Our Lives Are the Rivers

This is an intelligent, exuberant book about one of South America's great, almost forgotten revolutionaries, Manuela Saenz. The juxtaposing of Saenz's POV with the POV of her slaves lends the book its considerable depth, enabling the reader to see Saenz clearly and to enter into the sweep of her romantic life without suffocating on the close first-person account of only one narrator. Saenz is Quixotic, deriving her revolutionary zeal from "the romantic novels she devoured." And this zeal, this force, is beautifully brought to life by Manrique's elegant and supple prose. Manuela Saenz' life was almost lost in the trash heap of history, but Manrique salvages it, and through his intelligent, forceful storytelling, she will, in all her intelligence, charm, wit and power, live on. Thank God for that!

I am not usually into historical fiction, but this book kept me up all night. The character of Manuela is intoxicatingly seductive, and the story itself is riveting. Jaime Manrique's language is elegant and beautiful. It's been days since I finished it, but I keep thinking about it...

In the same vein as The News from Paraguay, Our Lives are the Rivers has proven to be the most beautiful piece of literary fiction I have read in quite some time. This is a a breathtaking, sweeping novel based on the life of one of the most controversial women in the history of the Americas, Manuela Saenz.

From page one, Manuela Saenz grabs your lapels and practically insists you pay attention to her, (not unlike what she did with Bolivar upon their meeting in 1822). And after that, I was willingly along for the ride. It is more than evident that Manrique spent years getting to know his subject, because while she and her compatriots--including the liberator himself--are undeniably products of the 19th century, there is something about this story that feels timeless. I appreciate an author who can "deal" with race and class in a way that doesn't feel like "dealing" at all. (See: the relationship among Saenz and her servants Jonotas and Natan). The historical backdrop is vast and real, but not boring like many historical novels can get, bogged down in details that do nothing but sap the story. And I have to admit as well that the love story between Bolivar and Saenz is touching, gripping, and utterly complicated, but entirely believable at the same time. This is beautiful writing. A pleasurable, but also very important read.

From rags to riches back to rags, Manuela Saenz leads an extraordinary life with Simon Bolivar, the South American liberator, whom she idolized as a young girl. Manuela proves that she is more than just an illegitimate daughter and family outcast, along with her personal slaves Natan and Jonotas, she gathers information for the movement earning herself a medal and even faces battle dressed as a man in order to thwart an ambush on Bolivar and his troops and is then given the title of la Coronela (colonel). The liberator of the Liberator exhibits passion, vitality, and strength as much as she does conviction for the cause, the freedom of South American people. Manrique's novel is an engaging page turner from the start.