Antes

BEFORE- by Carmen Boullosa An unnamed ghost narrator tells the story of her childhood--highlighting memories of events that explain why she was such an anxious young girl. -Coming-of-age in Mexico City -First Person POV -Fever dream/lyrical/non-linear/ambiguous/stream of consciousness -magical realism -N......more

Review to come......more

De seguro recordarás los calcetines del colegio o las pesadillas que no te dejaban dormir por la noche. ¿Qué tal si fuera eso lo que repasaras eternamente después de morir? Esa es la historia que nos relata Antes, de Carmen Boullosa: una niña sin nombre, aferrada a los recuerdos de la primera y únic......more

I enjoyed inhabiting this world and was thinking I'd wanted to stay in it for longer, but the final stretch really justifies its form as a novella and any longer might have undermined its impact. But what an impact it makes in such a scant time! A melancholic modernist-feminist folk tale inhabiting......more

This is a “ghost story” except I don’t think she’s actually dead! Or if she is, she has simply returned to where she was before. The ghost is reminiscing on her childhood and recounts several incidents in great detail that don’t seem very significant, but that’s how memory is– you’ll randomly rememb......more