The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War

The fabulous, passionate, and revolutionary women in my life were celebrating my birth on June 5 and perusing my library shelves when Brianna spotted Gioconda Belli's "The Inhabited Woman," one of my all-time favorite reads. For one who finds it near impossible to suspend disbelief long enough to become immersed in fiction, I totally succumbed to Belli's poetic and hypnotic storytelling in "The Inhabited Woman." My friend and I exchanged loving remembrances of it and our inability to put it down, each reading into the morning hours. Our enthusiasm was such that others joined the conversation. I related my disappointment several years ago in finding no English translation of Belli's memoir "The Country Under My Skin." Brianna had it! So, I am now reading it and just as in reading her fiction, I am caught, dare I say--hypnotized, in Belli's rich story telling. As I approach the September of my life and writing about my own revolution as an Indigenous woman of North America, it is exciting to read Belli's life and struggle in Nicaragua as told in this fine memoir. It has been acclaimed as an extraordinary memoir of love, passion, and revolution told with honesty, intelligence, and poetry. The timing is supremely fitting as I share the reading with my dear and strong sisters in the justice movement at a strife-filled time in so many lives among and around us. Gioconda Belli gives hope and inspiration in sharing her story.

Its a passionating history of a country and the impressing story of a woman's life. I like it. Its so real.

In preparation for a trip to Nicaragua, I picked up this book as my introduction to the country and let me tell you: it got under my skin, too. If you are interested in getting a flavor for what Nicaragua is like and where it his been in recent history, I highly recommend The Country Under My Skin. As mentioned in other reviews, this is a story of a woman, not a nation, and that is what, for me, kept the book interesting. Whenever the love stories lingered too long, she would always give the reader a socio-political context to the public events that were so intertwined with her private life.

I am not suggesting, however, that this is anything resembling a definitive history of the Sandinista struggle. Belli's love for Nicaragua and it's poor is infectious and easily transferred through her lyrical prose. Read this book. Fall in love. You can learn more later.

Our book club enjoyed the discussion on politics which this feminist autobiography evoked, but shared no empathy with the author whose justification for being a member of the Sandanistas was unconvincing, allowing her to be judged as a promiscous, star-struck, thrill seeker motivated by the desire to shock and gain attention from her family by causing scandal within the upper echelons of Nicaraguan society. Honesty is the best quality of the writing style which used a journalistic approach rather than any poetic language.

i savored this book for months before i finally allowed myself to read the final chapters. she writes so lyrically and with such passion and imagery, yet without an abundance of superflous words. i read this while traveling through nicaragua and enjoyed every word of it.