Sunday, 21 October 2012


Bombal, Maria Luisa. New Islands. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003. (Paperback)

New Islands is written by Maria Luisa Bombal, from Chile. She is one of South America’s most popular authors. It is a fast paced book in the genre of psychological fiction. It makes us reflect about the nature of our feelings. It is placed over four days.

 Juan Manuel, a lawyer in Buenos Aires, drive to a country estate , la Figura hacienda. They go to look at some new islands that have emerged, and stay at Yolanda and Federico’s hacienda. Yolanda has a wild dream in which  she seduces Juan. The next day she sees Juan but runs away, confusing him. Yolanda is beautiful but strange. When Juan tells her she looks like a seagull, she faints. Yet the novel continues to compare her to birds and gulls and the natural world of the pampa. On the third day Juan at three in the morning. Yolanda is having another nightmare. On the fourth day, he returns to Buenos Aires, but there are unanswered questions for him to ponder.

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