Stellar in its simplicity.... I'm also a fan of Hum If You Don’t Know the Words (a novel told partially from the perspective of a 9-year-old girl) which also deals with harsh realities of violence under a troubled or corrupt government. In that case it was the Apartheid in South Africa in the '70s, in Contreras' story it is Pablo Escobar's manipulation of Colombia as conflict peaked in the '90s while the guerrillas daily threatened the lives of the citizens.

I enjoyed her choice to write a novel despite what may or may not be rather autobiographical details included, because of the liberty she had to paint sadly beautiful portraits of the Santiago family and their housemaid, Petrona. Chula, the main narrator is looking back from her new home in America, just after she'd received a communication from Petrona, now a wife & mother still in Colombia. A few chapters were in Petrona's voice and provided some death to the real hardships of living in a shack with a curtain for a door, on top of a hill, high-rise condos in view but totally inaccessible.

Chula's observational tone mixed with her occasional wise words questioning the status-quo etc. really lent itself well to the gruesome heartbreak that could befall any average family in such an uncertain time. I read through this slowly not just because the subject matter was hard to inhale all at once, but also because I didn't want it to end. Contreras has a very smart style. I was wholly sucked into the story.

Please give this book all of the awards. It's brilliantly written. The interwoven stories feel incredibly authentic and perfectly suited to sharing the sometimes dark nature of the events falling around these characters. Such a refreshing angle on a topic that's been always been focused on Pablo Escobar without considering the consequences of all of the people affected from his turmoil. I can't wait for it to become available in paperback so that I can put it on my book club's schedule. It's going to be a favorite read for the group without a doubt.

I truly wanted to enjoy this book more and there were parts that I very much did. The setting is evocative and the prose is written beautifully, though some detail was a bit wanting. Also, the theme and plot represent an important topic in our current culture through a fictional, and therefore maybe more relatable format than the nightly news cycle.

Unfortunately I couldn't seem to connect with the characters. It's like they were all just a little too far away to really empathize with. Chula, as a child, was both too clueless and too wise for her age for me to find her believable and all of the other characters in her family seem very distant and at times downright confusing. Petrona was my favorite, if I had to pick, because her motivations had purpose and she featured a complexity that was very real to me.

All in all, I think this book just wasn't for me as the other reviewers seem to have very much enjoyed it. I think reading a story like this one is important though. I do think I have a better appreciation for the plight of refugees and the situation in Latin and South American countries from my spot in the US. So I would still recommend it but with reservations.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Doubleday Books, and the author Ingrid Rojas Contreras for the opportunity to do so.

This is hard because I really wanted to love this book. The subject matter being so important today and historically. I just never connected or really cared about the main (Chula) and secondary (Portuna) protagonists. I always felt like I was only getting 75% of their thoughts or observations.
It’s imperative that as Americans, we understand what is happening around the world. Particularly, i. Latin America. And Fruit of the Drunken Tree does this. What makes people become so desperate that they would leave their entire lives, their loved ones, to come here and what forces some to stay? How do people fall victim to a life of crime and violence? How does desperation manifest itself? The author answers all of these questions. I just wish I had connected with the characters more. The descriptions were lacking. I had a very hard time placing myself there.

Thank you for the free review copy, Doubleday Books. What a page turner! The complicated relationships and interesting characters wouldn't let me put down this book. This is an eye-opening story about the Escobar and the Colombian drug cartel in the 90s.

Ingrid Rojas Contreras delivers a beautifully written story of 2 young girls during Escobar's reign in Colombia. Seven-year-old Chula and her sister Cassandra are privileged children growing up in a gated community with loving and protective parents. Their live-in servant, Petrona, is a young teenager, around 14 years old when she begins working for the family. Petrona is from the same slum as Chula and Cassandra's mother.

The story is told from the points of view of Petrona and young Chula. We learn about life in the slums and the dangers that the guerrillas and the paramilitary groups pose to the poor citizens in the slums and to ordinary middle class citizens. During Escobar's time, the top government officials, judges, the Minister of Justice and those employed as oil engineers for multinational companies are not safe from the violence. In Fruit of the Drunken Tree, we learn just how vulnerable society and citizens are to the violence and corruption. But we also see the innocence of young Chula and her connection to Petrona.

Petrona carries the weight of her household on her shoulders, working and sending the funds to her many siblings and mother. When she falls in love with a young guerrilla, she does not expect him to manipulate her or demand sacrifices from her family and employers. Fruit of the Drunken Tree is beautiful, heartbreaking and engrossing.

What a beautiful book. The story is so layered and the characters perfectly developed. I felt like I was right there with Chula and her family--through all the ups and downs. The book just has HEART, plain and simple. Fruit of the Drunken Tree is a powerhouse of a novel. I think it's going to be a hit with book clubs.

