Hi everyone!
I recently finished reading The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas and it was such an amazing read, I cannot stop thinking about it. I took a break from posting for awhile but I hope this review makes up for it : )
SYNOPSIS:
Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches…
In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.
But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.
When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?
Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will help her.
Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.
Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.
REVIEW
The Hacienda explores post colonial Mexico through the eyes of Beatriz, a mixed race woman, striving to make her place in a society that is against her in every way, and Padre Andres, a catholic priest who struggles to make peace with his indigenous heritage and beliefs while being a member of the Church.
The characterisation of Beatriz is probably one of my favourite parts of the novel, aside from the “hauntingly” beautiful manner in which the state of Hacienda San Isidro is used as a metaphor for the effects of colonialism on Mexican society. Beatriz is portrayed as a dynamic, driven character. She fights for what she wants, and is willing to do anything to regain the safety and stability she had in her life before the tragic events that happened to her Papa.
As a mixed race woman, Beatriz always remains in that awkward middle ground. Not fully rejected, yet accepted by neither. Neither by the indigenous community, nor by members of the colonial enterprise. To the indigenous community she is a reminder of the violence their people and nation suffered through, she is a constant remind, just like the haunting of the house, that a nation and its people will never be free of the shackles of a colonial past. To the colonial enterprise, she is a product of everything they advocate against. She is representative of the “flaw” of not being a “pure-bred” woman of Spanish ancestry. This push and pull between Beatriz’s identities does create gaping uncertainties for her and her place in Mexican society, it also however categorises her as somewhat of a “hybrid”. This hybridity of hers allows her to be a fluid character throughout the book, more so where unlike Juana (the estate owner’s sister) or others before her, she can access a lot of spaces in the house. Her identity also allows her to form a connection with possibly the only other person in San Isidro that could ever understand her— Padre Andres, another character who was conflicted between his identity as a Catholic priest and the grandson of an Indigenous woman who taught him all about his culture and where he came from.
The effects of colonialism are portrayed in a gut wrenching manner throughout the book. Padre Andres forgets the language his grandmother taught him at a climax point of the novel, he forgets a ritual he was supposed to know. But forgetting isn’t a simple trick of memory. Forgetting meant, forgetting who he was, who his people were. Forgetting meant that even after “independence” the people who had put his family and other families like his through the worst sort of pain, violence, and terror had won. Further, Cañas also personifies the house in a manner that the haunting presence in the house is representative of how the effects of colonialism are always present, always haunting, never leaving the minds and lives of a community.
To sum it up The Hacienda is truly a stunning tale fused with elements of horror, a backdrop of postcolonial Mexico, well written characters, and truly portrays the harrowing nature of colonialism for communities and countries. I would definitely recommend this book is you are interested in colonialism in the context of Latin America.
Definitely do check out the concept of “Hauntology” while reading, it makes the novel even more interesting to analyse!
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review, sorry for not posting sooner!
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