, I thought the writing was beautiful and poetic; Contreras did an amazing job giving distinct, descriptive voices to Chula and Petrona, and the alternating POV really juxtaposed each of their stories in an effective way. Further, I enjoyed learning a little Columbian history from the viewpoint of Chula and think fans of historical fiction would enjoy this book as well..

I had a really hard time getting into this book. Actually, I never did get into this book. It was rather slow for me. It was about the day to day in Bogota and dealt with a well off household who hired poor girls to clean and the poor girls.

With it being day to day activities, it was written day to day. It was just really, really slow for me. I think had I not had such a long TBR pile and had I more time, I could have given this book a little more time. However, for me, there are too many good books out there to be bogged down by a slow one.

I was not crazy about the characters, it was kind of boring and was not holding my attention.

I absolutely LOVE the cover, however.

Thanks to Doubleday Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Oh my gosh this book... I couldn’t put it down! I had some knowledge on what it was like to grow up in Colombia in the 80’s and 90’s thanks to some very close Colombian friends I lived with back in the early 2000’s (in Israel of all places), but obviously had never lived there or experienced any of the unrest or trauma that many Colombians considered everyday life. This book is definitely on my Top Ten of 2018. A must read.

Fruit of the Drunken Tree is the story of Chula Santiago and her family (her sister Cassandra and her mother and father), a more affluent Colombian family who live in a “better” area of Bogota. It is also the story of Petrona Sanchez, the Santiago’s young maid, who lives in one of the city’s slums. The story starts at the end, and then flies back to the beginning where we learn little by little, via Chula and Petrona, what happened to the family and to Petrona, and why.

The narrative is set in the late 80’s and early 90’s, centered around the insane amount of political unrest in the country at the time, with guerillas and paramilitaries, assassinations, drugs, poverty, kidnappings, bombs going off left right and center, and in the middle of it all Pablo Escobar. Fruit of the Drunken Tree is the story of growing up, coming of age in that climate, but also of war and trauma, seen through the eyes of children.

I loved reading through Chula’s eyes, her innocence and imagination are captivating, but so is her ability to see through a lot of the BS that goes on around her. She’s not perfect by any means, she’s spoilt, and sheltered, but completely endearing. Ingrid Rojas Contreras’s ability to build a world of rich layers, page after page, is wonderful - I felt like I was peeling back layer after layer, just as Chula begins to understand the realities of the world around her.

Fruit of the Drunken Tree isn’t by far an easy read, there is terror, trauma, and there are horrors nestled within the narrative of the girls’ everyday lives. But it’s a beautifully written story of friendship and growing up in a country under conflict.

Also, as a side note, this book is full of exceptional metaphors. They flow so naturally within the story that you only realize how powerful they are a few pages later, when you zip back to reread them. Magical realism is a constant thread throughout the story. Ingrid Rojas Contreras is such a talented writer, so inspiring.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance copy!

Set in 1990s Colombia, an unlikely friendship between a 7 yo girl, Chula, and her 13 yo maid, Petrona, affects both girls, and their families, in innumerable ways.

While Chula's family lived in a gated community safe from the political upheaval caused by drug lord Pablo Escobar, their 15 year old maid Petrona, was raised in the slums, where her and her family struggled to survive, while also trying to remain safe from the guerrillas who lived nearby. When their two worlds collide, difficult decisions must be made by both Chula and Petrona. Where do their loyalties lie? With their families, or with each other? Find out in this inside look at 1990s Colombia, which was inspired by the author's own life.

Since I didn't know anything about Colombia's history, I was very excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I think it would have been better off as a short story, and I wish it had focused more on the family’s new life as refugees in the United States, rather than what happened in Colombia (mostly because I think the Colombian part of the story could have been told in shorter, quicker flashbacks). With that being said, the end was extremely touching and made me tear up.

Note: The flowers and fruit of the Drunken Tree were used in burundanga and the date-rape drug. It is also known as "The Breath of the Devil because when you were exposed to it, it snatched away your soul and you became a shell of a person."

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Location: Bogota, Colombia

Quotes:

"Mama always said--the life she knew was a last-minute tsunami that could sweep away fathers, money, food and children. You were never in control, so it was better to let things run their course."

"I closed my eyes, thankful for the blood thumping in my body, thankful for Mama's life, and I imagined Petrona's blood thumping in her body too, and I felt like we were all joined in some way."