This one really let me down. I wanted so much to like it but if I’m honest I was bored out of my mind. I considered quitting a few times but I had a lot of hope something exciting would happen. Nope, even the telling of the attempted kidnapping was boring.

I won’t be recommending this one

First of all, I was really attracted to the cover of this book and the unusual title. It is set in Columbia during the drug cartels, so it was a book about a topic I hadn’t read much about. In addition to this, though, it is also somewhat of a coming of age story.

The story is told from the perspectives of two characters. The first is seven-year-old Chula Santiago who lives with her family in a gated community to protect them from the political unrest and dangerous drug activity in their town of Bogata. Chula lives with her older sister, Cassandra, and their mother. Her father works for an oil company that is not nearby, so he is seldom around. As a result, the mother hires impoverished girls from the guerilla driven areas to live with them and help with the household duties. One of these girls she hires is thirteen-year-old Petrona who is working to support her family. Petrona’s story provides the other perspective of a young girl growing up and struggling to survive. Unfortunately, she also falls in love with one of the bad guys who brings danger to the Santiago family.

Apparently, this story was somewhat based on that of the author and her family’s experiences which adds to the story for me. It could be a little slow at times for me, but overall I really enjoyed it and learned something new. It made me really think about how tragedies and growing up in such a dangerous time profoundly affects children. If you enjoy historical fiction and reading about the experiences of people in other cultures, you should try this one.

The time period for the story is during Pablo Escobar's reign in Columbia. The point of view is told from Chula who is nine years old and Petrona, their maid, who is a teenager. While not wealthy, Chula is part of one of the better off families. They live in a gated community and it is really interesting to see everything unfold through her eyes. Petrona is worse off. She lives in a hut made of tin and plastic in a place called an invasion.

Chula is so innocent and relates to us everything that she sees, leaving us to draw the conclusions as she is too young at times to realize them on her own. It really broke my heart so many times to see her being an innocent girl in a horrible time period.

Petrona at so young an age has had a difficult life already, yet she still carries a strong moral compass that at times is put to test in the worst possible ways. I also felt for her so much! The trials she endured while being the head of household was something no one of her age should have to deal with. I cried a few times along with her.

This was one of those books that will stay with me for awhile. Yes, it was a work of fiction but it was loosely based on factual events. The things that happened during this time period in Columbia were just horrible. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in fear day after day. The crazy thing about it is that things like this still happen in many countries and we rarely hear about it.

This book was not my normal genre of choice, but I heard a lot about this book, and thought I would give it a try. I found it to be very intriguing. It covered a lot of issues. And it kept me interested. Some parts were rather slow, but it did not take away from the enjoyment.,

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

The writing was beautiful and the girls’ stories compelling, but I wish they’d been a little more balanced as the narrative heavily favored Chula and her family’s experiences. I was interested to find out that the story is based on the author’s life, though it was clear she was deeply familiar with her topic. There were definitely moments that begged for additional explanation or background to make it a bit more understandable for someone like myself, who knows very little about Colombia and its past.

Never be afraid of consequences, Ninitas. They’re the greatest teachers don’t you know.

If I am being honest, I only know of Pablo Escobar because of the show Narcos. Not that I have spent any time watching it, but I’ve worked with some gentlemen that were gaga over the series. But they were memorized by the blood, gore and brutality. So, I went into this story fairly blind only knowing he was a bad, bad man. I didn’t have any detailed knowledge or understanding of the terror that the people of Colombia suffered DAILY. I had no insight into the fact that MOST families had members kidnapped by guerrillas. Or if they were not directly affected, they knew many other families who had been. These people lived in complete terror every day of their lives during the early 90’s. A time when I was freshly hatched, but had assumed (Ayo, we already know!) that the world was civilized due to how advanced we had become. I was incredibly wrong and thanks to this story, I gained insight from the perspective of someone who had lived survived through the Escobar era.

This story is mainly told from the point of view of Chula. A young female living in the wealthy portion of the nation. Which is the exact role that Ingrid lived through. We go through some rather big events with Chula and her family. Some issues so huge it leaves a lasting effect on Chula as she grows older. Which makes a great amount of sense since some events were incredibly terrifying and something that shouldn’t be experienced by any human being let alone a child. There was so much value in reading about the Escobar era from a child’s perspective. I’m not sure I would have received it the same coming from Chula’s mother, Alma. The other perspective is from another young girl, 15-year-old, Petrona. Petrona enters the lives of the Santiago’s as their maid. We learn that Petrona is the main financial support for a large family (half whom have been taken by guerrillas), while she supports about the six remaining members including her sick mother. We learn the harsh decisions that children like herself had to make to survive those terroristic times.

