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Audiobook9 hours
Perla
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
A coming-of-age story, based on a recent shocking chapter of Argentine history, about a young woman who makes a devastating discovery about her origins with the help of an enigmatic houseguest.
Perla Correa grew up a privileged only child in Buenos Aires, with a cold, polished mother and a straitlaced naval officer father, whose profession she learned early on not to disclose in a country still reeling from the abuses perpetrated by the deposed military dictatorship. Perla understands that her parents were on the wrong side of the conflict, but her love for her papá is unconditional. But when Perla is startled by an uninvited visitor, she begins a journey that will force her to confront the unease she has suppressed all her life, and to make a wrenching decision about who she is, and who she will become.
From the Hardcover edition.
Perla Correa grew up a privileged only child in Buenos Aires, with a cold, polished mother and a straitlaced naval officer father, whose profession she learned early on not to disclose in a country still reeling from the abuses perpetrated by the deposed military dictatorship. Perla understands that her parents were on the wrong side of the conflict, but her love for her papá is unconditional. But when Perla is startled by an uninvited visitor, she begins a journey that will force her to confront the unease she has suppressed all her life, and to make a wrenching decision about who she is, and who she will become.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Reviews for Perla
Rating: 4.163043478260869 out of 5 stars
4/5
46 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A really lovely book, beautifully written and unsparing in its account of the desaparecidos. Genuinely moving.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The first time I read this book, the importance of the story didn’t sink in. It took a trip to Argentina to understand the violent military regime that tortured and killed so many. Perla is the college-aged daughter of an important Navy officer. She lives the good life. When a ghost of a man who magically appears and continually seeps water all over the Persian rug, she begins to see all that has happened. Her parents haven’t been truthful about the past and as she researches and talks to this unknown man, she realizes that she is the daughter of one of the “disappeared”, citizens who are mysteriously taken from homes and never seen again. It is her father who was dumped in the ocean from a plane along with many others who has visited her. The gradual unfolding of the Perla’s real identity and her subsequent reunion with her real grandparents is a very touching story about a very black period of Argentinian history.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5After devouring Carolina De Robertis’ first novel, “The Invisible Mountain,” I had high hopes for “Perla.” I was not let down. De Robertis is a gifted storyteller whose words flow gracefully and effortlessly; the writing itself is so beautiful that even if she wrote about nothing at all I still think it would be riveting. But, in addition to splendid writing, there is a richly fascinating story here, centered on the far-reaching ramifications of the “disappearances” of thousands of Argentinian citizens who were taken by the state, tortured and then, simply, vanished. The title character is the daughter of a naval officer who played a role in the crime; Perla lives a divided life as she hides the shameful secret held by her family. A lovely blend of mystery, history, romance, and magical realism, this gorgeously rendered tale sheds light on horrifying brutalities and their ripple effects through the generations. In places drily humorous, and in others so gut-wrenching it moves you to tears, this is a novel that should not be missed, by an author who just gets better and better.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carolina De Robertis has created a fantastic drama of finding oneself, and life during a terrible time. I chose to review this book because of Perla's father.....he was a Navy man, and so was my father, so I love reading books that involve the Navy, for it brings me back to my childhood. Born in 1981, two years before the "Dirty War" ended, I never really knew of or heard about the Dirty War before now. But, that did not stop me from falling in love with this story. Perla's father was a Navy Officer, one she is learning was involved in the "disappearance" of many people. A man that was responsible for killing so many civilians and ruining families. When this book started out, I was honestly not sure what to expect, for Perla has found a man in her living room and he's dripping wet, as if he just came out of the water. He's not just any many though. He's a ghost and one that will change her life forever. When this man appears, Perla begins digging deeper into the events of the Dirty War and the disappearances. What she finds is not at all what she was expecting. What she finds is something more life changing than anything could ever be. I definitely recommend this book with the highest of 5 Books. It's worthy of so much more, but that's the highest I can rate it. I fell in love with the entirety of this story, from Perla to her Naval Officer father (yes, though he was involved with murder, he was a big defining aspect of the story.....). This story gripped me so thoroughly, and held me til the last page, that by the end, I was heartbroken. I didn't want to let Perla go, and I wanted to hang on to the author's writing for just a little bit longer. A perfect combination of truth, suspense, forgiveness and finding oneself, this book is absolutely mind-blowing! I can tell you that this a book that will be forever on my bookshelf to turn to again and again. Well done, Ms. De Robertis, and I can't wait for another fantastically written novel from you!