Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman
Review by Jerseygirltoo
“Say Her Name” is a beautiful love story, but there is no happily ever after, because it’s also the story of a bereavement. The author, Francisco Goldman, loses his young Mexican wife, Aura, to a freak swimming accident while they are vacationing on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. This sounds like a depressing topic but it’s a great book, and I definitely recommend it, especially if you’ve ever lost a partner, or know someone who has lost a partner. It helped me to understand why sometimes people can’t just “get over it” the way we want them to after a “decent” period of time has elapsed.
I’m not sure why the book is subtitled “A Novel” because I’m pretty sure every word is true. The author gives us an insight into how it feels to lose the person you believe was the love of your life, prematurely. In this case, it was more ironic because he was much older than her, and they both assumed (considering the length of a normal lifespan) that he would be the first to go.
Goldman’s profession is writing, and he has several other published books. Aura, who was working on her PhD at Columbia University while they lived together in Brooklyn, also had ambitions of becoming a published writer. The book includes excerpts from her diaries and short stories, which he pored over after her death.
I really admire the author for his honesty and the way he exposes his human frailties. Some of the things he tells us he did during his grieving were irrational and not at all flattering to him. We hear all about the magical thinking and strange superstitious habits that he develops after her death, in a futile attempt to somehow keep her alive and present in this world even though she’s gone.
The narrative goes back and forth from the time the couple spent together, starting with their first meeting to their last day together, to his life before meeting her, her childhood (gleaned from the diaries and stories she and other people who knew her told him) and his life as a widower The jumps in time are not at all hard to follow, and they keep the book moving along. It’s a good tactic for holding the reader’s interest, because after all, this is not a story you are reading to find out what the ending will be.
Some parts of this book are very sad, some are frightening, and some parts are sweet and funny. Aura Estrada (and I can’t believe I got this far into the review without mentioning her full name, because the title of the book is “Say Her Name”) was a vibrant, talented, lovable, and quirky young woman. Her widower is pretty well inconsolable after losing her and after reading this book I understand why. But by sharing the story of their life together, he did ensure that she would have some form of immortality, and a lot of readers will now know who she was and not forget her name.
I love the book cover.
Hena, I think it’s Aura’s wedding dress.