Esmeralda Santiago is Back in the Book Case

The Book Case

ABC News

Fiction, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.1 • 766 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We talked to the renowned bilingual author Esmeralda Santiago a few months about her incredible trilogy of memoirs. So when she sent us her new novel, Las Madres, we couldn’t wait. Turns out she is just as good of a fiction writer as she is a memoirist. This is a searing, funny and fascinating portrait of mothers and daughters, the connection Puerto Ricans feel to their island, whether we are made up of more than our memories….and so much more. It sounds like a lot, but she does it all and she does it all well. We also talk to Lynne Phillips of Wordsworth Books, one of the plaintiffs in the case against Arkansas Act 372. She will give us her recommendations and talk about why her fight is so important. Books mentioned in this week's podcast: Las Madres by Esmeralda Santiago Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago America’s Dream by Esmeralda Santiago When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago Almost a Woman by Esmeralda Santiago The Turkish Lover by Esmeralda Santiago Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck The Firm by John Grisham The Art Thief by Michael Finkel The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann Tom Lake by Ann Patchett A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:23.1	That's Shopify.com.com slash special offer.
0:32.6	Welcome bookcase listeners. I'm Charlie Gibson, the father in this duo.
0:37.4	Bienvenidos to La Estantaria. I am Kate Gibson, who is La Ica and the in the duo.
0:43.5	Hi. It's nice to have you guys back with us.
0:47.6	We do this. Kate does the questionable Spanish. We think we're right, welcoming you to the
0:53.0	bookcase because today we feature
0:54.9	Esmeralda Santiago. And we talked to her back in December about a three-volume memoir that she wrote,
1:01.7	which is, I think, very memorable and I loved. But she has now written a novel. And I think it's
1:07.3	fair to say, Las Madres, by the way, is the name of it. But I think it's fair to say, Kate, that Esmeralda has become one of your favorite writers.
1:14.8	I think that's definitely fair to say.
1:16.6	I think she's a beautiful writer.
1:18.2	And I'm blown away by the beauty that she puts in that three-volume memoir, which, by the way,
1:23.1	just chronicles her life until the age of 25.
1:25.9	That's how fascinating her life has been. And she does
1:29.3	fiction equally well. That I don't think I've really come across that often. Las Madres is an
1:35.3	amazing book. It's a sprawling book. She does so much with this book. This is a book about mothers and
	...

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