I'm sorry but.....this was SO bad 😅
As part Salvadorian, I was excited to pick this up. I was promised history and mythology and I was excited to learn more about the civil war that drove my grandparents from their country. But....this was a huge let down.
They barely mentioned any mythology at all, this wasn't at all a fantasy story. Yes, there were 4 dead girls making commentary on the two sister's life's saying "Listen to us, listen to us" but they didn't have much interesting things to say.
Pretty much all the characters, besides Garciela, were vulgar, crude, and sex crazy. Consuelo was such an immature brat and all she thought about was sleeping with men and "making art" which she'd get mad nobody appreciated. Even after being raped she just jumped from one man to another.
Neither of the sisters had any real love life.
I got no insight on actual politics and genocides that occurred in El Salvador during those times besides the one the sisters lived through.
None of them, again besides Graciela, were good mothers either. Their mother tried but was put down by those with more power than she. Graciela's story seemed to have a little more plot but Consuelo was just background noise. Honestly the entire novel seemed to have no true plotline.
The ghosts didn't seem to make a point except maybe, native American history matters too? But they didn't actually tell those stories. The girls just left and worked and slept around, not much plot there either.
Very disappointed 😞
Not the "imaginative and bursting with lush life" I had expected.
Hope to one day read a historical fiction book based on El Salvador that really shows me what life was like there in those times.

The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera is a powerful and evocative novel that masterfully intertwines themes of family, heritage, and resilience against a vibrant and tumultuous backdrop. Balibrera's storytelling is both poetic and visceral, drawing readers into the lives of her richly developed characters.

Set against the dramatic landscapes of a volcanic region, the story follows the journeys of several women, each grappling with their personal and familial histories. Balibrera's prose is beautifully descriptive, bringing the setting to life and imbuing it with a sense of almost mystical significance. The volcanic imagery serves as a potent metaphor for the characters' inner turmoils and the explosive nature of their secrets and desires.

The characters are compelling and deeply human, each with their own distinct voice and struggles. Balibrera handles their stories with a deft hand, weaving their narratives together in a way that feels both natural and profoundly interconnected. The emotional depth of the novel is striking, and readers will find themselves invested in the characters' fates.

While the novel's pacing can occasionally be uneven, with some parts feeling slower than others, the overall impact of the story is undeniably strong. Balibrera's ability to capture the essence of cultural and generational conflicts adds a rich layer of complexity to the narrative.

The Volcano Daughters is a poignant and beautifully written novel that will resonate with readers long after the final page. Gina María Balibrera has crafted a memorable and moving tale that celebrates the strength and resilience of women in the face of adversity.

The Volcano Daughters is a well written, dense narrative that follows the separate lives of two sisters, Graciela and Consuelo, who manage to escape from a dangerous, crushing dictator in El Salvador in the early 1930s.

The story moves nonlinearly through tumultuous times in both their native country and elsewhere. The author combines cultural traditions and storytelling, magical realism, and real historical events to weave a fascinating story. The prologue of this story was at first confusing to me because I did not know what was to come, but it is beautiful, and I’m glad that I kept reading.

Some of the voices telling the stories of Graciela and Consuelo are fantasmas, or what we’d usually call spirits or ghosts. In this way, the sisters’ memories, friends, and family stay with them, in their hearts.

Gina Maria Balibrera has written a memorable and special saga that I am grateful to have read. Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon,Vintage and Anchor for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

This was one of the most beautifully written books I’ve read in a while. The integration of Central American Spanish into the lyrical English prose was done so well, this book felt like I was reading poetry. I truly felt transported. I felt so deeply for the women and girls of this book, I really enjoyed following their stories. The only thing keeping this from being a 5 star is there were a few moments that I was a bit confused, mainly with some of the character names. I think upon reread or even with annotating this could easily be a 5 star.

I decided to read this book as I lived in Central America for two years and learned a lot about the civil war and colonialism from la gente. This was my favorite book so far this year. It blended Central American folklore like el duende and el cadejo with serious events that took place in El Salvador. This book also blended English with Central American Spanish, which was fantastic. The book took me right to Central America, under the volcano. The familial connection, the spirits used as narrators, and the cultural tie-ins made this an incredible historical fiction. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

I did want to add, due to the subject matter, there was a lot of violence in this book. I could tag a huge list of trigger warnings, but it basically has all of them. Just as heads up.

El Salvador, 1923. Graciela, a young girl growing up on a volcano in a community of Indigenous women, is summoned to the capital, where she is claimed as an oracle for a rising dictator. There she meets Consuelo, the sister she has never known, who was stolen from their home before Graciela was born. The two spend years under the cruel El Gran Pendejo’s regime, unwillingly helping his reign of terror, until genocide strikes the community from which they hail. Each believing the other to be dead, they escape, fleeing across the globe, reinventing themselves until fate ultimately brings them back together in the most unlikely of ways…

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wow. Just wow. Beautiful prose. Heart-wrenching and heartwarming. The unbelievably horrible things humans can do to each other, juxtaposed with the incredible love and amazing things we can do to lift each other up. This is a true gem!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

A beautifully written, compelling, and stylish work of historical fiction tinged with the speculative about sisters during a time of social and political upheaval in El Salvador and beyond. I'm not sure about how well the first-person plural was integrated into the text, but I appreciate the ambition of that craft choice.

