Magical Realism for Non Believers by Anika Fajardo
I discovered this title during my search for a book to compare to my own memoir, which I'm currently pitching on the open market while trying to find an agent. Magical Realism for Non Believers is a memoir about finding family as is mine. But to me that's where the similarity ends.
Anika was born in Columbia but raised in Minnesota by her single mother. Her mother returned home after a short lived marriage to a Columbian man she met while in college. Anika remembers little about the father left behind. They had no interaction until he invites her to Columbia when Anika is eighteen. When she arrives in her homeland everything she knows about herself changes. A place she's never really known is familiar to her.
Her father, however, is the mystery and he holds even more surprises for Anika that knock her off her feet. Anika spends alot of time trying to wrap her head around who and what makes up a family unit as is to be expected. She had much thrown at her during the time she crossed the bridge between teenager and adult.
I understand her confusion about who she really is and where she belongs, but I'm not a big fan of the way this book was written. Anika has a compelling story to tell, I just wasn't captivated by the way it was told. I didn't feel connected with any of the family members, they appeared flat and aloof. And I never understood the meaning of the title Magical Realism for Non Believers.
I discovered this title during my search for a book to compare to my own memoir, which I'm currently pitching on the open market while trying to find an agent. Magical Realism for Non Believers is a memoir about finding family as is mine. But to me that's where the similarity ends.
Anika was born in Columbia but raised in Minnesota by her single mother. Her mother returned home after a short lived marriage to a Columbian man she met while in college. Anika remembers little about the father left behind. They had no interaction until he invites her to Columbia when Anika is eighteen. When she arrives in her homeland everything she knows about herself changes. A place she's never really known is familiar to her.
Her father, however, is the mystery and he holds even more surprises for Anika that knock her off her feet. Anika spends alot of time trying to wrap her head around who and what makes up a family unit as is to be expected. She had much thrown at her during the time she crossed the bridge between teenager and adult.
I understand her confusion about who she really is and where she belongs, but I'm not a big fan of the way this book was written. Anika has a compelling story to tell, I just wasn't captivated by the way it was told. I didn't feel connected with any of the family members, they appeared flat and aloof. And I never understood the meaning of the title Magical Realism for Non Believers.
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