Cousins
About This Book
Aurora Venturini was 85 when her novel Cousins won the New Novel Award from the Argentine newspaper Página/12 in 2007. That prize brought her wide recognition, even though she had already published more than thirty books. She kept writing throughout her 92 years, and her life was closely tied to the literature and culture of the twentieth century. Jorge Luis Borges presented her first award to her in person, she was a friend and colleague of Eva Perón, and during her exile in Paris she spent time with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.
The novel follows four women from a poor, troubled family in La Plata, Argentina. They endure a series of hardships, including disfigurement, illegal abortions, miscarriages, sexual abuse and murder. The story is told by a daughter whose talent as a painter offers her a path to financial independence and a way to help her relatives as much as she can.
The book examines neighborhood myths, family ties, female sexuality, revenge and the possibility of rising socially through art. It does so through Yuna, the narrator, who views the world she is trapped in with fierce intensity. Her voice is frank, cutting and forceful. The novel is playful and stylish, lively and enigmatic, and unlike anything else in Venturini's body of work.
ISBN: 9780571372416
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