There were some other mentionable characters that stuck out in this story such as Alma, Chula’s mother. Alma is such a strong female character. She grew up in poverty and rose to a gated community. While most might think it had to do with her beauty, you quickly learn her rise had more to do with her fighting spirit. While she was far from a perfect mother, she was a role model with a stubborn side. While scared shitless by her circumstance, she moved forward. Alma isn’t a woman to look back, only forward. And I think that is one of the greatest lessons I learned from Alma.

Another character to watch out for is Gorrian. Though his part is rather small, the progression of this boy is something to keep an eye on.

Overall, I really enjoyed and found great value in this story. The outcome was never perfect. But they all managed. Which I know isn’t true for many who suffered through Escobar’s evil reign. This story made me do some research. It made me seek out information on what was happening during the early 1990’s. I’m hardly a history buff, but during times like today, it is important to know and understand world history.

Also, read the author notes. I often skip over those. But I found great value in the excerpt.

I would highly recommend checking out Fruit of the Drunken Tree. Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy to this fantastic, brutal story of life, loss and family.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read, "Fruit of the Drunken Tree"
by Ingrid Rojas Contreras. While the book talked about many interesting topics, it was a little too slow paced for me liking. For someone else, this may be the right book.

In Bogotá, Columbia we find Chula and her family living in a comfortable gated community. Despite their relative isolation, they cannot escape the realities of life outside their privilege. Car bombs, kidnappings, power outages, droughts, and the constant threat of violence from either the paramilitary, guerillas, or Pablo Escobar himself plague the entire country.

Chula's family hires Petrona, a girl from a local "invasión" who lived a very different life from Chula. Chula becomes fascinated by her family's new maid, and is determined to understand her. Through this fascination, she slowly begins to piece together the danger that Petrona might be in.

The narration in this novel is phenomenal, alternating between Chula and Petrona. Each narrator has her own mottled view of the world which Ingrid Rojas Contreras does an incredible job of developing. The innocence and confusion of Chula, age 9, allows the emotions of the story to take the center stage - not the political events happening at the time. Petrona, being 15 years old and a little older than Chula, has a more clear view of the world but her stubbornness and youth pour in through the cracks. These two girls advance the story in a way that a third person narrator would not be able to. I became extremely attached to the narrators, and the other characters as well. It was hard not to love Chula's family after hearing the way she and Petrona both speak about them.

This book is as much a coming of age novel as it is the elevation of an important voice. We talk about refugees and immigrants in the news everyday, but rarely stop to consider the trauma these individuals went through. Fruit of the Drunken Tree was beautiful, heartbreaking, and educational all at once. I am adding it to my shortlist of books to recommend! Thank you #NetGalley for the free copy for review!

The Fruit of the Drunken Tree wrestles with difficult topics like class, race, sexism, corruption, politics and violence and does it well and with empathy. Class in particular is front and center in the contrast between Chula who lives a comfortable middle-class life in a gated community and Petrona one of twelve siblings who live in an invacion: an illegal settlement in the outskirts of the city.

The horrific narco trafficking and state violence that marked Colombia for much of the 90’s serves as a backdrop for this unlikely connection, although the political turmoil is not the focus we see glimpses of key moments through Chula’s eyes or. Initially, at the start of the book, the violence is remote. Chula hears about it through the Radio and TV or through what her parents comment on. Eventually the violence creeps closer and Chula’s bubble of safety and insulation becomes smaller and smaller until it bursts. Petrona no stranger to violence herself having lost her father and multiple brothers to guerilla groups of various stripes but finds herself increasingly tangled in a dangerous world as she struggles to provide for her family and attracts the attention of an alluring but dangerous man named Gorrion. Though this increasingly tense plot Rojas Contreras explores what it means to make difficult choices what it means to be innocent or responsible in a time and place where your circumstances at birth often determine your opportunities.

As we see the violence through the perspectives of Chula and Petrona rather than the world of adults, the effect of distilling the effects of the violence ridden headlines into the tangible ways that violence and politics have on the citizens, especially children, who live through it. This strips away the political and gives us the personal while offering wry observations on Colombia’s complicated history.

In the middle of the escalating violence there are unexpected moments of levity mainly brought about by Chula’s antics and the discrepancy in situations between what we as an audience understand and what Chula still a child observes but doesn’t necessarily understand.

Rojas Contreras is a masterful storyteller and an artist with words her narrative. Her narrative is sharp and cleared eyed yet at the same time has a dreamlike quality which engulfs you entirely in 1990’s Colombia. It is an absolutely stunning debut which will stay with you long after you turn the last page. I highly recommend that everyone pick this one up.

