A lot of what feels inexplicable about this book hinges on the fact that she wrote this in the run up to 1992 and the 500th anniversary of Columbus. She's said openly that she thinks Columbus gets a bad rap and we wouldn't do any better if we had it to do over. So a lot of the stuff - breathing the air, eating the food etc - is mimicking what Columbus et al did.
That doesn't explain why Emilio ends up as he does, in the brothel. That whole part of the story was just torturous, for everyone, characters and readers, on every level.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2023-10-24 01:25 am (UTC)That doesn't explain why Emilio ends up as he does, in the brothel. That whole part of the story was just torturous, for everyone, characters and readers, on every level.