The Wonders

The Wonders / Elena Medel
trans. from the Spanish by Lizzie Davis & Thomas Bunstead
Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2022, c2020.
229 p.

Two women's lives collide in this Spanish story; Maria, in her 70s and participating in a protest march in downtown Madrid, and Alicia, long time worker at a convenience store at the train station, who is trying to leave work, not protesting. 

These two women are connected in ways they don't realize. The narrative jumps between decades, giving us glimpses of both of their lives, the ways in which their experience echoes one another in regards to family, motherhood, money or lack of it, power, hyperindependence, politics and more. There are similarities, and as the reader gets further in, we begin to sense these connections more clearly. 

Maria is from a small town, but moves to Madrid while very young, to work as a cleaner. She sticks with this profession her whole life, but is also a reader and thinker, and gets involved with women's solidarity groups as she gets older. This leads to her participation in the women's march at the conclusion of the book. Alicia, on the other hand, is much younger, of another generation. She started out with wealth, but her family lost it all in tragic circumstances. This has shaped her personality, and as an adult she has cut herself off from others, including her own family. 

I enjoyed the way that this story is structured. We learn more about each woman bit by bit, with a writing style that is pretty straightforward, but also has resonance (Medel is a poet as well). The hidden feelings and thoughts of these women are the interesting bits for Medel; she investigates the motives behind their decisions, and why they might have chosen paths that differ from the expectations of others. Self-determination and no self-definitions based on motherhood are important themes as well, which I found compelling. 

This book is really character focused, much more than plot - it meanders a bit, and there is no startling conclusion. It's an examination of lives lived in changing circumstances, and I found the pacing and mood of the book just to my liking. It hit at exactly the right moment. Topics of politics, protest, and wealth distribution are raised in this story, which is also so timely.

The title is another point of discussion; does it refer to the wonders of wealth, the multiple tvs and new clothes that one character is so lucky to have in comparison to her schoolmates, an indelible memory for them -- or does it refer to the wonders of family and routine and comfort, which these young girls are so happy to return to? Lots to talk about and think about in this book for sure.