My Mother's Funeral - Adriana Páramo

My Mother's Funeral

It's no secret how much I love working with TLC Book Tours. I had great success with the books I read through them in 2013. I am excited to be kicking off 2014 with a packed scheduled of tours.

When I saw Adriana Páramo's memoir on the list of tour options, I immediately felt a connection to the book. Páramo's mother battled Alzheimer's before her death, a disease which runs in my family and will likely plague my own mother one day. Additionally, the book landed in my hands just after my grandmother passed away. The timing made the book much more personal to me.

To help you get a better picture of the book, the promotional material describes it as follows:

Every woman has stories to tell about her mother. The mother that she remembers, the mother she wishes she’d had, the mother she doesn't want to become, and then eventually, the mother she buries. Every immigrant woman has stories to tell about her homeland.  My Mother’s Funeral is a combination of both: Mother and Homeland.  The book circles around the death of Páramo’s mother but the landscape that emerges is not only one of personal loss and pain, but also of innocence, humor, violence and love.

Drawing heavily upon her childhood experiences and Colombian heritage, the author describes the volatile bond linking mothers and daughters in a culture largely unknown to Americans. The book moves between past (Colombia in the 1940’s) and present lives (USA in 2006), and maps landscapes both geographical (Bogotá, Medellín, Anchorage) as well as psychological, ultimately revealing the indomitable spirit of the women in her family, especially her mother from whom the reader learns what it means to be a woman in Colombia.

My Mother’s Funeral describes four Colombian generations of women who struggle, love, sing and die in a country of mysterious beauty as much as it charts the daunting and transforming process of the mother’s funeral and its unexpected byproduct:  the re-acquaintance with a long lost brother, the women in the family, and with them, the whole culture.

Páramo is a wonderful storyteller. She weaves in and out of time, creating a beautiful tale of love and loyalty. She captures family at its essence, no matter the culture in which it is rooted.  Along the way, she comes to see her mother not only in that role, but as a person as well. Remembering the passing of her mother's mother, Páramo recalls her realization that "...she and I were daughters. Both had called a woman Mother."

The book moves quickly and keeps the reader engaged on every page. The look into Colombian culture and Páramo's family feels personal and intimate. Anyone with a mother can relate to this book. I can whole-heartedly give it my recommendation.

In fact, I can do a bit more than that. I am excited to have the opportunity to be giving away a copy of My Mother's Funeral today. The Rafflecopter below has several ways you can enter. Stop by every day this week for more chances to win! I'll announce the winner next week. Good luck!

Pages: 274

Date Completed: December 23, 2013

*to read others' thoughts on My Mother's Funeral, check out the full tour schedule.*

a Rafflecopter giveaway