Fruit of the Drunken Tree

The book was a good read. I learned about Colombia's recent politcal violence and Colombian life in the slums and the drug cartels. I am not sure I would recommend the book unless the potential reader is interested in recent Colomban history (this book is before the FARC - colombian peace accords).

Fruit of the Drunken Tree is set during a volatile, conflict-ridden period in Colombia, around the time Pablo Escobar was one of the most violent and powerful figures in the country’s state affairs. This book isn’t about the country’s politics but about its people living amidst it all. It’s a deeper look at the intertwined lives of Petrona, a kid from the Hills (the poorest neighborhood), who takes care of five siblings and a mother, supporting them with her income as a maid for a middle-class family – the Santiagos, who live within the safer walls of a gated community in Bogotá. It’s about the unlikely and empathetic friendship between Petrona and Chula, the youngest Stangiao child. This period of Colombian history has been the subject of many documentaries, movies, and even a super-popular Netflix series, and we see perspectives from key players – the influencers, the powerful, the police, the revolutionaries, and the politicians - while the victims are just that, victims. So, I found this work of fiction, offering a view of regular people from two different classes, their lives and their emotions, a refreshing and empathetic vignette of a largely misery-laden history.

A story of an unlikely friendship between a wealthy girl and her impoverished housemaid in Columbia, with the backdrop of political chaos of Pablo Escobar’s reign. This story was enjoyable, and I was a bit sad it was over when I finished. I do think the story has more potential - at times the writing was a bit awkward. The narrator is a child, so there leaves a lot to be discussed on the complex political situation in Columbia. Overall, a good read. I am looking forward to what else Ingrid Rojas Contreras has to write!