I really enjoyed this book, and gave it 4 out of 5 stars! One of the main things I liked about it was the writing style. True to much Latino literature, this book embraced magical realism -- the spiritual and supernatural were referenced throughout the book as explanations for unknown situations or behaviors. I loved the beautiful blending of the natural, physical world with the supernatural. I also liked how the author showed the violence and corruption of Colombia through the eyes of children by rotating the narration between her two female main characters, Chula and Petrona.

The characters felt well-developed also. They weren't perfect, which made them real. They had quirks, flaws, and moments of selfless greatness. Most of the main characters were women, too, and I appreciated how Rojas Contreras showed the strength of women during difficult times and tragedy. Her women were stubborn and courageous, unwilling to let hunger, violence, death, and government corruption destroy their loved ones. I loved reading about the fierce, loving women, and how they dealt with hardships. And I loved that Rojas Contreras didn't sugarcoat the hardships -- they were genuine, and couldn't be easily wrapped up with a happily ever after.

I think what I enjoyed most about the book was the historic and cultural background. I studied Spanish in college along with some Latino literature, so all the Spanish words and phrases the author included, all the cultural nuances, and all details about Colombia and its people were fantastic. It made me want to study South American countries more and brush up on my rusty Spanish. It was especially interesting seeing the class differences in Colombia through the eyes of Petrona and Chula. One girl grew up in poverty, and the other grew up in wealth, but tragedy affected them both.

Overall, the book was a very enjoyable read! Now I want to get my hands on some Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez!

This is totally a case of “it’s not you, it’s me.” I think that this book will be widely received and popular because of the time period and location of this novel. It’s interes to see what life in Bogotá was like for a child during Escobar’s reign. However, this childlike perspective left me feeling disconnected from the story. I found myself bored and not wanting to continue. Unfortunately I didn’t this book. I quit at 50%.
Thank you for letting me review this book.

Fruit of the Drunken Tree is a debut novel inspired by the author’s life. That, the juxtaposition of Chula’s privileged perspective and Petrona’s perspective of poverty, and Pablo Escobar (I’ve always had a weird fascination!) were what attracted me to this book. And, all the pieces for a home run were there, but it was missing the intangibles for me. I loved seeing the drug wars through the eyes of a child and I identified with Chula’s combination fear / fascination with Pablo Escobar and the violence that accompanied him (on a far less personal level, I remember feeling similarly about the Russians as a child during the Cold War). And, the story had explosive plot elements that should have kept me frantically turning the pages. But, something about the way the story was told made all of it feel very distant and kept me from getting invested in these characters. Overall, I wavered over whether to recommend it, but decided against since I found myself frequently zoning out, checking Instagram, and sampling other books while reading it.

This book is beautiful. The story instantly transports me to the girls worlds with its beautiful use of language.

A rich girl, poor girl account of late twentieth century Columbia, Fruit of the Drunken Tree is a staggering emotional journey through the destruction of life in a time of war. It will give you a new perspective on why some people risk it all to come to America.

Someone you’ve never met can dominate your entire existence. Such is the case for Chula Santiago and Petrona Sanchez, who are growing up in the Columbia controlled by Pablo Escobar and his cohorts. Thirteen-year-old Petrona once lived on a struggling farmstead, but when the paramilitary came, they burned her home to the ground, took her father and two oldest brothers to work for them and left Petrona to care for her asthmatic mother and huge brood of younger siblings. They walk to Bogota, where Petrona takes a job as a maid to the Santiago family in order to make ends meet.

Seven-year-old Chula is fascinated by Petrona, who speaks little, dresses oddly and is so different than anyone Chula knows. Theirs is a household of women; Chula’s father, an oil worker, is away from home for months on end and it is only the maid, her mother and her sister Constance that Chula spends time with. Much of that time is spent watching television, where the name Pablo Escobar is associated with everything from car bombs to murdered politicians. It is this last thing which truly has an effect on Chula for she is at the rally where the popular liberal candidate Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated. Escaping that event is a nightmarish experience and the news following it only seems to grow worse and worse. As Chula hears of children dying while their parents tried to buy tickets to the circus, and as Petrona sees the young boys in her neighborhood turn into violent thugs, both girls start to realize that no future is guaranteed in a land where walking to the grocery store is a perilous undertaking that can be interrupted by gun fights.

