Estela arrives to work as a domestic employee in the home of a young couple made up of a musician and a lawyer who have a little daughter, Julia, who will die irremediably. It is not spoiler, but if the premise of "Clean", the novel that CamilasBooks recommends this Saturday.
"Limpia" is a novel by Chilean writer Alia Trabucco Zer, and takes us in a linear but well-narrated way to learn about this story where the differences between social classes in Chile, where this story takes place, intersect and become visible.
For seven years, Estela cleans and helps raise little Julia, who is plagued by anxiety and whose death we learn of at the beginning of the novel.
Although Estela has no knowledge of how to take care of a baby, she manages and becomes very involved in the life of Julia, a little girl with a bad attitude who becomes a rude and rebellious being who has a host of behavioral problems, much of it due to the demands of her parents and their search for perfection in their daughter.
There is a lot of pressure and high expectations in Julia, as well as demands disguised as love and concern.
?One of the most interesting points of this novel is that, the main theme, you could say, is the class difference, not only in Santiago de Chile, which is where this novel takes place, but in Latin America in general, since, as I mentioned at the beginning, this vision of people who work as domestic employees in some homes occurs and they witness many behaviors and many problems that occur within some families, at the same time they have to be very discreet?, says Camilasbooks.
Estela's role in developing this story is essential and Julia is the center of it.
Without a doubt, a favorite of Camilasbooks, which highly recommends this novel by Trabucco Zer, who, among other awards, is the winner of the Anna Seghers, British Academy and Best Unpublished Novel awards from the Ministry of Culture of Chile, as well as a finalist for the Man Booker International.
Listen to the full review on Camilasbooks and get hooked on this great novel.
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