by Isabel Quintero (Goodreads Author) , Zeke Peña
There’s an emphasis on Graciela’s fascination with birds, and how her thoughts on flight and wings inspired and influenced much of her work. There’s an ethereal feeling to each page, with drawings showing both the photographer and reproductions of her photographs.
I loved the importance of heritage and cultural identity in the story, since Graciela is best known for her photographs showing Mexican life. There is some dialogue and basic words in Spanish, so you might benefit from knowing just a little Spanish, but it’s not necessary to understand the book. I am fluent in Spanish, but some of the words were slang that I didn’t know, and I had to look up some of them. I appreciate that this adds to the rich cultural feel of the book, but I wish the words had been explained or translated somewhere so that the beautiful language and culture could be accessible to more people.
I guess I was expecting more of a story, but this was more like a exposition of her photographs, the places she traveled to take photos, and the other artists who influenced her work. I would have enjoyed it more if it had told a story, a drama, about her life. Her family is very briefly mentioned, but I wish there had been more story-telling.
Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.
