Title: The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez
Somewhere off the Pacific Coast of Panama, in the calm blue water of the bay, Francisco Aquino sat alone in his boat.
It cost one shilling a week taken out from what little she earned, but when they were old enough Lucille insisted on sending the girls to school.
Summary:
An epic novel of the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there. Searing and empathetic, The Great Divide explores the intersecting lives of activists, fishmongers, laborers, journalists, neighbors, doctors, and soothsayers—those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course. There is Francisco, a local fisherman who resents foreigners from invading his country and Omar, his son who signs on as a laborer on the canal because he wants connections with people. Ada Bunting, a 16-year-old from Barbados, arrives in Panama as a stowaway, coming to make money to send home. John Oswald and his wife Marion are invited to Panama to try and conquer the dreaded mosquito that spreads malaria. Each has a very different story to tell about what life in Panama was like during the greatest engineering feat of all time -- the successful building of the Panama Canal.
Review: My paternal grandfather was a carpenter and he helped build the Panama Canal. When my siblings and I visited the Canal this past year in an attempt to walk a few steps in his footprints, we all marveled at the construction and the enormity of the project. It took over ten years to build, from 1903-1914 during the years of the US involvement and final push of the project. One of the reasons that they finally had success where the French before them did not, was because the dreaded malaria mosquito was finally conquered. Before that happened nearly half (?) of the workers died from the disease. That is an unsustainable labor loss.
The Great Divide is a novel about this time period in Panama from the vantage point of different types of people and it gives a fuller accounting of what life was like for all of them. Francisco, the fisherman, lived on this daily catch. If he couldn't fish, he couldn't eat. Ada Bunting, the teenager from Barbados, made more money in a month as a nurses aid than her mother made in a year. Marion and John Oswald wanted to live the life of American elites but their books and instruments were moldering away in the damp tropical climate.
I loved this book where the fullness of the real story is fleshed out by looking at the lives of people. It gave me a broader feel for this important historical moment.
The Great Divide was selected as a 'Read with Jenna' book in March of this year. Cristina Henriquez, the author, said she wanted to write about Panama since it is his father's place of birth. She has visited family every year of her life. In her interview with Jenna, she said,
"We would go every summer and spend time there in Panama. Often on those trips, my parents would take my brother and sister and I out to the canal, and we would sit there in the blazing sun and watch ships kind of make their way through the locks," she says. "It wasn't until I got older that I became fascinated with it and saw that maybe there was the potential for a novel in it."
"Panama is so much a part of me," she continues. "And it’s why I write about it in my fiction, because it’s a part of me, and because writing about it helps me feel more connected to it." (Today Show)
I look forward to hearing from all of you. If you have read the book, what did you think of it? If you haven't read it, do you enjoy reading historical fiction? Does this sound like a book you would enjoy?
-Anne
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