Review of La Hija de Luz y Fer

[Maduabuchi Okwiya N Eze]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "La Hija de Luz y Fer" by Stefania Hernandez.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Life happens. The euphoria of being among a privileged few could, with a combination of personal hubris, lead one into dangerous lifestyles and oppressive conduct. The fear of losing one's loved one and obsessive greed can lead people to make some uncalculated moves, resulting in more strain and a breach of trust. The stabs of yesterday may make people lose the opportunity presented to them to attempt, once more, reconciliation and restitution, until things get out of hand and such an opportunity is lost forever, and through all this, little, innocent souls suffer for the crimes of adults. These instances run through the autobiography La Hija de Luz y Fer: The Daughter of Luz y Fer.

The predominant lesson in this autobiography is that actions have consequences, and it doesn't matter how long they take. Unfortunately, the consequences of one's actions sometimes affect those who know nothing about them. Such was the condition of Stefania Hernandez, the author of this book. I was impressed with Stefania's word choices; they were so vivid and helped me understand the depth at which the societal realities of the narco regime of Pablo Escobar of Colombia and the broken family she found herself in affected her childhood and adult life.

I would say that Stefania's father, Fer, and mother, Luz, found themselves at the wrong period of their country's history, and their incompatible personal values made things worse for them. Going by their conduct across various incidents, I could sense they were unfortunate not to have each other's back at critical moments of their lives; that is, Fer failed to respect Luz's young dreams, and Luz failed to utilize the opportunity she had to initiate important discussions, given that Fer was likelier to take corrections then. Yes, the violations and pains of yesterday were still there, but who knows whether that would have birthed a new beginning that would have done their daughter great good?

I think the author was unbiased in her account. She freely expressed her evolving opinions about her mother and her father. Although some of her comments might give the impression that she was ungrateful for her mother's sacrifices or downplayed the implications of her father's actions, I suppose she was only sincere about her feelings; familial love is such a powerful force that can cross a lot of boundaries and redlines, and her desire to make positive impacts in the life of her father should help put things in their proper context.

The narration was fluid; I had no issues following the switch between incidents that happened in Colombia, Miami, and New York City. Because of this book's powerful messages on the implications of moral depravation, the narco-state, and failed marriage, I rate it four out of five stars. I removed one star from the rating because I found more than ten grammatical errors in it, though I have to note the errors didn't hinder my reading; most of the mistakes were omissions of the punctuation mark apostrophe.

I recommend this book to victims of failed marriages and abuse. It is also a helpful piece for parents, youth, and those in courtship. Apart from the over ten grammatical errors I found in this book, I don't have any other issues to report about it. I learned a lot of lessons from this installment and look forward to reading the other two books in the trilogy. The book is available in both English and Spanish versions.

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La Hija de Luz y Fer
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[NetMassimo]

An autobiographical tale set in Colombia under the de-facto rule of drug lorda such as Escobar can be interesting to understand the consequences of that situation, even within what's supposed to be a normal family. Thank you for your great review!