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    Something Fierce: Memoirs of A Revolutionary Daughter
    Something Fierce: Memoirs of A Revolutionary Daughter
    Something Fierce: Memoirs of A Revolutionary Daughter
    Audiobook9 hours

    Something Fierce: Memoirs of A Revolutionary Daughter

    Written by Carmen Aguirre

    Narrated by Carmen Aguirre

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Something Fierce, winner of Canada Reads 2012, is a gripping story of love, war and resistance. A rare first-hand account of revolutionary life, it takes the reader inside war-ridden Peru, dictatorship-run Bolivia, post-Malvinas Argentina and Pinochet's Chile. Passionate and deep personal, Carmen captures the struggle between her commitment to the movement and her youthful desires and budding sexuality.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPost Hypnotic Press
    Release dateJul 15, 2012
    ISBN9781926910970
    Something Fierce: Memoirs of A Revolutionary Daughter
    Author

    Carmen Aguirre

    Carmen Aguirre is a Vancouver-based theatre artist who has worked extensively in North and South America. She has written and co-written twenty-one plays, including Chile Con Carne, The Trigger, The Refugee Hotel, and Blue Box. Her first non-fiction book, Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter, was published in 2011 by Douglas & McIntyre in Canada and Granta/Portobello in the United Kingdom and is now available in Finland and Holland, in translation. Something Fierce was nominated for British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the international Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction, was a finalist for the 2012 BC Book Prize, was selected by the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire, and the National Post as one of the best books of 2011, was named Book of the Week by BBC Radio in the United Kingdom, won CBC Canada Reads 2012, and is a number-one national bestseller. Aguirre has more than sixty film, TV, and stage acting credits, is a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop facilitator, and an instructor in the acting department at Vancouver Film School. She received the Union of B.C. Performers 2011 Lorena Gale Woman of Distinction Award, the 2012 Langara College Outstanding Alumnae Award, and has been nominated for the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award, the Dora Mavor Moore Award, and the prestigious Siminovitch Prize. Aguirre is a graduate of Studio 58.

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    Reviews for Something Fierce

    4/5

    66 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      3.5 starsCarmen was raised in Canada, where her parents had arrived as refugees after being exiled from their native Chile because they were revolutionaries. When Carmen was 11, she, her mother, her stepfather, and her sister all moved to Bolivia (beside Chile) so they could help with the revolution from there. The book follows Carmen’s life as she grows up to help in the revolution herself, until it comes to an end in 1989 when she’s in her early 20s. It was shorter and there wasn’t as much politics in it as I was expecting (which, for me, was a good thing!). There was still some; of course, more when Carmen was older. I was surprised that her parents brought Carmen and her sister with them, as it was very dangerous, though Carmen seemed quite happy to be there, so close to her grandparents, as she and her sister were able to travel across the border to visit (though her mother and stepfather were unable to). Certainly, when Carmen was younger, there is not as much mention of the danger, as Carmen herself was not thinking about it at the time.
    • 4/5
      I think my favorite thing about this book is that Aguirre doesn't pull any punches. She describes the different fears that were a part of her life, the way people looked after beatings, and her belief in what she was doing. She relates what happened around her and what she did and that she wasn't just sitting on the sidelines and hoping that things would get better.

      I appreciate that she just gives her opinion without trying to convince the reader of right and wrong. It isn't a plea or an argument and she doesn't justify what she was doing to the reader. She just tells you what it was and what she did on account of it. She also doesn't pretend to be perfect or brave all the time. Showing how hard something, especially something like revolution, is hard and it does everyone a disservice when we pretend it can happen in a day or night.

      I listened to audiobook, and I loved both her writing style and that she narrated the book for herself. I loved the inclusion of the epilogue and that she relates what was happening in those countries during the publishing back to the resistance because progress doesn't happen in a vacuum. It was an interesting look into what was happening in South America in the late part of the twentieth century. It's definitely not one that we get in the US often.

