El sótano del caracol
Elvia Ardalani

E​l sótano del caracol by Elvia Ardalani is the story of three women: Asunción, Evangelina and Luz Maria, moved by love and loss.  Women who have learned to carry their heart as a shell to confront adversity.  Contrary to what would be the natural response, they don’t hold any bitterness but a circumspection learned from their experience through the years. 

The book is narrated in different time periods, including the Spanish civil war, the battles between Carrancistas and Villistas, and goes beyond the Lazaro Cardenas Mexican presidency.  We discover, through the eyes of a six-year-old child, the tragedy of war, the authoritarian ideologies put in practice and the redemption that one can find through love and poetry. Tolstoy used to say that whoever wanted to write the story of the world would fail, but whoever wanted to write the story of his town would write the story of the world.  Morostan, the imaginary town set in northern Mexico is the world’s stage.  

El sótano del caracol is a novel full of passion, intimate emotions, survival, poetry and loss.  It can be described to perfection by one of Miguel Hernandez' poems, the poet who opens every chapter of the book with an excerpt of his poetry: "Escribí en el arenal/ Los tres nombres de la vida:/ Vida, muerte, amor."

Elvia Ardalani (H. Matamoros, Tamaulipas, 1963) es profesora de Creación Literaria y Literatura en el Departamento de Lenguas Modernas de la Universidad de Texas-Pan Americana (University of Texas-Pan American).

El sótano del caracol is a publication by Claves Latinoamericanas and is available through Amazon. Click here to purchase. 
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Reviewed by
Jorge Sáenz
1/1/2016

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