Chula is a difficult narrator; young, spoiled and traumatized, her perspective on coming of age during a reign of terror is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it cuts through any romantic association one might have regarding what was happening. On the other, her immaturity sometimes undermines the serious, horrific nature of the events surrounding her. She is also a strong argument for vigilant parenting: left to her own devices far too often, she made poor choices that could have been circumvented had some adult wisdom been applied.

Petrona introduces only a slightly different perspective. While more mature and less sheltered than Chula, she too makes some unwise choices. She and her family live in a “hut made of trash” in the Hills (Bogota’s slums) and serve as easy prey for encapotados (guerillas), drugs, and the more benign but no less dangerous common criminals. Her father told her that it was “better to sleep alongside your own clean conscience than to be a parasite of the state or of the militarized groups who were all just a different version of the state.” He encouraged her to earn what she had with “the sweat of her brow.” However, not working with these peoples is not an option she’s given. It is death or cooperation. When she becomes involved with the handsome Gorrión, she finds just how high a cost that cooperation demands.

Which is the point of Fruit of the Drunken Tree. For those living in that turbulent era, there were no good options. Wealth delayed the inevitable; it didn’t circumvent it. You were either the kidnapped or the kidnapper, killer or prey. Neutral parties got blown up in car bombs or shot in crossfire. It makes for a very thought provoking read, if not a very easy one.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

The first part is a slow burn, but I think it does a great job describing the setting (physical and emotional) of Colombia in the early 1990s. The ending was strong! I'm also very intrigued by the way the author's own life inspired the events of this book (be sure to read her note at the end).

A rich girl, poor girl account of late twentieth century Columbia, Fruit of the Drunken Tree is a staggering emotional journey through the destruction of life in a time of war. It will give you a new perspective on why some people risk it all to come to America.

Someone you’ve never met can dominate your entire existence. Such is the case for Chula Santiago and Petrona Sanchez, who are growing up in the Columbia controlled by Pablo Escobar and his cohorts. Thirteen-year-old Petrona once lived on a struggling farmstead, but when the paramilitary came, they burned her home to the ground, took her father and two oldest brothers to work for them and left Petrona to care for her asthmatic mother and huge brood of younger siblings. They walk to Bogota, where Petrona takes a job as a maid to the Santiago family in order to make ends meet.

Seven-year-old Chula is fascinated by Petrona, who speaks little, dresses oddly and is so different than anyone Chula knows. Theirs is a household of women; Chula’s father, an oil worker, is away from home for months on end and it is only the maid, her mother and her sister Constance that Chula spends time with. Much of that time is spent watching television, where the name Pablo Escobar is associated with everything from car bombs to murdered politicians. It is this last thing which truly has an effect on Chula for she is at the rally where the popular liberal candidate Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated. Escaping that event is a nightmarish experience and the news following it only seems to grow worse and worse. As Chula hears of children dying while their parents tried to buy tickets to the circus, and as Petrona sees the young boys in her neighborhood turn into violent thugs, both girls start to realize that no future is guaranteed in a land where walking to the grocery store is a perilous undertaking that can be interrupted by gun fights.

Chula is a difficult narrator; young, spoiled and traumatized, her perspective on coming of age during a reign of terror is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it cuts through any romantic association one might have regarding what was happening. On the other, her immaturity sometimes undermines the serious, horrific nature of the events surrounding her. She is also a strong argument for vigilant parenting: left to her own devices far too often, she made poor choices that could have been circumvented had some adult wisdom been applied.

Petrona introduces only a slightly different perspective. While more mature and less sheltered than Chula, she too makes some unwise choices. She and her family live in a “hut made of trash” in the Hills (Bogota’s slums) and serve as easy prey for encapotados (guerillas), drugs, and the more benign but no less dangerous common criminals. Her father told her that it was “better to sleep alongside your own clean conscience than to be a parasite of the state or of the militarized groups who were all just a different version of the state.” He encouraged her to earn what she had with “the sweat of her brow.” However, not working with these peoples is not an option she’s given. It is death or cooperation. When she becomes involved with the handsome Gorrión, she finds just how high a cost that cooperation demands.

Which is the point of Fruit of the Drunken Tree. For those living in that turbulent era, there were no good options. Wealth delayed the inevitable; it didn’t circumvent it. You were either the kidnapped or the kidnapper, killer or prey. Neutral parties got blown up in car bombs or shot in crossfire. It makes for a very thought provoking read, if not a very easy one.