We are broken people get to know each other easily. We attract and repel in the same way, forming a sad and defeated bond. We are the town that was built next to the volcano, and the city that stood on shaky ground. All our days, the days of the great earthquake. Our village will collapse, and from one moment to the next it will disappear from the face of the earth.” A young girl finds a group of photos
She belongs to her younger brother, Julian. You don't understand why Julian decided to keep those pictures that don't specifically frame happy moments, on the contrary, most of them look like preludes to a home disaster. Come to think of it well, this is his childhood in Perakroth, preludes and aftermaths of an ongoing catastrophe, the exact make-up of her, her brother, and her mother in wreckage. Her father is a violent and unpredictable man, who hurts them in the most abusive and provocative way. However, the worst part has always been Julián's part, which at one point leads him to take shelter behind a wall of silence, but the silence is able to taint him with its own version of violence.
This novel is a reconstruction of the photo album which is a puzzle and is a complete memory. Big Sister knows she can't rely on those pictures to tell a happy story, so will she at least be able to tell a reasonable story? And who is the biggest absentee in this tale, Julian or herself? Will you be able to escape from drowning in time?
In perfect prose, both poignant and nuanced, Among the Fractured reminds us that we represent our own memory, and that it is a kaleidoscope of broken images rather than color. Pages: 176
