This book had an interesting premise, but the story felt like it was spinning in circles. Throughout the first half, we’re constantly introduced to new characters, yet the plot seems to stagnate. The narrative jumps back and forth in time, but instead of building up the narrative, it felt like we were reducing, reusing, and recycling the same limited information given in the first chapter. I’m struggling to understand the purpose of this story, especially with so many characters who seem disconnected from the original plot, leaving us without any meaningful insight. I usually enjoy generational sagas in literary fiction, but this one lacks the necessary development to make me care about the characters and stay engaged. For me, it’s missing the mark!

✨ Review ✨ Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias

Thanks to Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This book is written in many POVs, but especially through the women of the family, including neighbors and aunties, which brings a richness to the story that reminded my of Elizabeth Acevedo's Family Lore (and also how it all leads up to a big party for the matriarch). It also jumps back and forth through time, in a way that might be hard to process via audio.

Because of this multi-timeline, multi-POV approach it's hard to summarize this, but key points include a 1968 major fire at a banana farm as well as an incident in Teresa's home. The story also features the 1990s where Teresa's daughter Lyra and her child Gabriel continue to work through these decades of traumas and family issues. As they must come back in contact with Teresa, Lyra must also reconcile with her past.

The story also weaves in magical realism, humor especially with the 3 Marias, darkness and trauma, mental health, and the long-lasting legacies of grief and loss.

The writing was absolutely incredible and after reading that John Manuel Arias is a poet came as no surprise. I wanted to continually highlight and feature quote after quote and this, to me, is a testament of great writing. I can't wait to read more of his work!

There were some pieces that didn't quite come together for me and felt a little too discontinuous in the end (like the toads?) though overall I liked the fragmented and jostling feeling for the multiple POVs and timelines!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(4.25)
Genre: historical fiction + magical realism
Setting: Costa Rica, in and around banana plantations - 1950s, 1960s, 1990s
Reminds me of: Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
Pub Date: September 2023

Read this if you like:
⭕️ complex historical fiction
⭕️ writing that shows the traumas of colonization, capitalism, and empire
⭕️ subtle humor
⭕️ Central American settings

An evocative, richly-detailed multi-generational story. I enjoyed this novel, finding the audiobook narrator to be fabulous. Recommended.

Where There Was Fire had such a strong premise and captivating start.. Multigenerational, dual timelines, all set around a traumatic event which forever changed an entire family's path forward.... it should have been a home run. Sadly, I found the execution of the novel to be lacking.

As a reader, I want to be taken along on a journey with the characters. However there is a disconnect in Where There Was Fire that I can't quite put my finger on why. Ultimately- this did not work for me but hope that it falls in the hands of a reader who does love it!

A winding tale of one Central American family’s trials and tribulations throughout the generations. Their happiness is marred by secrets, heartaches, betrayals, and what could have been. Solid debut, I’m interested in the author’s next read.

The overall brunt of this story, the cruelty subjected upon Latin American people by American corporations (especially the fruit ones) is dark and awful. The way the Americans discuss the lack of humanity they see in their non-white workers is terrible. This message was shared effectively and the way in which so much casual cruelty was stacked upon itself to lead to a traumatic climax was well-done.

The rest of the story not so much. Characters often lacked depth, and the men and women were stuffed so full of machismo it was hard to take them as full and complete people. Overall, I enjoyed some sections but ultimately the book left me a little cold.

John Manuel Arias' "Where There Was Fire" is a gripping novel that takes place in Costa Rica. The story follows Teresa Cepeda Valverde and her daughter, Lyra, as they navigate through the aftermath of a destructive fire that occurred at the American Fruit Company's most lucrative banana plantation. The book spans over a period of twenty-seven years and delves into themes such as family, secrets, and redemption. The journey of Teresa and Lyra is intertwined with ancestral spirits, omens, and the consequences of exploitative industries. Arias' confident and evocative writing style delves deep into the complexities of forgiveness and how the past can have a lasting impact.

I had the privilege of ingesting this multiple POV story through both the audiobook (thank you, Netgalley and publishers!) and the physical form, and I can say confidently that the physical book version is the way to go if you are able to access it. The narration style was just not my jam which made it hard to want to choose it over other audiobooks clogging up my shelves.

