(Reviewed by JD Jung)
Lina wants to leave her Argentinian quebrada, where the soil is dry and the land barren, no longer offering them anything for sustenance. Her only son left years earlier with her younger brother. She is not sure exactly where she will go but has general directions from a local medicine woman. In any event, she hopes to find her son and brother or at least experience a better life.
Her husband, Relicario, resists. For him, leaving means abandoning not just the land, but the ancestors buried within it. The quebrada is the only place his family has ever known. Lina departs alone, amidst her husband’s protests. After several weeks, Relicario gets his affairs in order, and eventually tries to find Lina, carrying with him a donkey and the remains of his parents.
The story unfolds through shifting perspectives, allowing readers to inhabit the minds of the various characters. As we read, we learn about the family’s troubled past and how it converges—whether for good or ill—in the present. The reader is riveted by each encounter.
The lyrical prose, beautifully translated, brings the landscape vividly to life. The style enriches the narrative, drawing readers into the rawness of each character’s plight while also evoking the larger human condition: our need to belong and our struggle to survive.
All That Dies in April is not just a story about one family—it is a reflection on migration, identity, and survival in Latin America. A “must-read”!