The Wonders by Elena Medel had a very interesting premise of two seemingly unrelated women throughout time in Madrid. I struggled to get drawn in and it took me longer than necessary to finish this book. I loved the feminist theme of the book overall, but unfortunately, it fell short of what I had expected. Continue reading to get my full take on The Wonders.
Summary
Through the vivid interior worlds of two unforgettable characters, Elena Medel brings a half century of the feminist movement to life, revealing how little has really changed for women who work the night shift.
Winner of the prestigious Francisco Umbral Prize for Book of the Year and already a sensation in Spain, The Wonders follows María and Alicia through the streets of Madrid, from job to job and apartment to apartment, as they search for meaning and stability, unknowingly tracing each other’s footfalls across time.
María moved to the city in 1969, leaving her daughter with her family but hoping to save enough to take care of her one day. She worked as a housekeeper, a caregiver, a cleaner—somehow always taking care of someone else. Two generations later, during the Women’s March in 2018, Alicia was working at the snack shop in the Atocha train station when it overflowed with protesters and strikers. Women, so many women, were flooding the streets with their signs and chants. She couldn’t have known María was among them; she was on the clock. And later, she’d be looking for someone else, a man to take her away for a few hours, to make her forget. Anyone but her husband, with his pleas to go on bike rides together, to have children, to act like the other thirtysomething couples they knew.
Medel’s lyrical sensibility reveals her roots as a poet, but her fast-paced and expansive storytelling show she’s a novelist ahead of her time. With grit, texture, and mesmerizing prose, The Wonders launches an inimitable new voice in fiction.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Characters
I felt that the characters, Maria and Alicia were a bit flat and undeveloped in The Wonders. I do not feel that I truly got to know the characters. While one is consistently described as distant, that should not be the case for the reader’s relationship with the character. I mean, she was a narrator for half of the book.
Unfortunately, I found the characters, to be honest, unlikable. Inhumane seems like a strong word to use, but neither really seemed to have emotions. Some of the personality traits for both are drawing heavily upon feminist themes of choice. Both of the characters are uninterested in having children or being married, which are both legitimate thoughts and feelings. The fact remains, however, that these are opinions that are coming from two individuals that are otherwise depicted as selfish and lacking in emotions. This makes it a poor and unfair depiction of women who choose not to marry and/or have children.
Plot
The Wonder weaves through time in the entire plot. I did like that, as the reader, I could see how the characters developed and they were nearly parallel with each other in terms of stages of their lives. I enjoy references to feminist movements and activism revolving around Spain’s transition to democracy in the 1970s. Rather than being a major part of the book, it was more of a bookend.
Although this does seem to be the point of the book. As both Maria and Alicia are “women who work the night shift” some women’s roles do change, not always for poorer women. That, however, did not feel to be emphasized well enough.
The end also seemed to fall a bit flat as well. Not that there was a conflict that needed resolution, but I was left unsure of how it ended.
Overall
This was an interesting book to see the lives of these women. I just wish that there was more depth for the reader to connect with. The Wonders had a strong foundation, but it did not quite do it for me.
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