Labyrinth of Struggle

"Labyrinth of Struggle" (2006) is a novel by Mauricio Escobar that mixes different genres of storytelling, focusing on the horrible conditions and obstacles women faced during the Spanish Civil War. It follows the life of one family and its struggle to survive in an ever changing world. It is written from the third person perspective and chronologically follows the torturous stories of three different women and their eventual survival as individuals. The book incorporates visceral philosophical undertones and surreal like descriptive language with poetic verses (following the Latin American tradition of descriptive narrative).

Plot summary

The book is divided into four stages of the main character's life. Mauricio is the son of Marysol, the last woman in line, and he is trying to make sense of all the women in the story he is related to: Maria, the matriarch; Magdalena, the daughter; Marysol, the granddaughter.

It starts when his mother is dying in the hospital bed, which begins his recollections of his mother's life and his upbringing: the death of his grandmother when he is a small boy which leads to his mother's decision to tell of her upbringing in Civil War torn Spain; early teens when he begins to search for his "traveler" father which leads him through a maze like path of his mother's deceit; late teens, where he discovers his progeny and his mother's real reason for hating men and wanting him to respect women above all else; ending back in the hospital bed as his mother expires and what it all means to be her son. The ending ends the discussion of Heritage, originally started in the opening scene by him.

The book itself is anachronistically written to make the stories and their transition feel like a labyrinth of these women's struggles. Placing the reader in the same level as the Mauricio character, who learns and discovers as he grows up.

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