No matter who we are, what are race, religion, socio-economic background, we share some basic emotions and feelings. Fear, joy, love, jealousy, anger, sadness and hope are some of those emotions and feelings. What makes us different is our reaction to those feelings and the situations that brought about them.
Ingrid Rojas Contreras's debut novel, "Fruit of the Drunken Tree," takes us to the South American country of Columbia during the extremely violent and turbulent 1990's when drug-lord, Pablo Escobar, instilled fear among the natives as well as the world.
Drug kingpin Escobar was not the only threat Columbian residents had to live with. There were the communist guerrillas that were constantly trying to overthrow the government, kidnappings for ransom, other drug lords, smugglers, car hijacker bands, kidnappers that weren't guerillas, along with murders, robberies and so on. Some have described the nineties Columbia to the eighties Lebanon with all of the violence and corruption.
Contreras introduces us to the Santiago family who live in a "gated" community in Bogota. Children that live inside the gates are insulated from then outside world of violence. They have a life filled with more joy than sorrow, more smiles than tears and more sense of normalcy than those living outside the gates.
Fruit of the Drunken Tree is similar to the novel, "The Invention of Wings", as it is told from two perspectives. One is of young Chula Santiago, age seven, who lives with her sister, Cassandra, and parents inside "the gates."
Chula is a very observant, inquisitive child. She watches and observes everyone. Some of her observations seem wise beyond her years.
Chula's mother hires a new girl to be their maid. Thirteen year old Petrona, becomes the novels other storyteller. Petrona lives outside the gates in abject poverty and is the oldest girl in a family of nine children. She finds herself the breadwinner for the family.
Petrona lives in a world of fear, death, poverty, rape, hunger and sadness.
Contreras uses real events in this fictional tale. She is a fantastic storyteller and her ability to seamlessly switch perspectives is a work of art.
Fruit of the Drunken Tree reminds me of standing in front of a great work of art trying to soak in every inch of it, knowing that you may have to go back again to get everything out of it.
Just a footnote to this tale is that the author discloses in the afterword, parts of the novel were based on true events that happened in her own life. Some people shut down and never share traumatic events. Contreras not opens up, she gives us a book that will be read for years to come.
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley. #Netgalley #FruitoftheDrunkenTree

Appearing on the recommended LibraryReads list in July, FRUIT OF THE DRUNKEN TREE by Ingrid Rojas Contreras is a work of literary fiction which may also appeal to teens due to the age of some of the characters involved and to the setting in 1990s Bogotá with threats from drug lords like Pablo Escobar, kidnappings, and car bomb violence. Rojas Contreras tells the story in alternating first person chapters of Chula Santiago, a seven-year-old girl at the novel's opening, and Petrona Sanchez, her family's maid. Chula has led a sheltered middle class life, lives in a gated community, and is especially naïve at first in contrast to teenaged Petrona who must work to support her family living in the slums. This debut author has crafted a story of female empowerment and coming of age which has drawn comparisons to Isabelle Allende and praise from both Sandra Cisneros and Julia Alvarez:

"When women tell stories, they are finally at the center of the page. When women of color write history, we see the world as we have never seen it before. In Fruit of the Drunken Tree, Ingrid Rojas Contreras honors the lives of girls who witness war. Brava! I was swept up by this story." --Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

"A coming of age story, an immigrant story, a thrilling mystery novel, thoroughly lived and felt—this is an exciting debut novel that showcases a writer already in full command of her powers." --Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies

The New York Times review described this novel as filled with "vividly specific details .... sensitive and thoughtful." FRUIT OF THE DRUNKEN TREE received starred review from both Booklist and Library Journal.

This story was beautifully written. I like the author's use of two female narrators who straddle the age between childhood and adolescence to provide a unique perspective into a period of time in which the persons in power were almost exclusively male. I feel like Patrona's rape was seriously glossed over and it felt like it came too late in the story and felt like an afterthought. I appreciated the last section that described their resettlement in the United States and as much as I wanted these lovely characters to have a tidy ending, I think the story ended the way it needed to.

Thank you to @doubledaybooks for the free copy via @netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I just finished Fruit of the Drunken Tree a few days ago, and it was such a great read. Set in Columbia during the 1990’s when the drug lord Pablo Escobar was still at large, and told through alternating perspectives of two young girls (Chula, who is from a wealthier, privileged background, and Petrona, the maid to Chula and her family).

This book often had me on the edge of my seat, and it was horrifying to read about such violence that is based on what was really happening in Columbia at the time. I also think it was a really smart idea to tell this story through the perspective of girls who come from different backgrounds; although most citizens of Columbia suffered in one way or another, those born into a lower class had few opportunities (if any) to create a better life for themselves elsewhere. This novel may be a work of historical fiction, but it sheds a light on the corruption and inequality that Columbia truly experienced. It’s a very important and educational book, and I definitely recommend it. 4.5/5