Without this file, Rivera Garza fears Liliana\u2019s \u201cexperience on earth will be as good as nothing, Her memory erased.\u201d That moment, she says, \u201cis when I realized that I must write, I must replace this file … this is the split second in which I understand how writing defies the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result is this sobering and multi-layered account of Liliana\u2019s murder, likely by her jealous boyfriend, of the plague of femicides in Mexico, and of Rivera Garza\u2019s search not only for justice, but for a sisterly understanding of who Liliana really was and why she was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rivera Garza, a prolific author and a professor at the University of Houston, achieved only a part of her quest. She never found the case file and the prime suspect, \u00c1ngel Gonz\u00e1lez Ramos, remains at large. She does, though, preserve Liliana\u2019s life and frames her death in preceding years of abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using Liliana\u2019s own words, found in letters and notebooks, and interviews with university friends, Rivera Garza follows her sister\u2019s breadcrumbs from high school, when she first met the man accused of killing her, to when, at age 20, \u201cfemicide violence arrived one night at my sister\u2019s house … placed a pillow over her face, and took her life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there is a singular emotion that infuses \u201cLiliana\u2019s Invincible Summer<\/em>,\u201d it is anger. Rivera Garza creates streaming, rhythmic sentences that sizzle with such rage they beg to be read aloud \u2013 not just about Liliana\u2019s death, but also about the values in her native country that consider a woman\u2019s wife to be lesser than that of a man\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Mexico, she writes, \u201cFemicide is a hate crime, one committed against women because they are women. Ten of them take place in Mexico every single day, leaving a trail of heartbreak perceived by impunity and flanked by indignation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLiliana\u2019s Invincible Summer<\/em>\u201d is an amalgam \u2013 part Liliana\u2019s writing, part reporting, part memoir. The latter two propel and deepen the story and the first (which I found to be overly extensive) provides the perspective of a young woman navigating a difficult and ultimately dangerous relationship. In combination, they create a powerful book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristina Rivera Garza stands in a Mexico City police station, asking for the case file on her younger sister, Liliana, who was murdered thirty years earlier. The indifferent clerk tells her, \u201cDo not believe for a minute that records live … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[784,104],"tags":[770,884,883,885,886],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-mexico","tag-book-review","tag-cristina-rivera-garza","tag-femicide","tag-liliana-rivera-garza","tag-lilianas-invincible-summer"],"yoast_head":"\nBookshelf \u2013 Liliana\u2019s Invincible Summer, Cristina Rivera Garza - Tim Porter's Second Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A sobering and multi-layered account of Liliana\u2019s murder, likely by her jealous boyfriend, of the plague of femicides in Mexico, and of Rivera Garza\u2019s search not only for justice, but for a sisterly understanding of who Liliana really was and why she was killed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2288\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bookshelf \u2013 Liliana\u2019s Invincible Summer, Cristina Rivera Garza - 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