By Kaylie Seed
Content warning: substance abuse, substance addiction, domestic violence, immigration trauma, child abuse, sexual abuse, discrimination, racism
A family saga stretching from 1866 to 2019, Gabriela Garcia’s Of Women and Salt is a beautifully crafted novel about generations of Cuban women and how intergenerational trauma not only impacts family directly but also affects those around it. Of Women and Salt has a mirroring storyline of Salvadoran immigrants, Gloria and Ana, that eventually intersects with Jeanette’s life when Jeanette becomes a central part of Ana’s life. The reader will follow numerous women throughout time and learn about the secrets, betrayals, and sufferings they all kept and endured and how their actions and choices impacted women of future generations, whether they were aware of it or not.
Garcia’s central character is Jeanette, a woman who has long suffered from addiction and substance abuse. Jeanette is the character that connects the other protagonists throughout Of Women and Salt whether they are related or not, and it is Jeanette’s character that truly sets up the entire novel. Each of the characters Garcia has created is complex with a rich background, and it is clear that these characters were influenced by some powerful women. Garcia has also included Cuban history throughout Of Women and Salt to show how turmoil also affected these women at various points in history.
Even though the reader is getting snippets of these different women and what they had to do to survive the lives they lived, Garcia manages to run recurring themes throughout Of Women and Salt: mainly resilience, strength, suffering, motherhood, the mother-daughter relationship and how all of these things help one overcome adversity. Of Women and Salt is outstanding and it will leave the reader to ponder a lot of things including freedom, privilege, and strength.
Of Women and Salt is a rather short read which means there’s a lot of information in a small amount of space, which can feel overwhelming. If Garcia either made Of Women and Salt a series of short stories or drew out the story a little more, the reader might appreciate the prose even more. Garcia is a force, one that we will need to watch for because there’s no doubt she will produce other stunning pieces of art.
Thank you to Raincoast Books for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!