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Hard Red Spring A Novel Kelly Kerney 9780525429012 Books

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Hard Red Spring A Novel Kelly Kerney 9780525429012 Books

Having grown up in Guatemala, made this a very hard read in a lot of ways. To read again about the USA governments involvement in many of the horrific things that happened in Guatemala's history, along with Guatemala's own corrupt governments was sad.
The author gives a historical timeline at the end of the book from 1900 to 2015.
This book was divided into four time periods, 1902, 1954, 1983, and 1999. All describing a major part of Guatemala's history and of USA involvement.
The main characters in each of these periods, are fictitious, but what happens around them is based on history. One can definitely feel the frailty of life in each of these characters. I didn't really like the characters, but I was strongly drawn to them and their misguided ways. I had a lot of feeling towards them, from anger, empathy, sorrow and much, much more, and that does not only pertain to the North Americans that are portrayed but the Guatemalans as well.
The time periods, are connected by people carried over from the previous one, starting with a young North American girl who disappears in the first part of the book.
This was a very well written story, where the author had to do a lot of research to make it come together so well.
This book will take you through: the building of railroads, the United Fruit Company, the eruption of the Santa Maria Volcano, to the Cold War, Civil War and its Genocide, to the fear of adoption, and much more. A very strong story!


Tags : Hard Red Spring: A Novel [Kelly Kerney] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>An ambitious and unforgettable epic novel that spans a hundred years of Guatemala’s tumultuous history as experienced by four American women who are linked by the mysterious disappearance of a little girl</b>   In 1902,Kelly Kerney,Hard Red Spring: A Novel,Viking,0525429018,Historical,Sagas,(OCoLC)fst01205154;Fiction.,Guatemala - Foreign relations - United States,Guatemala - History - 20th century,Guatemala - History - Revolution, 1954,Guatemala.,Guatemala;History;20th century;Fiction.,Historical fiction,United States - Foreign relations - Guatemala,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Sagas,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Hispanic & Latino,Fiction Historical,Fiction Political,Fiction-Historical,FictionHispanic & Latino,FictionPolitical,GENERAL,General Adult,Guatemala,Hispanic & Latino,Historical - General,Political,United States

Hard Red Spring A Novel Kelly Kerney 9780525429012 Books Reviews

One of the best books on the history behind the horrible civil war in Guatemala. I visit there frequently and it is a terribly painful topic for all concerned. Author does an excellent job. I have bought for several friends who also visit Guatemala.
Eerie story with great historical backdrop.
This book, in my opinion, paints a bleak picture of the attempts to force a people to change their culture. Though the attempts may have had some noble basis, the process was flawed. I found the book entertaining, and disturbing. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Guatemala, if for no other reason than to get a different view on the 20th century events that shape today's Guatemala.
Well written but a little disjointed. Sad commentary on America taking advantage of a poor country. The timeline at the end is fascinating!
This novel covers a nearly hundred year span of Guatemalan history through the stories of four American women who are placed in Guatemala in 1902,1954,1983 and 1999, and whose stories are all linked to some degree (sometimes surprisingly) to the disappearance of an eight year old American girl in 1902. The writing is excellent and each of the characters is very well developed and placed in situations and difficulties described in a manner that keeps you reading long after you should have gone to bed. In some ways the book is dark and difficult because what you learn about life in Guatemala, and American involvement there, is dark and difficult -- not the writing, or the women, who are uniformly interesting. I felt, in the end, that I was sadder, but wiser, and had hope that there may well be better days ahead.
The idea for the book is a cute literary conceit. Compress the complex history of Guatemala including especially its relations with the US into four fiction pieces loosely connected. Use them to show both Guatemala and US complicity in the worst of Guatemalan history. Forget if you the reader agree with the author's take on both linked histories. The structure simply requires a better writer than this author. The first piece is excellent. The quality then descends until the fourth is a near stereotypical put down of postmodern America. The links between the pieces get ever more contrived. I was forcing myself to keep reading because I dislike dropping a drop partway through. Unless you are really, really into jejune critiques of 'imperialism' this one should be a pass. I give it two stars because the author has some talent as a stylist.
Kelly Kerney’s novel Hard Red Spring tells the history of modern Guatemala through the lives of four Americans whose stories are linked by the book’s inciting incident the mysterious disappearance of an ex-pat little girl.

The book is divided into four time periods critical to Guatemala’s evolution 1902, 1954, 1983, and 1999. During each of the four periods, a story is told through a different point of view Evie, the young ex-pat girl who disappears; Dorie, the wife of the American ambassador to Guatemala during the presidency of Jacobo Arbenz and reign of United Fruit; Lenore, the wife of an evangelical pastor sent to Guatemala to serve in a model village under Efrain Rios Montt; and Jean, the adoptive mother who returns to Guatemala for a Roots Tour with her teenage daughter, Maya.

Each of these characters is an outsider in Guatemala, and much of the book’s drama revolves around the characters’ struggles to understand and navigate their outsider status. No clear villains or heroes emerge Everyone is flawed, and in many ways, everyone is guilty—of selfishness, of pride, of good intentions gone awry–or if not guilty, not innocent, either.

I turned every page of Hard Red Spring in awe of Kelly Kerney’s ability to seamlessly weave the history of Guatemala through the epic narrative. The plot of each of the four sections is gripping and unexpected—perhaps because the history of Guatemala is both those things–and the characters are layered and memorable. At the same time, Hard Red Spring was, for me, a difficult read. Not because of the novel’s density—although at times it was dense—but because of the underlying message That as a citizen of the United States, I am forever an interloper to Guatemala, regardless of how fervently I wish to belong.

Despite my discomfort, I recommend Hard Red Spring. It’s a monumental and important novel, one I won’t soon forget.
Having grown up in Guatemala, made this a very hard read in a lot of ways. To read again about the USA governments involvement in many of the horrific things that happened in Guatemala's history, along with Guatemala's own corrupt governments was sad.
The author gives a historical timeline at the end of the book from 1900 to 2015.
This book was divided into four time periods, 1902, 1954, 1983, and 1999. All describing a major part of Guatemala's history and of USA involvement.
The main characters in each of these periods, are fictitious, but what happens around them is based on history. One can definitely feel the frailty of life in each of these characters. I didn't really like the characters, but I was strongly drawn to them and their misguided ways. I had a lot of feeling towards them, from anger, empathy, sorrow and much, much more, and that does not only pertain to the North Americans that are portrayed but the Guatemalans as well.
The time periods, are connected by people carried over from the previous one, starting with a young North American girl who disappears in the first part of the book.
This was a very well written story, where the author had to do a lot of research to make it come together so well.
This book will take you through the building of railroads, the United Fruit Company, the eruption of the Santa Maria Volcano, to the Cold War, Civil War and its Genocide, to the fear of adoption, and much more. A very strong story!