Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
And here we have the disappointment of the year everyone. This one hurts because this was going to be the second best book I read in 2022 after A Certain Hunger. But no. I simply loved this book.. It made my heart break at some parts, and made me stifle laughter at others. I literally stayed up all night to finish it, and now I have work in three hours and can't wait to recommend this book to others. I missed the author's debut novel when it was originally published, but I'm going to remedy that very soon. If it's half as good as this one, it will be wonderful.
I didn't start this expecting to find a character that means as much to me as Eva. But once in a while you find a character that hits you at your core, and that's what Eva did for me. Her complicated family life, her emotional turmoil, her fierce friendship, her curiosity mixed with hesitance. This is one of those characters that touched my heart, and I'll carry her story with me.
This book, this book is immense. We are following the story of Eva, from her first memories as a four year starting school and making a best friend, all the way through to adulthood. We see her at her best and her worst, at her highs and lows. This book doesn't pull it's punches. Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "No one else makes movies like this Spanish director" and added, "In other hands, these characters might be candidates for confessions – and brawls – on The Jerry Springer Show, but here they are handled with utmost sympathy. None of these goings-on is presented as sordid or seedy. The presentation is as bright, glossy and seductive as a fashion magazine . . . The tone of All About My Mother has the heart-on-the-sleeve emotions of soap opera, but it is completely sincere and by no means camp". [8]
The men in the tale were mostly unhelpful, with the exceptions of Nigel, whose character is endearing, and Eva’s eventual partner. A truly glorious life-affirming book, in which love, hope and friendship trump sorrow’ DINAH JEFFERIES One of those rarest of books: so beautiful I almost couldn’t bear it, and so moving I was reading through tears’ STACEY HALLSWesley Morris, Examiner Film Critic (22 December 1999). "San Francisco Examiner review". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 3 February 2012.
It felt rushed, and it lost it's punch in the most critical moment. Again, using my spainard card here, the whole bought baby moment could have been So Much More Magnanimous. There was an epidemic of doctors and nurses (nuns) that flat out stole babies from their mothers (single mothers, republicans, poor women, romani women, you get the gist) and gave said babies to rich families under the fascist wing. So yeah, by romanticising nuns who literally took away a baby from a muslim woman (with the very same practice used by fascist, stealing nuns) it doesn't really leave a good taste in my mouth. Over the years Eva has many important women in her life. Many are positive influences, such as Bridget's mother, M, and Sister Ana in Córdoba, but others are less positive. Eva realises that all of them can teach her something. Christine Orson, mother of Eva's teenage boyfriend Michael, is such an example. This is a woman who gave up her high-powered career to steer her 3 boys to their best lives, and who actually makes notes about questions to guide mealtime discussions. At Eva's first meal with the family, Christine asks them all what they consider to be their guiding principle for life. Eva's response is something she's instinctively known her whole life, but perhaps only crystallises at that point - longing. Convinced she was abducted from her home in Spain as a toddler, Eva has always longed for a loving mother, her real mother. Manuela discovers that her ex-husband, born Esteban but calling himself Lola after becoming a transvestite prostitute, has stolen Agrado’s savings and left an idealistic nun, Rosa (Penélope Cruz), pregnant and HIV-positive. Manuela cares for both of them and, meanwhile, becomes the assistant to Huma, whose stage name (a feminised version of the Spanish for “smoke”) derives from having taken up cigarettes in imitation of her idol, Bette Davis. When Huma’s drug-addicted lover is unfit to play Stella in Streetcar, Manuela steps in, identifying passionately with the role. Asked if she can act, she replies: “I can lie very well and I’m used to improvising.” Inevitably, she’s accused of behaving like Anne Baxter in All About Eve. No hay cosas que me guste más que adentrarme en una historia completamente a ciegas, sin tener referencias de nadie. Simplemente dejarte llevar por esa vocecita que te dice "este libro es para ti". Y lo mejor de todo es así es: este libro llegó para quedarse. Una vida está compuesta de muchos momentos y All my mothers consigue captar eso a la perfección. Real como la vida misma, este libro te hace sentir todo tipo de emociones. Y , por su puesto, siempre de la mano de unos personajes que son maravillosa y terriblemente humanos. No todas sus decisiones son correctas o estuve de acuerdo con ellas, pero ¿quién vive una vida sin equivocarse alguna vez? ¿Sin tomar un desvío que te lleva a un callejón sin salida? ¿Si haber tenido que recurrir a un GPS que te reoriente?I loved how the author weaved the story, you grow into it as Eva grows up. We sometimes see where the journey is going, and sometimes we don't, but Eva is a truthful narrator to both herself and her subjects. She is at times, not terribly likeable, but she is believable and three dimensional.
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