Say Her Name: A Novel Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Say Her Name: A Novel? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Say Her Name: A Novel. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Say Her Name: A Novel ReviewSay Her Name: A Novel by Francisco Goldman is so much more than another book about grief. It is a literary monument erected by a man whose life was utterly blown apart when death wrenched his beloved from his heart. The man is Francisco Goldman and this book is his monument to Aura, his soul mate and the light of his life, a light which was forever extinguished in this world on July 25, 2007.
Usually when I finish a book I can promptly gather up my thoughts about it and quickly translate them into a book review, but this was not the case this time. This deceptive novel snuck up on me, enveloping me slowly in gradually mounting emotion until at the height of pain's crescendo, the story took me prisoner and battered me breathless, leaving me gasping, sobbing and weeping ~ for Aura, for Francisco and for myself. I had to put the book away until I could find my composure, process my own emotions, and think objectively rather than empathetically about this brilliant work of literary art.
The anniversary of my husband's unexpected death by a massive heart attack is quickly approaching. It is extraordinary that lately I have come across so many fine works of literature with which I can identify and find solace. It has been 18 years since I awoke from an afternoon nap, walked into the living room expecting to go to my husband and as usual cover his warm, fuzzy face in my adoring kisses, only to find him face down on the floor. When I turned him over, there was no mistaking that he was gone. It was the worst moment of my life. I will never forget those lifeless blue eyes that only an hour earlier had looked so lovingly into mine.
These books of grief therefore have become vital to me. Some say I should have gotten over my loss by now. Do we ever? Is it possible to overcome such grief? Can we ever forget? I do not think so nor do I want to. If I cannot have my husband, I want this pain of longing for him. It keeps him alive in my heart and I believe that is what Francisco Goldman is doing with Say Her Name: A Novel.
I bless Francisco Goldman for this beautiful, moving tribute to his Aura. It touched me so deeply that it hurts to even think of it. I praise him for being able to put into words his tremendous love for Aura. He says on page 166 that "Love is religion. You can only believe it when you experienced it." I understand that intimately and I find it so fitting that he built his altar for Aura ~ not only the physical altar built in the sanctuary of their bedroom, with the perfect symbol of their marriage and their love for each other - her wedding dress ~ but also this very book, an altar built in the sanctuary of his heart, with memory upon memory and even intimate pieces of Aura's very own thoughts. It is a book about a love and a marriage, a life and a death, of loss and grief, of remembering and healing.
Goldman of course is a writer but so was Aura. Aura was a brilliant academician who was working on her PhD in Literature at the time of her death. She was also a gifted writer, as dedicated to her art as she was to her husband. Theirs was a life of great books and great authors, of libraries and bookstores, of reading and writing ~ with a zeal and passion that matched their devotion to each other. With such a shared love for books, how appropriate that Goldman would write this literary tribute to Aura Estrada ~ that this book is another altar for his Aura.
Goldman has built into novelistic form the life of Aura Estrada. The structure is interesting and deceptive in simplicity. Goldman uses entries from Aura's childhood diaries and stories she told him to reconstruct her early life. We are given an open window into a childhood that shaped a young girl's life into the remarkable woman should would become. We come to understand the major influences in her life, particularly her bonding with her mother and her separation from her father. I have to admit that I sometimes found this section a bit slow and sometimes even boring. This is exactly where the reader is deceived for while we think the plotting is tedious or dull, Goldman is really establishing a solid foundation which can support the weight of the rest of Aura's story. By the time we reach say Chapter 15, we know Aura so intimately that she comes alive for us. She has so much joy and so passion for life that we feel her ebullience. The strength and the power of her story peaks at the event of her death and is told with such exquisitely palpable detail ~ we feel everything: the panic, the fear, the pain, the trauma, the shock. Even though we know from page one that her death is imminent, we still pray for her life just as Francisco prays for her life, and when she slips away, fighting until the very end because she does not want to die, our guts are wrenched just as Francisco`s guts were wrenched. Francisco's loss is our loss, his grief is our grief, and his wounds are our wounds.
For those who love prose, this book will sing for you. For those who have ever been bereaved, this novel will resonate for you. There is so much that Goldman exposes and illuminates through the brilliance of his prose, one cannot help but identify with him in his grief. I do not believe that we ever overcome our grief. All we can do, all we must do, is to keep ourselves busy. Goldman kept himself busy by studying everything his Aura ever wrote, every story she ever told, and distilling it down to its exquisite essence. His offering to her is this literary monument ~ Say Her Name: A Novel.Say Her Name: A Novel Overview

Want to learn more information about Say Her Name: A Novel?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now