Juventud

October 26, 2015
Blakeslee's striking first novel (after the story collection Train Shots) captures the essence of bring a teenager in late 1990s Colombia. Mercedes lives with her wealthy landowner father and their many hired helpers on a grand hacienda in Cali. She grapples with a reality she sees at the ends of the property: the dozens of displaced and impoverished Colombians sustained only by her father's meager work opportunities. When she falls deeply in love with a social activist, her political opinions, sexual curiosity, and inclinations to sneak around and defy her father's strict rules are awakened. One fateful night destroys Mercedes's world and causes her to flee her life in Colombia for one in the United States. Not until 15 years later does she return to find answers to her many questions about where she came from. What begins as running away from tragedy and betrayal turns into seeking out the reconciliation of one's past. This tale of self-discovery and intense first love is spiced with bursts of action and curious twists. It will engage readers who have a soft spot for entertaining storytelling and a familiarity with Colombian social history.

September 1, 2015
A young girl discovers her father's shocking secret, and the course of her life changes drastically as a result. Debut novelist Blakeslee introduces readers to Mercedes Martinez, a 15-year-old Colombian girl enjoying a comfortable life within the gated communities of her country's upper middle class. Despite the civil conflict driven by narcotrafficking raging around her, she's kept at a safe distance by her father, an accomplished farmer with a vast network of workers and associates. But when Mercedes becomes involved with a young man motivated to change the country and uproot the corruption defining Colombian politics, she's confronted with a series of troubling revelations about who her father truly is and why her mother left years before. This new information prompts her to take extreme and sudden steps to leave Colombia, setting her on an unexpected path as she enters her late teens. The bulk of the novel is given over to a short period preceding her decision to leave, setting up the tragedy that haunts her for the rest of her life. Although the payoff is strong, maintaining interest in what feels like two books combined into one can be trying. The story succeeds in exploring the nuanced and complex world of the drug trade, religion, and law enforcement in Colombia and later touches on the way they impact policy on a much wider level. Though the narrative is uneven early on, with scenes that feel forced and turns that feel extremely sudden, it levels out as it goes along, and the conclusion is gratifying enough to make sticking with it worth the effort. Ambitious in the ground it covers and moving at times, but it falls short at the many hairpin plot turns.

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October 1, 2015

Juventud ("Youth" in Spanish) is American author Blakeslee's debut novel, following a short story collection published last year. It is written from the perspective of Mercedes, a Colombian with partly Jewish heritage raised by her father on a large estate in the city of Cali, Colombia. Portions of her life as an adult bookend the teenage recollections, but it reads more like an academic paper on the history of the region than a heartfelt remembrance of a terrifying time. Mercedes's past is shrouded in mystery: her mother and grandparents are gone and her Papi possibly grew rich from nefarious sources. Papi wants her to go to school in America and leave the dangerous streets of Cali behind. She studies English halfheartedly with a private tutor; she has also met a boy, a young Catholic revolutionary who butts heads with her father. She sneaks around to see him and loses her virginity to him (although he makes many arguments for saving themselves for marriage) until one night tragedy strikes. VERDICT This historical fiction/coming-of-age story has been told many times, occasionally in more convincing or eloquent ways. Yet this first novel is well researched and shows off an up-and-coming author with solid storytelling skills.--Kate Gray, Boston P.L., MA

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