Elena Knows

This book is a mystery thriller that explores the relationship between mother and daughter in a way that is gripping and raw. It's an incredible source of discussion for many topics: disability, bureaucracy, aging, mothers, and love.

Elena, a 60-something widow with advanced Parkinson's, is on a mission. Her daughter Rita was recently found hanging from the church belfry, and Elena knows it wasn't suicide. She wants to investigate but needs someone to help. She sets out to find Isabel, a woman she remembers Rita helped save 20 years ago. Now it's time to return the favor...

A book that will bring up difficult discussions. Will definitely make you take a look at your own morals, values, and views. It is interesting how people can have different interpretations on the same situation.

This short novel is a heartbreaker. Elena suffers with Parkinsons disease and her adult daughter is her caregiver. Until the daughter is found dead. The story we read examines their tempestuous relationship in flashbacks, and painstakingly describes Elena’s journey to a woman for help. I cringed at these vivid descriptions, knowing them to be so very true. The novel seeks to answer What is it to be a mother?

***Spoiler Alert*** I love reading foreign authors' books as I gain great insight in their ways of building stories, developing characters, etc. Needless to say, I was looking forward to reading this book. However, the characters disappointed me. They were so full of hatred. The story is centred around Elena - a widow who has Parkinson and her daughter, Rita who cares for her. Both of them have hatred for the disease that is tying them together and the hatred spills over to their relationship. Rita sees no life for herself in taking care of her mother - she feels trapped. Elena feels trapped in her body. When Rita commits suicide, Elena looks to who the murderer could be and later is told that it is probably she who precipitated the death of her daughter. Along with this, is a woman who wished the death of Rita for saving her from an abortion long ago. The book is full of anger and I believe that Pineiro is trying to stuff all her beliefs (pro-abortion, pro-assisted dying) in this story. She sees life from a dark and dismal place instead of one from hope. Pineiro portrays Elena as a burden on her daughter and society (even though Rita fights any help at each turn) and concludes that if Elena only died, it would save Rita - but Rita cannot be saved because she can't see that she has a gift in her mom. This is less of a mystery and more of a soapbox. Perhaps her mysteries are better.