Camilo Aguirre

A failed attempt at telling the history of Colombia turns into a failed attempt by the author to express how he feels about Colombia and its history.

Books that review themselves:

"But most of my stories are about men. And my research is anecdotal and kinda lazy." (page 141)

"I had a well written statement and interviews I valued as sources. I want to talk about issues that are important to me. I want to use art to make issues visible and change points of view . . . But I talked with this friend and she told me it was about me. I guess she's right. I guess it's about who I am and where do I come from." (page 163)

I guess the above realizations came too late in the project to make course corrections, so much of the book is a really high-level and vague history of Colombia littered with little side stories from the author's family members, friends, or friends of friends. Most of the people -- acquaintances and historical figures -- are given little context for their usually single-page appearances. It all would probably make more sense to someone who grew up in Colombia or in the author's family, but I was sort of lost in the parade of names and the alphabet soup of organizations struggling for human rights or control of the country.

I don't feel like I learned much about Colombia or the author, and I was annoyed by copy-editing issues and the washed-out, blotchy nature of the art.… (mehr)