First published 2012
Francisco Goldman married Aura Estrada at a Mexican hacienda in 2005. Two years later, she breaks her neck body surfing during their vacation. Her family blames Francisco for the accident. He blames himself too and wants to die. Instead, he decides to write about her. Francisco gathers every memory he can find. He reconstructs Aura's childhood in Mexico City with her devoted mother. He traces her university years at Columbia. He revisits their newlywed life in New York and their travels together. Through her own writings, he searches for who she really was. The grief drives him nearly mad, but humor breaks through the pain. Francisco creates a portrait of their marriage, capturing both its playful moments and its depth. The novel becomes his way of keeping Aura alive and examining whether he bears responsibility for losing her.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, memoir, biographical-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Mexico City, Mexico, New York
Period: 2005, 2007
368 pages · Paperback · Grove
Content warnings: death