I'm not particularly interested in or fond of drug cartel narratives associated with Central American countries—that's just me. However, Contreras' choice to tell this Escobar-era story via the perspective of two girls in Colombia allayed my hesitance about reading this. The book is remarkable for how the two girls are very young, yet distinct and fully realized characters in Chula and Petrona. There were truly frightening sequences, all the moreso for being based on actual incidents. My only complaint was how distant their voices sometimes seemed for a story told in first-person; it didn't feel intimate. It made me wonder if it was difficult to write this fiction from personal history, to give voice to your own former self, and to try to do the same with someone you knew, but didn't inhabit in the same way.

FRUIT OF THE DRUNKEN TREE is a beautifully rendered historical fiction book, earnest and compelling and exploring well-tread ground in a new way. We rarely get this perspective, if ever. I look forward to more of Contreras' wonderful prose after such a strong debut.