Las primas

If the story told in this shocking novel by Aurora Venturini were set in Texas, it would surely have in it murderous psychopaths, guts and blood in abundance. This is not the case, fortunately for the readers, despite the fact that within the family that stars it there are murderers -and murders -, prostitutes, accessories, mentally retarded and a dwarf. Also a fine arts teacher, a gifted student and a mother teacher. Aura Venturini dissects the society of her youth, in La Plata (Argentina) in the forties, a family made up of women and totally dysfunctional that shows an amazing ability to get ahead, to the point that the protagonist manages to become a painter famous. Yuna, the narrator, recounts in first person her years of training and self-improvement, with a corrosive sense of humor and without mincing words.