jessicaxmaria's Reviews (1.04k)

 I love reading a book that reads similarly to some of my favorite books--encountering the main influence in a classic novel. I started slowly, noticing that I may have needed to prepare to take lots of notes to keep track of characters and storylines, but instead I just let the fragmented and eerie story take me along. Quite a ride. I know I'll be reading it again, and next time, with a pen and ready to dissect. 

I wasn’t sure what I would encounter in an Italian book about social media and influencers, but author Irene Graziosi does a superb job of shepherding the reader into a thoroughly modern and unexpected story. Twenty-something Maia dropped out of grad school in Paris and moved back to Milan with her much older professor boyfriend; her general indifference about the world gives her a morose quality that the reader doesn’t quite understand until we learn more about her past. While working at a sad local bar, she applies to work for a famous social media influencer despite her sharp contempt (“social media...is the death of the revolution,” & “a flock of accounts cheer on whoever seems the most morally intact.”). And so Maia starts working for 18-year-old Gloria, a straight-laced woman with millions of followers.

Maia and Gloria’s relationship to each other takes surprising turns and the novel experiments with themes of identity, consumption, and the way women have to navigate this contemporary world. Maia isn’t clear on what defines her any more, but Gloria may be able to help her see—and vice versa. The novel also teases out the curious generational gaps between its characters, as Maia and Gloria are less than ten years apart but Maia still tries to philosophize on why Gloria is the way she is (“perhaps... because she was born when the sun was already beginning to set on sub-cultures”). It’s a fascinating dichotomy, with plenty of swerves and biting writing that kept me rapt.

And you and me, we come with our own opinions about social media. This is a story about women and friendship and dark grief and coming-of-age but also: it’s a story about you, the reader. What is the role of social media in your life? How much do you let it define you? How much of what you put out here is true, or, as Maia believes... what you would like to be true? 

“The thing about memories wasn’t that many of them inevitably faded, but that repeated recall of the ones you remembered burnished them into shining, gorgeous lies.”

I’ve had this book on my radar since it was in the Tournament of Books seven years ago, but I never read it. Then I read Palmer’s novel Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen for a later year of the Tournament of Books and I fell straight in love with Palmer’s writing. His sentences and *ideas* are wonderful and mesmerizing. There’s a line from Mary Toft that runs in my mind still, four years after reading it (“history is an act of continuous collective imagining” !!!). This sentence from Version Control and the several others I underlined will stay with me, too. When do our memories become these gorgeous lies? In the book this is about a specific situation, but I find it applicable in every day nostalgia all the time.

Anyway, I let my copy of Version Control languish on my unread shelf too long, but sometimes the book must hit at the exact right moment. And this novel about time travel, but also about humanity and science and existence—hit at the right moment. There’s a lot explored within the pages, but there’s so much trust as well. Trust in the reader, varying trust between characters, and necessary trust in the universe. I’m not explaining it quite right! I promise you’ll understand when you read it. It’s got that same blend of literature and science that people love Emily St John Mandel for 😌

Highly recommend for a most interesting (😉) journey.

I was originally going to read this when it first came out years ago but then I got pregnant and barely read anything. I circled back to it when I saw it available on my library audio app and wow, reading this now in 2024, ten years after it was published, with a whole pandemic... these words in retrospect are wild. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve read such propulsive and warm historical fiction. THE GREAT DIVIDE takes place during the construction of the Panama Canal, which was a time of great upheaval for the newly independent country. I found myself caring so deeply for these characters! They demonstrate the global magnetism of this project to join two oceans, and the myriad opportunities and obstacles it presented. As the beautifully written novel unfolds through several viewpoints and storylines, it began to feel like a tapestry to me; I could feel the weaving of the story and the characters much like the Panamanian mola textiles I grew up seeing on annual trips and in my home.

I am Panamanian on my mother’s side, and we go every year to visit family. I was ecstatic to be reading it when I caught the first glimpses of the canal outside the plane window as we descended into Panama City earlier this month. I kept talking about this book with my family during my week there. It will be out in Spanish in August according to the author!🇵🇦

The characters include a girl from Barbados who works in Panama to pay for her sister’s surgery, a married couple from the United States trying to reduce malaria cases, and a Panamanian father and son at odds about the building of the Canal. I was so invested and mesmerized by the fictional fates of these people! I spent the last twenty pages crying—probably in equal parts sadness and happiness.

The first time I read Henríquez was in 2009, with her debut COME TOGETHER FALL APART, and my GR review states in wonder at my love for it: “I’ve never read any stories or books with a Panamanian setting and revolve around Panamanian characters. ...I plan on keeping up with Henríquez.” I love when a plan comes to fruition. I’ve read all her works, and this is her best novel yet. I already have plans to reread it and revisit Ada and Francisco and Joaquín and Doña Ruiz and Omar and everyone.