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5his is a novel about Argentina, about the men and women who "disappeared"under their dictatorship and about the mothers and grandmothers who protested in the square demanding the return of their son, daughters and grandchildren. It is a novel about a young woman named Perla, the secrets in her house and the truths she does not want to face. I was first drawn to this novel by the cover and the title, before I even knew what this book was about. The prose is elegant and beautiful, even when at times the subject matter is horrific. The use of magic realism is seamless and blended into the novel in such a cohesive way I can't imagine the story without it. It is a novel where one savors the words, rereads and envies the writer's abilities. By the time I came to the story's end I found i was shivering. Absolutely astounding telling of a country's history and a young woman's search for herself.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Perla decides to study psychology at university, she realizes, at some level, that she is seeking an end to her family's tradition of not asking questions, particularly about what her father did as a naval officer during the years of Argentina's Dirty War -- the years in which Perla was born. As she grows up, she realizes that she is somehow set apart from many of her schoolfriends, and as people she remembers from her childhood confess to what they saw and did -- including tossing supposed subversives from airplanes (drugged but alive) into the ocean -- she tries to separate her family life from her personal life. Even her lover, Gabriel, a journalist who writes about those who disappeared during those years, has never met her parents; it takes her a year to confess her father's identity.Then comes the week that changes everything; the week that Perla arrives home suddenly from a trip with Gabriel, with her parents away, to find a strange man in the living room. Strange in every sense of the world -- he is dripping wet, and oozes water constantly. In the tradition of magical realism, Perla reacts to this apparition -- "a phantom", a "drenched interloper" who she eventually concludes "would be handsome if he weren't so blue and soggy" -- with surprise, curiosity but a degree of aplomb. After all, she concludes, "if you can't explain how something went away , then why should its return obey the laws of reason?" She has realized he must be one of the Disappeared, those who "left holes more gaping than the ordinary dead, because they can't be buried and grieved." His appearance -- despite the fact that their dialogue, over the course of several days, is limited -- prompts Perla to look back over her relationship with her father and the questions she has to work to contain. Eventually, she is forced to ask how those questions might affect her personally.The outcome of Perla's re-evaluation of her life won't surprise many who are even somewhat familiar with some of the more horrific elements of the Argentinian military dictatorship's war against its own citizens; the clues are there from the first pages, and the only question is how Perla will explore them and act on what she concludes. But elements I might normally consider "spoilerish" in the first few dozen pages turned out to be irrelevant to my appreciation of this novel.That said, I'm not sure this is a novel it's possible to talk about "enjoying"; the topic is so grueling, and de Robertis doesn't flinch from the grim details. There are segments here that require a strong stomach to deal with (specifically the torture scenes, detailing the fate of the soggy man and his wife), but although I finally cried in the concluding pages (something I almost never do when watching movies or reading books), it wasn't out of sadness.Caroline de Robertis has produced a tour de force here, an elegantly simple and eloquently-written novel that encapsulates the legacy of a national tragedy in the shape of a story of one young woman coming to grips with her own personal history. Once I got passed the elements of magical realism (ghost-like men who ooze sea water and reek like a dirty beach appearing out of nowhere aren't usually my cup of tea), there was no question I'd end up deciding that this book deserves a spot on the list of best books I've read this year. Which is undoubtedly where it will end up. Highly recommended, but be prepared for some gut-wrenching material and take the time to digest de Robertis's language as well as the subject matter.