      I had originally found this book as part of the Diverse Books Tag that I did about memoirs (click here for mine). It was my book for "set in South America. Coincidentally, it's also my first review during Hispanic Heritage month!
    • 4/5
      The Good StuffTruly fascinating She never feels sorry for herself or lays blame on her parents for her - um - wow unusual- childhoodSo fucking brave for opening herself and laying everything raw and bareLearned so much and never even realized that I was learning so much. Talked to many people about this one after I was doneDarkly funnyNo holds barredA truly admirable women - have already downloaded her latest bookMade me feel like I was truly blessed to live in the country I do, but at the same time guilty for my lack of knowledge on what is going on in different parts of the worldWould be a really good one to read for book clubs, as so many issues and themes that could be discussedThe Not So Good StuffI am mixed on this one in terms of the audio version. I love hearing her pronounce names and places the way they were meant to be said. But at the same time the reading was almost bland at times. I imagine this was hard for her to read and she probably was trying to protect her self by reading it this way, but for a listener it lacked the passion to go with the taleDisjointed at times in terms of flow - but hello it was her first book and well obviously I cannot write either so who am I to judgeJesus Christ people do despicable things in the name of powerAs a mom it was hard to read this one as my natural inclination is to protect my child at all causes and never put them in such a dire situation. I don't understand how Carmen's mother could put her children ins such a volatile situation. But these are my feelings and I am no experrt so it is not my place to judge and who is to say what she did was wrong Favorite Quotes/Passages" She took the opportunity to remind Ali and me that organized religion had been invented by the rich and powerful to keep the poor down."“A façade is when you make up a story because it’s dangerous to tell the truth. … It’s a story you make up when you are involved in something bigger than yourself and you don’t want to risk your life or the lives of others.”4 Dewey'sAnother one I didnt HAVE to review, I purchased this from audible with my limited funds - ok fairy godmother - you gave Cinderella a spectacular dress - all I want is to be out of debt, I already got my court jester which is soooo much better than a prince
    • 4/5
      Not sure how much of this is true and how much is theatre, but good stuff nevertheless. Hasta la victoria siempre. It also gave me a good old socialist crush on Carmen Aguirre, despite me being in my mid-thirties. What a gal.
    • 5/5
      Something Fierce is Ms. Aguirre's coming of age story in the Latin American Resistance during the late seventies and eighties. I had a very scant knowledge of the upheavals to the South during this period (though I knew about the U.S.'s penchant of setting up puppet governments), so her book served to school me as well as entertain me.Entertain. That seems like such a trite word when I think of Ms. Aguirre's experience. Her parents were supporters of Allende and when he was ousted by Pinochet in a violent coup, six-year old Carmen and her family found themselves exiled in Vancouver. Five years later, her mother answered the call from the Chilean resistance for their supporters to return to Chile and help in the struggle against Pinochet. Carmen's mother brought her children with her, an unusual move; most of the returned exiles would leave their children with relatives. They set up a safe house for resistance fighters in La Paz, Bolivia, where Carmen and her sister Ale spent the next few years. They also lived in Argentina, saw the troubles in Peru. Because their mother and her new husband Bob were blacklisted from Chile, the forays into their homeland were few.She grew up with the constant fear of discovery, of torture, of the horror of armed insurrection. She also had to figure out how to balance her desire for a normal life with her political beliefs. As an older teenager, she decided of her own free will to join the resistance, taking the oath and continuing her double life.If you haven't read it, you should. It is a riveting, eye-opening revelation of a read. Darkly funny and deeply moving, Carmen Aguirre's story was well worth re-telling.
    • 5/5
      This is an amazing book. When she was six years old, the author left Chile with her parents and younger sister, coming to Canada as refugees. Five years later, she returns to South America where her mother and step-father are revolutionaries fighting for the overthrow of the Chilean government.Ms. Aguirre has written several different stories in this one volume. In part, it is her coming of age story as she struggles with friendships, first love and growing up. All, of course, complicated by the life her parents are living. In part, this is the story of Chile's political struggles and the role exiles and ex-pats played.It is very well written, and the author provides an insider's perspective that added much to my understanding of South America.
    • 5/5
      A very compelling and emotional memoir. She captured so much more than the politics - her emotional memories really come through and stay with you.
    • 5/5
      Astonishing and powerful, this is a vital memoir about life-and-death work. I am so grateful to Aguirre for writing this brave and beautiful text. It is truly impressive.