Sònia Hernández

The title of the book means "face blindness". The narrative is populated by 15 year old Berta who feels she must bear witness to ugliness. Her mother, who is not given a name and whose narrative voice changes from first to third person through the book. And a man who claims to be Mexican artist Vincente Rojo.

It was difficult for me to relate to any of these characters. They all want to be something that they aren't and don't seem to have a clue how to resolve that discrepancy.

For me, this was a novel of ideas with the usual weaknesses of the genre: cardboard characters, forced situations, interminable conversations. So many of the reviews below are positive, though, that I recommend you take my opinion with a mountain of salt. Perhaps there was something of interest here that I couldn't see.

While the writing was beautiful, this book fell a bit short for me, as I don't feel like there was a conclusion. Prosopagnosia is a condition known as 'face blindness', and in this book, the daughter plays a game where she stares at herself in the mirror for so long that she no longer recognizes herself. Her mother is also looking for a new perspective with her husband leaving and having gained weight. The plot felt a little loose, but perhaps this was due to the translation.