Gabriela Cabezón Cámara

Some basic background in Argentine-Gaucho poetry is very helpful in enjoying this book. Specifically an epic poem Martin Fierro. As I understand it, this poem holds a similar place of pride as The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus on the base of the Statue of Liberty. Only Martin Fierro is over 2,300 lines long. Luckily, you don't need to actually read Martin Fierro to enjoy this book, just a base-line understanding.

The book is a modern feminist reply to Martin Fierro. The main character is Martin's wife. When we meet her, her name is China, pronounced cheena - basically a common and somewhat belittling word for girl or young woman. China is an orphan and abandoned wife who no one ever bothered to name.

She meets up with an English woman named Liz and they go off on a magical adventure across the Argentina pampas - a prairie/plains landscape. Liz gives China a real name - Josephine, and also becomes her first love and true lover.

Liz and Josephine (later shortened to Jo) travel in what seems to be a magical wagon full of food, books, art, dishes and silverware, clothes of all descriptions, a barrel of whiskey, a giant bed - I can only imagine how big this wagon is. They are accompanied by Jo's dog Estraya and quickly collect a fellow traveler on the way Rosario - later shortened to Rosa.

For such a short book, there is a ton going on. Big themes of the violence and brutality of colonialism, Class differences between Spanish, English, Gauchos and Indians. Plenty vs want. Farming vs ranching.

And lots and lots of everybody having sex with just about everybody else. Lots of emphasis on expressions of gender.

Fair warnings - the book isn't over the top graphic, but it was a little more on the erotica side than I thought I was signing up for when I picked up the book. Alternating with the sex scenes, the violence is even more graphic and sometimes really disturbing.… (more)