The Heart that Bleeds (Latin America Now) by Alma Guillermoprieto

The Heart that Bleeds by Alma Guillermoprieto is a great collection of essays ('dispatches' for New Yorker) from various Latin American cities by Alma Guillermoprieto, who is a Mexican writer. Having almost zero context on Latin America, this book was a perfect introduction to the culture, politics and people of the continent. Each chapter picks a theme within a city, and beautifully expands on it - with the right level of detail and context. And even when you don't know anything about Lima, lets say, you find yourself in the middle of a story building up in the city, intertwined in its politics and culture. And a lot of the stories are political. The writer set this up in the introduction of the book - which perhaps is the best written part of the book - touching up on the core theme of the book. 

She writes - 'The questions not yet answered in Latin America have to do with a coherent future vision, not only of how the hugely unequal sectors of Latin-American society can all modernize themselves into the same century, but of how they can modernize each other into the same ethical standards and a rough consensus regarding what it is that a modern society owes its citizens, and what those citizens owe each other'. 

I believe Amal is one of the best non-fiction writer i have read recently. Her writing just flows. This is a great example of how you engage readers in the most complex of issues when they have limited context about the place you are writing about. I felt like i was in the comunas while reading the Medellin essay on the drug infused densely populated hills or attending the Umbanda ceremonies while reading the Rio essay. The best chapters for me were the Mexico City ones, along with the ones set in Brazil and Peru. So much so, that i am looking to read more about these places and at some point maybe visit them as well. 

The writing is as beautiful as the material is depressing. Constantly, one encounters corrupt politicians, innocent civilians murdered, and drugs which have entered all aspects of the society. The one silver lining was the Managua essay highlighting the election victory of Violeta Chamorro against the long time president Daniel Ortega. And i cant help but draw parallels between these far away Latin American societies and the issues we face here in India. Here's hoping we all can come out of our century of solitude and see new light.