I enjoyed being in the 1960s and the Costa Rican atmosphere, but generally felt like aspects of the characters could have been fleshed out more and that would have bumped the experience up for me.

I would recommend to my lit fic fans out!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This probably would have been better for me if I had been reading a physical copy- the narrator was good but I wasn't always able to keep up with the different timelines and characters by listening. I enjoyed it but probably would have a lot more if I wasn't listening in this case!

There is something interesting about the story, but I am not enjoying the writing of the characters and their interactions or relationships. I would recommend this read because the author definitely has a way with how he crafts the overarching plot line.

Really enjoyed the narrator on this one! I will definitely be checking out more of their narrations because I enjoyed listening to them.

Outside of the narrator I had a hard time following the actual story. This has a lot of characters which can be very hard to keep track of, especially with an audiobook. Many of the characters got lost in the void and I had to pause to keep up with them. I also had a hard time with some of the flowery language that felt just as distracting from the root of the plot. Constant adjectives doesn't add to a story, it just adds word count.

Thank you NetGalley, publisher and John Manuel Arias for this ARC audio!

I really enjoyed the book as well as the narrator. It was a bit hard to follow each character’s story as they switched and intertwined so much but other than that I enjoyed it!

A story of a mother and daughter’s journey through tragedy, loss and mystery. Theresa has lost her husband as he disappeared one day and has also lost her daughter, Carmen to suicide. Lyra has adopted Carmen’s son after her suicide since she is unable to have a child herself. After 27 years, Theresa and her daughter Lyra are brought back together and forced to navigate what happened all those years ago.

This was a tougher audiobook for me to get into because of the back and forth between timelines. I did love the narrators way of conveying emotion and the eerie way they spoke about the omens. I enjoyed the mystery of people’s disappearance as well as the potential coverup from a company in Costa Rica.

A mystery of a husband and father’s disappearance. A cover up from the company he worked for and the aftermath of the fire that started it all. This was a beautiful debut novel and I would recommend.

WHERE THERE WAS FIRE by John Manuel Arias tells the story of a family whose lives and fates are intertwined with a mysterious, deadly fire at an American Fruit Company banana plantation in Costa Rica. A husband disappears. A mother decamps to the United States, leaving her two daughters behind. A sister can’t bear being present at her nephew’s birth. Behind these fissures lies the malfeasance of a powerful corporation that is doing everything it can to hide its misdeeds, yet the novel is also an intensely personal story of suspicions, grudges, losses, and friendships that endure despite it all.

I say this almost every time that I read historical fiction, but I always want to hear more about the sociopolitical context. While Arias captures the nefarious corporate intrigue that deliberately ruined people’s lives, I yearned to hear even more about the political winds blowing at the time of the story. This is the non-fiction lover in me quibbling with this otherwise comprehensive family saga, and I suspect most readers will appreciate the balance Arias strikes here.

The Costa Rican setting, the American Fruit Company involvement, and the flawed but realistic characters all drew me in to this novel, which I would recommend for fans deliberately-paced historical fiction family narratives such as Wendy Chin-Tanner’s KING OF THE ARMADILLOS or Janika Oza’s A HISTORY OF BURNING.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the ALC! The audiobook, narrated by Adriana Sananes, brings the characters to life in a delightful way.

This book just didn’t do it for me. There was so much going on that I had no idea what the actual point of the story was. I was lost in the words and not in a good way. Maybe it was too lyrical for my taste. This was a multi POV, multi generation, dual timeline set in Costa Rica. I thought this would be right up my alley with family drama, a cover up etc. There were way too many characters to keep track of and I became confused and couldn’t keep them straight. I wish I liked this one better…. on to the next.

I was SO excited by this book, but it fell short of my expectations. I think that the characters and storyline had the potential to be great, however there was just too much going on. Too many big, important ideas and issues were touched on, making it hard to really focus and develop. The book is told in different perspective and I think that there were too many of them and that they were not connected as well as I would have liked. The book just felt disjointed in many parts. I not point did I consider not finishing this book, it kept me interested, but I think I was just waiting for the pieces to be tied together, and they never were.
Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader (and audio!) copies.

