[Bookworm_Girl]

Most of the books I have been listening to have had multiple female narrators. I did not like the male/female pairing in Manhattan Beach. It switched too often sometimes only for a paragraph or so, and the two voices did not complement each other so it was very jarring. However, I can see how it may work in this scenario by switching between the characters of Eva and Rolf for long passages.

I am making good progress on the book this month. The writing has a sort of flowery and sing-song quality to it, but so far it's not too annoying. I think that may be a characteristic of Latin American books like this one, especially with a magical realism element. I'm still not quite sure where the book is headed. It seems to be layered with many stories within stories.

I think it is interesting that both Eva and Rolf were loved but abandoned by their mothers (for lack of a better word). They are both getting lessons in the school of hard knocks in early adolescence. They both want to keep their mothers "alive" in memory: Eva by remembering her dead mother's stories and Rolf by writing stories and taking photos to send in letters to his mother in his homeland.