Author: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: No
**Warning: Book does have some scenes of graphic violence and adult subjects. It is not suitable for younger readers**
Brief Summary:
Per the author, the book is a fictionalized account of events that she experienced as a young child in Columbia. The book is set in the 1990s, during a time of political unrest, increasing violence, and growing domination by the drug cartels, all revolving around the seemingly omnipotent man known as Pablo Escobar.
The story is told from two points of view, one being that of young Chula Santiago, who lives with a family in a gated community, thus making her relatively safe (for a time) from the violence around her. The other point of view is that of their young maid, Petrona, who hails from the guerrilla-occupied slum on the other part of town. Chula and Petrona form an unlikely friendship, with far-reaching consequences that will change the course of not only their lives but the lives of everyone around them forever. Caught between loyalty and secrecy, both girls will have to make hard choices and sacrifices to keep their families safe in the growing turmoil.
Here is what Goodreads had to say:
My take:In the vein of Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a mesmerizing debut set against the backdrop of the devastating violence of 1990's Colombia about a sheltered young girl and a teenage maid who strike an unlikely friendship that threatens to undo them both.
The Santiago family lives in a gated community in Bogotá, safe from the political upheaval terrorizing the country. Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister Cassandra enjoy carefree lives thanks to this protective bubble, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation.
When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways. But Petrona's unusual behavior belies more than shyness. She is a young woman crumbling under the burden of providing for her family as the rip tide of first love pulls her in the opposite direction. As both girls' families scramble to maintain stability amidst the rapidly escalating conflict, Petrona and Chula find themselves entangled in a web of secrecy that will force them both to choose between sacrifice and betrayal.
Inspired by the author's own life, and told through the alternating perspectives of the willful Chula and the achingly hopeful Petrona, Fruit of the Drunken Tree contrasts two very different, but inextricable coming-of-age stories. In lush prose, Rojas Contreras sheds light on the impossible choices women are often forced to make in the face of violence and the unexpected connections that can blossom out of desperation.
The book was stark and not for the faint of heart. What makes it even more upsetting is that the events are actual history, not some dystopian tale made up for entertainment purposes. The fact that this happened in my lifetime to a little girl that lived the same time as I was very personally touching and made me very thankful for all the privileges that I have been given, merely by inheritance of birth.
The reading of it was not easy, nor do I think it was meant to be. It is not a story to be taken lightly. It touches you and makes you look at your own life through a different lens. And yet, the author made the unrelatable strangely relatable and told it in such a way that it seemed as if you personally knew the people involved.
I would recommend this to anyone who loves history and is not afraid to get their literary hands dirty, so to speak. It's gritty and not sugar-coated in the least, but if you want a lesson in history that you won't forget anytime soon, this is the book for you.
