Helplessness permeates Pineiro's work. Elena, becoming shackled to immobility due to a degenerative disease must navigate the world anew with her daughter and caretaker, Rita. Their interactions are fraught, marred by their proximity and Elena’s illness (personified as Her), which requires Rita to pay round-the-clock attention to her mother. This is not to be, as Rita is found dead, hung in the belfry of a church in what the state believes is a suicide but what Elena believes to be a murder.

What follows is a journey through a day in Elena’s life as she tries to call in a favour from a lady, Isabel, which requires Elena to take transit from her residence to the other side of Buenos Aires. Regimented by medication, she faces the prospect of entrapment, an inability to move from any given point due to her medication as she attempts to make what should be a short journey, but to Elena, seems an eternity.

The novel, interspersed with anecdotes from her time with Rita, her interactions with government and Rita’s part. Pineiro seamlessly weaves tales of Elena and Rita battling with her insurers to get the medication she needs, to filtering through the Sisyphean process of getting a disability certificate, to Rita’s disgust at her mother’s newfound defencelessness, making Elena wear bibs and go to the salon to beautify herself, making the disease palatable for Rita to look at, all but to name a few. Throughout this Rita faces immense isolation, a realization that Elena has at the very end of the novel, where Isabela tells Elena that people are often forced by their circumstances to do things that they would have previously never considered.

This is not a typical tale from the crime shelves. This is possibly one of the best things I have read in years: it is a multifaceted exploration of illness, family, government and grief, while underscoring the importance of bodily autonomy and the dangers of its violation. 5/5 stars. ( )

Interesting plot, well-written story, but wow is this dark. ( )

Poco después de que Rita aparece muerta en la iglesia que suele frecuentar, la investigación se da por cerrada, y su madre es la única que no renuncia a esclarecer el crimen. Pero jaqueada por la enfermedad, es también la menos indicada para encabezar la búsqueda del asesino. Un penoso viaje de los suburbios a la Capital, una vieja deuda de gratitud, una conversación reveladora.

Una novela que desnuda los secretos de sus personajes y las facetas ocultas del autoritarismo y la hipocresía que conforman nuestra sociedad.

Elena sabe ganó en Alemania el certamen LiBeraturpreis 2010, que premia a la mejor novela escrita por una mujer.

I really liked this but I wish it got to its conclusion faster. For being not even 200 pages I thought I would finish this in a day or two. Somehow it moves incredibly slowly, probably because there is zero plot (the entire plot is her getting onto a train and then into a taxi and then having a conversation with a woman). Still, I loved the ending enough to make up for it.

Also, most of the book was super pro life which was annoying but like whatever we should be open to different opinions, but I felt so justified and righteous at the end when it was actually pro choice like YES. THANK YOU. Finally, a book where getting pregnant is not the height of the female achievement. ( )

Poco después de que Rita aparezca muerta en la iglesia que suele frecuentar, la investigación se da por cerrada, y su madre es la única que no renuncia a esclarecer el crimen. Pero, jaqueada por la enfermedad, es también la menos indicada para encabezar la búsqueda del asesino.
Un penoso viaje de los suburbios a la Capital, una vieja deuda de gratitud, una conversación reveladora.