The Weight of All Things - Softcover

Benitez, Sandra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786887036 ISBN 13: 9780786887033

Publisher: Hyperion - Acquired Assets, 2002

Synopsis

"Bentez's third novel seamlessly blends fact with imagination, evoking the trauma of war more vividly than any newspaper account . . . beautifully illuminating." (Publishers Weekly starred review)

Sandra Bentez received international acclaim for her first two novels: A Place Where the Sea Remembers ("A quietly stunning work that leaves soft tracks in the heart" --Washington Post Book World) and Bitter Grounds ("The kind of book that fills your dreams for weeks" --Isabel Allende). Now she returns with an unforgettable tale of life in war-torn El Salvador.

About this title

About the Author:

Sandra Benítez is the author of A Place Where the Sea Remembers, which won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Minnesota Book Award, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award. She is also the author of Bitter Grounds, which won the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award, and The Weight of All Things, which was a Book Sense 76 selection. Benítez is a past Keller-Edelstein Distinguished Writer in Residence at the University of Minnesota, and recently won a Bush Foundation Fellowship in Fiction. She lives in Minnesota.

From Publishers Weekly:

Set in El Salvador during the civil war of the 1980s, Ben!tez's third novel (after A Place Where the Sea Remembers and Bitter Grounds) seamlessly blends fact with imagination, evoking the trauma of war more vividly than any newspaper account. Nine-year-old Nicol s de la Virgen Veras lives with his grandfather Tata in Chalatenango, El Salvador, but on March 30, 1980, his mother, Lety, who works in San Salvador for Don Enrique, brings him to the city to witness the burial of a martyred saint, Archbishop Romero. In a bloodbath based on a real-life event, 35 people in the crowd of 80,000 are killed and 450 wounded by soldiers' fire. Lety dies protecting Nicol s. When her body is taken away, Nicol s cannot believe she is dead and tries first to find the hospital for the wounded, then to get home to find Don Enrique's address. As he journeys through the bleak Salvadoran landscape, Nicol s is caught in the violent clashes between the National Army and guerrilla rebels. Held at different times by each faction, Nicol s must rely on his wits and faith in the Virgin Mary if he is to survive. Ben!tez's novel is both political and spiritual, beautifully illuminating the effects of war on the innocent. Like the Sumpul River of Nicol s's hometown, which alternately rages and soothes, Ben!tez's style is both quiet and intense. Her achievement here is considerable; in this brief narrative, she gives voice to the silenced. Those who seek a deeper understanding of Latin American conflict and who appreciate Ben!tez's moral stance will find the novel especially gratifying. 6-city author tour. (Feb.) Things to Rosie O'Donnell's For All Kids Foundation.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hyperion - Acquired Assets
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0786887036
• ISBN 13: 9780786887033
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 255