Spoiler Alert

I see that others were far more impressed with this novel than I was. A bleak slice of Argentinian rural life it may be, but radically feminist? I don’t think so. Nefer, a 16-year-old girl is raped by a drunk at a wedding. The author does not provide much detail about the assault. It is not evident that the girl struggled or called out for help. Did she freeze? Fatalistically submit? Maybe. Likely. Who knows?

Nefer apparently has no words to explain what happened, even to herself. Lacking a relationship with her sister and her shrew of a mother, she cannot open up to them. The women in the story blame the victim and are complicit in her further victimization. The young girl’s godmother, Doña Mercedes, the patrona of a prosperous local ranch, fixes things: Nefer is to marry the rapist and bonus: the priest will marry them! The perpetrator feels no guilt. He’s quite jolly about the whole thing—in fact, he hopes she had a good time. The girl’s father acknowledges unlucky things happen; one must simply get on with life.

How do I end this? Well, let’s just say I hated it. ( )