Consuelo and Graciela’s story is one that will haunt me for quite some time. Make no mistake, this is a hard-hitting book with heavy themes, and, at times, I had to sit the book down, but I am so glad I was able to read this beautiful, heartrending novel. Really, this book comes with my highest recommendation because it has the making of a modern classic.

Review of Uncorrected eBook File

When El Salvador’s dictator brings Graciela to the capital in 1923, she discovers a sister she never knew. Consuelo, it seems, was stolen from her home before Graciela was even born. For two years, the sisters are forced to assist the cruel regime of El Gran Pendejo.


Then an act of genocide destroys their home. Who survives? And what happens to the two sisters?

=======

The story, cruel, heartbreaking, and somehow still inspiring, introduces readers to Lourdes, Maria, Cora, and Lucia . . . the ghostly chorus in the telling of this tale. Strong world-building and diverse, delightful characters bring the story to life. Lush and poetic, the Spanish woven throughout the narrative is faithful to the setting, but readers who are not conversant in Spanish may find themselves taken out of the story, wondering exactly what that particular Spanish phrase meant. [Perhaps a footnote or a glossary at the end would aid readers who want to understand the full context of the narrative.]

Readers who enjoy their historical fiction with a bit of magic tossed in for good measure are sure to find much to appreciate in this tale of sisterhood, survival, and friendship. But readers should be warned about the overuse of a particularly offensive expletive; this lowers the rating for this book.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor / Pantheon and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
#TheVolcanoDaughters #NetGalley

Sisters reunited in a torn up world and then the beauty of teaming up to live a better life and find the beauty in a scary heartbreaking situation. I really wanted to love this book and I did but sometimes I felt kind of confused by it I think I will reread it. I can’t wait for this to come out because the cover is gorgeous and I know my mom would love this

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. I enjoyed the way this was narrated - it's one of the more unique perspectives I've read. There were many times when I needed to translate certain words, but I didn't mind. A historical fiction should have something to teach you, and this did. Most of what happens in these characters lives is utterly devastating, which makes for a hard but necessary read.

This is the book that I really wanted to like, but it just wasn’t the type of book that I typically read. For me it was just not a book that I would recommend.

Beautifully written, amazing imagery. I cannot wait to see what else Balibrera gifts to the world as this is a story I’ll be thinking about for some time.

“The Volcano Daughters” by Gina Maria Balibrera

A devastating debut of a book, meant for the Salvadorean diaspora but a welcome edition in the growing library of Central American literature.

“The Volcano Daughters” follows sisters Graciela and Consuelo from birth into adulthood in El Salvador in the early 1900’s. It also follows fellow Volcano Daughters Lucia, Cora, Maria, and Lourdes, giving them a new lease on life despite having had their lives stolen from them in a genocide.

This book reads like a labor of love. It took me a while to get through because of how painful some of the content is. To be clear, it’s a gorgeous book. It weaves intergenerational stories, war, and even ghosts into a relatively breezy 300 pages. At its core, “The Volcano Daughters” tries to balance the horror of living with these legacies of violence while also celebrating how special being alive is/was.

There’s a few points also where it meanders a little (why did we have a whole chapter on some rich white dude going to New York City?), and some of the prose is so poetic that I’m actually not clear on what happened (with who was baby Salvi conceived again?), but all in all super solid debut and a much needed addition to Latinx lit.

As a Nica, what a privilege to read a book about our experiences as Central Americans even from the context of neighboring El Salvador.

Damn, this book destroyed me. Be prepared to have your heart broken. But rest assure, Gina Maria Balibrera rebuilds it with care. A Truly talented writer at work. Can't wait to read her next work.

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Breath taking from the first page, with rich worldbuilding and vivid characters, THE VOLCANO DAUGHTERS will be a book that I recommend to all.

The Volcano Daughters is a heartbreaking and captivating. The political history, myth, and sense of sisterhood in this book was written beautifully. I enjoyed that the author had words in Spanish as it made this so much more authentic and rich storytelling.

This was a very hard book to get into. I had no idea who was telling the story, nor did I find it easy to follow.
However, I stuck with it.

I learned that the ghosts of the village were the ones telling the story. The story tells the history of two sisters. One older, Consuelo who is taken early in life and the other Gabriela who grows up in the village, but is ultimately taken away from the village.

I will not reveal spoilers but there is so much that goes wrong with the sisters. Everything in their lives is crap. This is almost a tragedy porn book.

I thought that the ending was too chaotic and not enough closure. I wondered if their mother was still alive, the reader never finds out.

Overall, this was a meh book for me. It was a compelling story but it just got to be old. So much trauma, so much trauma inflicted upon themselves. Nothing went right, too much sadness.

The story was a good one and I enjoyed meeting and getting to know each of the characters. The different settings were amazing. I loved visiting them all, El Salvador, to Hollywood, San Fransisco, and Paris.

The book started out slow and lost my interest at several points, but it picked up speed during the second half of the book.

It is not a book I would read again and not something I would pick up randomly or recommend as a five star read.

3.5 stars for me, so I round up to 4.

Heart wrenching, breaking, and wonderful. Balibrera doesn't hold back in her details or in her strong storytelling. The imagery alone is breathtaking and I loved the bittersweet but fierce maternal bonds.