Customer Reviews

Bitter Grounds

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the first book I have read by Sandra Benitez. I have done much research on the the 1932 matanza in El Salvador and some on the civil war. I am Salvadoran and began reading the book critically and from a historical point of view. It began quite slow for me and somewhat sided, but as I read on I began to feel as I knew the characters and their realities. This is an excellent book. The realities of life, love, family, death, and war are presented strongly and passionately. The ending is gripping and seems unlikely, but definately portrays the difficult times of the civil war. Read it, it will provide a fictional story of the lives of some in a war torn country.

My bookclub decided to read this book as a follow-up to the non-fiction From Grandmothers to Granddaughters by Michael Gorkin that follows 3 generations of Salvadoran women through the civil war and into the 90's. This book was an excellent fictional follow-on. It follows the paths of 3 generations of one lower class family and one upper class family through the turbulent 20th Century in El Salvador. Benitez does not hesitate to share the gory details of Salvador's turbulent history from 1933-1977.

I found the book very easy to become engrossed in, despite my dislike of violence and blood-drenched descriptions. Her descriptions of life in El Salvador are true to life in every detail. I live in San Salvador and found myself searching for "Tresores" or the carjacking spot on the road to La Libertad in Santa Tecla.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in what it is like to live in this country, what the Salvadoran people have experienced, or who just wants a beautiful, albeit sad, story of human survival in adversity.

As a big fan of Sandra Benitez's A Place Where the Sea Remembers I eagerly looked forward to reading Bitter Grounds. What I found was a very different book although equally as satisfying and enlightening. As in A Place Where the Sea Remembers Sandra's intoxicating lyrical style leaves an indelible mark on you as you read Bitter Grounds. But in this story I felt myself being pulled much deeper into the lives of the families whose existence is inextricably connected to El Salvador's politics and coffee trade. Moving quickly, the story covers many miles, tragedies and celebrations and suddenly you're at the end-not quite ready to leave, and never able to forget the rich stories within the story. A wonderful journey and well worth the read!

Having been born in El Salvador in the same year as Bitter Grounds' last two heroines, I can say that this book is a rarety: one which combines truth and fiction and lays bare the soul of a people caught in tragedy and turmoil. I was mesmerized by the details of life the author chronicled concerning day to day life in San Salvador and Santa Ana, by the intimate details which revealed so much about the two worlds which exist side by side in this tiny, bustling country. Coming from a family in which my father was a self made man, ultimately the highest ranking diplomat from El Salvador and in which my mother was part of the landed aristocracy of Santa Ana, I was amazed at how Ms. Benitez was able to weave so many weighty subjects into her story and yet emerge with a fable for the ages. Had I remained in El Salvador, I wonder on which side of the fence I would have landed: Maria Mercedes' or Flor's. My father's humble beginnings pulled me one way, my mother's the other. Growing up eventually in the U. S. made that choice unnecessary, but still my roots pull at me, and this book has unlocked memories I didn't even know I had.I thank Ms. Benitez for enriching my world with her novel of times that were, times that could have been, times of unrivaled tragedy and sadness. It is the story of El Salvador.

I really like the way Sandra Benitez writes. It is the first of her books I read and was nice to see the combination of reality and fiction. A fiction novel based on a reality that darkened the beautiful country of El Salvador.

Author Sandra Benitez wraps readers up tightly in the tale of a poor family and a rich family tied to El Salvador's coffee plantations, but don't get too cozy: the terrors imposed by gov't forces as well as the guerrilla soldiers lurks somewhere on the pages ahead. The story follows pairs of mothers and daughters caught between passion and politics.
The author grew up in the 50s in El Salvador and was a witness to the heartbreak of illiterate women who left villages and families behind to find work in the capital. Then, in the 70s, as friends and family became targets of the growing revolution, she experienced firsthand the repercussions of oppression. This is a powerful book, one that will stay with readers long after they've turned the last page and turned off the reading lamp.

I am always looking for hispanic women authors, and sometimes I am disappointed by their stories, but this was definately NOT the case with "Bitter Grounds". I was so haunted by certain parts of the book that I kept re-reading certain sections to savor the words and the sorrow of the characters.

The rich and the poor intermingle and learn from each other the value of riches that are in the heart. Wonderfully written.

Stories from central americal often seem surreal. How could it be that people so rich can live in such close proximity to those so poor? How could people motivated by such high principals commit such barbaric acts of violence? Insulated and liberal in America we so much want to empatize with the poor when in fact we have so much in common with the rich. I found this book so very compelling in that it provided much empathy for all sides of this conflict. One could not demonize any party. Instead I watched helplessly as the events unfolded and greived each needless loss. I recommend this book for your soul as your heart needs the exercise.

Sandra Benitez's beautiful book, Bitter Grounds, is set in the El Salvaldor of the 1930's through the 1970's, and it protrays the lives of three generations of the privileged Tobar and Contreras families, coffee and cotton barons, and the Prieto family who serves them. Throughout the novel, the relationships of the three families intertwine as their destinies are worked out and revealed. In the eighty years that the novel encompasses, we witness the growth of unrest and eventual revolution of the campesinos against the huge land owners who enslave them with low wages and poor living conditions. We come to know with affection and sympathy members of both levels of society as their lives are joined in daily work as well as in shared confidences and joys. Two girls, Maria Mercedes and Flor, are raised together as sisters in the lovely home of the Contreras family when both Magda, the lady of the house, and Jacinta, head housekeeper, become pregnant at the same time. However, their differences in station prevent their continued closeness as one steps into the life of privelege and the other is left to follow what destiny she can make for herself. This is a book for rereading and certainly one that provides insight into the complex world of Latin America where class distinctions still remain in many areas. Thematically, the bond between women, and between mothers and daughters, is one that is universal and cross cultural. The joys and sorrows that women understand collectively and instinctively surmount any class or color barriers, and as we read Bitter Grounds, we are able to share the universal bond once again.

This is a truly deep view of El Salvador's soul and the elements that pushed this tiny country into a civil war. Poor and rich are seen through the eyes of a sensible woman --Sandra Benitez-- who spent her childhood in El Salvador. It's very rich, moving and awakens social feelings. It's maybe because I am Salvadorean that I have enjoyed it so much. Still, it's a pretty good book even if all you know about El Salvador is the slanted headlines you saw in the U.S. media during the eighties. There's good and bad in El Salvador, and this is a good book to learn about what made its people go into a painful war. It's a good and entertaining read as well.