I finally finished all 500 + pages of Cancer Ward! It definitely read more like school literature than a novel, with a fair amount of symbolism that I just don’t know enough to understand, but it.was interesting and I feel slightly smarter now 😂 Reading this also reminded me of one of my earliest memories, when I was 8 and watching the Berlin Wall coming down on the news. I had no idea what was actually happening, but it made my mom cry, which was unusual enough to stick in my memory.

I am about 20 pages into Gabriela/Clove and Cinnamon, and so far it reads more like a novel. Have any of you read this book? It is written by Brazilian Jorge Amado.

I think I will read Pearl by Sian Hughes next; thank you to wordancerblog for the recommendation!