Cantoras” to książka o tym, że aby choć na chwilę uciec grawitacji, trzeba śpiewać własną, niepowtarzalną pieśń. Carolina de Robertis weaves a flawlessly, richly, and dare I say, passionately told story, an ode to female friendship, love, and sexual identity, along the backdrop of a beautiful, tiny country whose inhabitants are suffering in turmoil, yet simply trying to live their truths. A gripping, lush, and ultimately hopeful story of five queer women fighting for their lives under a dictatorship. Narrated by the author, I knew listening to Cantoras would bring me closer to the characters, closer to the story.

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Bonds of friendship are formed, and over the years, they escape the oppression of Montevideo and city life to the peninsula, Cabo Palonio, and their beloved hut that they bought and finished, adding new touches year after year. With the above said, this book is deep, sad, frightening, loving, happy, infuriating and a host of other emotions. A multifaceted look at oppression and its consequences, and five women who found freedom in each other.

Together they carve out a tiny oasis at the coast, in a ramshackle beach hut where they can truly be themselves, as friends, lovers and family. Bohaterki będą wieść życie pomiędzy Montevideo, a odludziem, tworząc “coś w rodzaju rodziny, utkanej z wyrzutków społeczeństwa niczym kapa uszyta ze zbędnych resztek materiału”. De Robertis przez swoje bohaterki pokazuje, jak różne są osoby queer (niekoniecznie polubicie każdą z nich) i jak nieoczywistą sprawą jest tożsamość, zwłaszcza w opresyjnym świecie.

De Robertis' prose is so rich and the characters undergo so much development that I felt like I'd read a 700 page novel about them - except I devoured it in 2 days. Hannah Williams w kapitalnym eseju “modern nature and queer literature’s yearning for the sea” zauważyła, że: “Morze i queer zawsze były ze sobą powiązane. The ocean surrounded them on three sides of this cape, this almost-island, a thumb extending off the hand of the known world. I could have read an entire book of De Robertis just describing the scenery at Cabo Polonio in all of its wild, aching beauty. Jednocześnie bohaterki zdają sobie sprawę z tego, że nawet gdy ustanie reżim, to “nie czeka nas słońce i tęcza, bo dopiero wtedy zacznie się prawdziwa praca”.I laugh with them when they are in joy because I am incredibly happy for them, and I am always thrilled when they find freedom.

Prior to completing her first book, she worked in women’s rights organizations for ten years, on issues ranging from rape to immigration. Another summer buddy read with my dear friend, Beth, and I don’t think we could have loved this more! The women are alive on the pages of this novel, even Malena, who shimmers just out of reach in her aloofness.Scraping together a small sum of money, the cantoras purchase a ramshackle fishing hut which they name La Proa, The Prow, and over the decades they meet up a few times a year at La Proa to find relief from their secret lives in the city. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Lilac Girls, The Kite Runner, The Miseducation of Cameron Post…each of these books could have made me cry. Written in stream of consciousness narrative, Cantoras flows perfectly, weaving between the present and the past, and from person to person. In 1977, Uruguay was in the midst of political and economic turmoil and a military regime took over and they squashed all political protests without showing any mercy toward the defenceless civilians.

I think the most surreal thing is that the plot wasn’t really surprising because De Robertis depicted all the characters so perfectly, it was clear how they’d react, what they’d do, and they are like your stubborn friends whom you love so much but could do nothing about to change what they were going to do. Sam ten pomysł może wydawać się sztuczny i niekoniecznie oryginalny, ale De Robertis po mistrzowsku opisuje napięcia między swoimi bohaterkami, pokazując jak wiele odcieni może mieć relacja w kobiecym stadzie. Brazenly hopeful…De Robertis’s precise, chilling insight into the daily agonies of life under a dictatorship rivals Ariel Dorfman’s… Cantoras is bold and unapologetic, a challenge to the notion of “normalcy” and a tribute to the power of love, friendship and political resistance.Consider the similarities and differences in the recounting of Paz, Romina and Malena’s experiences. Just in the last week I've picked up and begun a half dozen books or so of various types and genres but none could hold my attention- and that's nothing on the books but on me! Zmieniają się ich relacje, jedne związki się rozpadają, inne się pojawiają, a bohaterki powoli od siebie się oddalają, ale bezpieczna przystań na bezludziu wciąż jest wybawieniem od opresyjnej codzienności. Five very different Lesbians living through the military dictatorship years of the 1970s and 80s in Uruguay, a country with less deaths and disappearances than Argentina, but a much higher percentage of imprisonment and torture.