SALT CRYSTALS

A ruminative novel exploring the legacy of slavery and colonialism in San Andrés, Colombia.

After a bad breakup, 29-year-old Victoria Baruq moves back to her childhood home on the small island of San Andrés. Though she’s spent years living and working in Mexico City, she’s drawn back to the island, where she begins to dig into her family’s history. She’s tied to the island’s legacy of slavery—as one friend points out, “[her] grandparents owned practically the entire island”—and although her grandmother insisted that there was “no black blood in this family,” Victoria is skeptical. Since she can’t consult her parents, who died prematurely, she instead turns to the community to help her unearth her family’s past. Friends, locals, students, and librarians all help with her search, which ultimately yields disturbing fruit. All the while, Victoria balances managing her diabetes using a sensor that measures her glucose levels and a budding romance with a mainlander. Bendek’s novel is as much a political as a narrative project, incorporating explorations into the history of San Andrés, the nearby island of Providencia, and Colombia as well as reflections on the various cultures, identities, and languages that meet there. “The whole world converged here in the Caribbean,” Bendek writes—for better and worse. Bendek’s heady ruminations are fluidly translated by Myers but may put off readers more interested in a straightforward narrative. Though Bendek’s turns of phrase are sometimes sparkling, and though she has a sophisticated grasp of politics and history, this novel might have benefited from a little more emphasis on character. Though Victoria’s constant attention to her blood sugar is urgently rendered, she can feel like a cipher, and the characters supporting her are thin.

A provocative, dense novel of ideas that will reward a careful reader.