He’s like the devil himself, whispering words into the characters’ ears, tempting and gently provoking until murder and violence ensue. Without meaning to, Sara causes a man — a good man who’s committed murder to avenge the crime committed against his young, innocent daughter — to go to prison. Afterwards, Robert softly coaxes this man to take revenge against Sara.
As with the other novellas, this one also deals with the concepts of evil and violence and how they are inherent in all of us, a theme that often surfaces in Sanchez’s works. “I think God made us in his image and God has a mean streak a mile wide is what I think,” (131) says Robert to Sara.
Dreams, often violent, are always an element used by this author to add insight and symbolism to the writing. Sanchez also enjoys including wild animals in the story, not only as tools for magical realism, but to somehow show the paradox of the beauty and brutality that is nature - another one of her recurrent themes.
Three Novellas isn’t an easy read. For the average reader, it is a challenge. For the sophisticated booklover, it is a tasty morsel to be savored slowly and patiently in order to absorb all it has to offer. What stands out, above all, is the purity and splendor of the writing. Sanchez’s works are rare delicacies.
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