Alia Trabucco Zerán

“This story has several beginnings. I’d go so far as to say it’s made up of beginnings.”
“I’ve told you before; you have to skirt around the edge before getting to the heart of the story.”

And there is indeed a lot of skirting in this story! It is told by a maid, in the format of an accounting of her seven year employment at a house where a girl dies. She appears to be locked in a room of some sort, and some unknown person or persons are listening to her story. It is deeply detailed, emotional, and meandering at times. But mostly it is entertaining, and builds up a great deal of anticipation for the ending. I definitely liked the maid's point of view from the angle of the haves and the have nots, and all of the details of the mundane and sometimes disgusting jobs she had to do. I sometimes myself feel like a 'servant' to the higher income folks in the town that I live in. Not as bad as the narrator has it, but still...

“Spilled blood can’t return to its source.”… (more)

This book isn't about the politics of what happened in Chile, but the painful "nostalgia" those affected must carry, while mainly focusing on the secondhand painful nostalgia that the children must live with. The book alternates chapters between childhood friends Felipe and Iquela -- now adults. Another character is Paloma and all three are incidentally brought together by the actions of their parents both when they are young and when they're older. When Paloma's mother's body is lost during a flight to Chile, all three must journey over the mountains to get her back. This isn't the sunniest of books, but there is some lovely imagery throughout (only if I don't have to be one of the people living with this secondhand pain.) 'The Remainder' could sit on the shelf next to Valeria Luiselli's 'Lost Children Archive' and Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi's 'Call Me Zebra'.… (more)