Birds without a Nest: A Novel: A Story of Indian Life and Priestly Oppression in Peru

By reading the back cover of the book you will have spoiled the ending. Enjoy.

This novel by Peruvian female writer Clorinda Matto de Turner constitutes the first female narrative fictional text denouncing discrimination of female indians in Peru and perhaps Latin America. It reminds us of what Rigoberta Menchu did in the 90's regarding human right abuses in Guatemala, only that Clorinda did it one hundred years before. The novel, which lacks the stylistic traits of present female narrative, is strong in terms of content and validity as a social document. Clorinda Matto was a brave woman, daring to represent the medieval rules that structured the lives of indian women (and men) during the 19th century and most of the twentieth century.

Me dejó impresionado los detalles relatados del dia a dia de los últimos años de siglo XIX, tiempo de vivencia de la autora. Encontré fantastico los detalles de un viaje de ferrocarril en un paisaje andino en 1870.

I read this book while spending a month in a small Peruvian village in the Andes. A village that is far from the tourist path of Machu Pichu. A village that would mirror the mountain community of Killac, the setting for this engaging classic. Killac, is a village that depicts the neglect, backwardness and feudalism that existed in Peru at the turn of the twentieth century, and to some extent still exists today. "Torn from the Nest" is a brilliant story of love, power, courage, oppression, virtue, incest and deceit written in 1889, and was selected as one of the first volumes in the Library of Latin America, Oxford. The "Library of Latin America" series makes available, in English, major nineteenth century authors whose work has been neglected in the English speaking world. To be selected as one of the first works by this editorial committee was no small feat, especially when you consider the plethora of writing against which this title competed. Clorinda Matto de Turner dared to change the demented orthodoxy of the Roman Catholic Church and the oppression of the indigenous Indians by the immoral wealthy gentry, including the village priest. Her anti-clerical tone was unmistakable; so much so, that the Catholic Church in Peru immediately condemned the book and considered it heretical and blatantly irreverent (that was enough to get me to read this book). This condemnation set in motion the persecution of Clorinda Matto de Turner. In the months and years to follow, because of her social, political and religious writings, she was suppressed, oppressed and finally driven from her county. Though a century has passed, the Indians of Peru are still a oppressed people, held back by lack of education, oppression of culture and language and economic exploitation. This year, for the first time in Peruvian democratic history, a candiate from Inca descent has been elected president of Peru. For those interested in the . Highly Recommended "If the book is good, is about something that you know, and is truly written, and reading it over you see that this is so." (Ernest Hemingway)

Aves sin nido is not a perfect book, its importance in the Latin American literature lies in the fact that it was the first novel to attempt to give a realistic portrait of the Indians and to call attention to their miserable situation. This soon created a fashion in the beginning of the twentieth century when the novels were usually about the oppression the Indians live under or the rich culture of these oppressed Indians that infiltrates in the Latin American culture. The novel by Clarinda Matto de Turner offers an utterly pleasurable story about a nice young white couple who helps a nice young Indian couple, but many essays were written about the imperfections in the characterisation, the errors in the style and the failure of the author to keep the tension throughout the story. Still, it is an easy read, with an easily decipherable message. Of course, it often falls in the trap of exoticism, frequently alluding to the richness of the Indian culture, many of them now part of our minimal notion about Andean Indians (the llamas, the alpaca, etc.) It also falls in the trap of constantly trying to show us that Indians are also nice people, thus drawing a rather one-dimensional portrait of the characters. But considering that she was a pioneer in this matter this propagandistic details can be forgiven. And considering realism, in some ways the novel is far more realistic and less corny than say Uncle Tom's Cabin.