The banana has impacted Costa Rica, Central America and the families that worked the plantations. One family is the Cepeda Valverde family. Rich American colonial capitalists exploited the fruit for its financial gain. The American Fruit Company did whatever it needed to do to succeed and the people suffered. 1n 1968 the plantation went up in smoke and took a lot of people out with it. There were not only flames that burned the plantation but we read about the metaphorical flames that consumes this family. The story really focuses on the women in this family. We see lots of layers and dynamics between multi-generations. There is a lot to like with this book. One reason why I didn’t give it 4 stars is because I would get lost with the people, the time, and trying to make sense of what was happening at certain points in the story. I don’t know if it would have helped not to try to cover so much in the storyline but I can argue it both ways. If I could I would give it 3.5 stars. I will say that we need more Latin American stories. It is a rich culture with a people that have stories that need to be told. The book ends on a note that I want to root for the next generation of the Cepeda Valverde family to find happiness.

I congratulate John Manuel Arias on his debut novel. Adriana Sananes was an excellent narrator.

I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook. This review is voluntarily given and reflects my own views and opinions.

This was very misogynistic and not well done - this one was not for me. I don't see why this man thought he was in any way qualified to write about the internal lives of women but he did a bad job! Extremely male gazey as well

Being from Costa Rica, this book was a delight to read.

When mention old Costa Rica (though I was not even born yet) by reading the history, places like the National Theater, the Banana Company, the "barrio", all these words that are so familiar but sometimes seem too far away.

I listened to the Audiobook (which did not affect my opinion of the book).

It started a little slow for me but then it picked up and was a very interesting and enjoyable read.

Books with different POV's, I can always appreciate. Different timelines, complicated characters, and family relationships. All that made the book more interesting for me. Glad I had the chance to read the work of a Costa Rican-American author.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the Advanced Free Copy in exchange for an honest review.

A lethal fire in one of the most profitable banana plantations owned by the American Fruit Company in Costa Rica in 1968 ended in a night of personal tragedy for Teresa Cepeda Valverde ‘s family. Following the tragic death of her mother Amarga and the disappearance of her husband of eleven years José María, employed with the company, Teresa leaves for the United States, leaving her children, eleven-year-old Lyra and eight-year-old Carmen, in the care of friends. The tragedy and secrets that surround their family, their mother’s abandonment and her abrupt return six years later cast a long shadow on the lives of both sisters – the impact of which follows them into their adult lives. Twenty-seven years later we meet adult Lyra, a fertility counselor in San José who is raising her deceased sister’s ten-year-old son. Estranged from her mother who is approaching her sixtieth birthday and has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Lyra tries to piece together her family’s history with the American Fruit Company, the cover-ups, corruption and how the same poisoned their lives in more ways than one. Will her sixtieth birthday celebrations help bridge the rift between Teresa and her daughter and pave the way to healing or will the revelations that come to light tear them further apart?

With its strong premise, an atmospheric setting, folklore and magical realism incorporated into the narrative, an element of mystery and the realistic depiction of unethical and exploitative corporate practices that put the well-being of employees at risk, Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias holds a lot of promise. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite taken with the execution. The author addresses several important themes such as tragedy and generational trauma, corporate greed and corruption, racism and colonialism, mental health, post-partum depression, suicide and dysfunctional family dynamics. I found the central plot intriguing and I thought that the main characters were well-thought-out. The narrative is presented through multiple perspectives spanning past and present-day timelines. I found the narrative to be more than a tad disjointed and lacking in much-needed depth and closure which detracted from the overall reading experience. I struggled to stay invested in the story on account of the uneven pacing and the several supporting characters who were interesting but the relevance of whom to the main plot was left largely unexplored, thereby rendering them somewhat unnecessary. There were several plot holes and the dynamic between the main characters and their individual storylines should have been explored in more depth.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Adriana Sananes. While I did enjoy the narration, I thought that the story was difficult to follow on audio alone because of multiple timelines and perhaps too many characters and PoVs. Perhaps involving more narrators would have made the same easier to follow. I would recommend keeping the book handy if you opt for the audio.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.