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The Queen of Water Laura Resau Maria Virginia Farinango Books

Download As PDF : The Queen of Water Laura Resau Maria Virginia Farinango Books

The Queen of Water Laura Resau Maria Virginia Farinango Books

I could not put down this special collaboration between Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango! The Queen of Water perfectly depicts the cultures and setting of rural Ecuador, and taught me a lot about the social issues. I was deeply moved by Maria Virginia's struggle and inspired by her strength and will to overcome. The fact that she took an unjust and tragic situation and used it to formally educate herself and significantly raise the quality of her life is commendable. This story has been steadfast in my head since I read it and I look forward to reading it again soon... And getting my hands on more of Laura Resau's writing! I have shared The Queen of Water with my mom, sisters, and various friends... the conclusion is it is a fast read, yet very impactful and everyone loved it. I am happy a dear friend passed it along to me in May!

*I was recently fortunate enough to visit with Maria Virginia in Otavalo and she is every bit of the strong, yet gentle woman I expected her to be. She is caring, sincere, and a true advocate of education and individual rights.

Now that I have read Laura Resau's very rich, raw, and realistic novels (though labeled a novel, The Queen of Water is a biography with minor changes), I feel that Laura wrote The Queen of Water using Maria Virginia's voice, or her portrayal of it. I would love to see The Queen of Water translated and published in Spanish!


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The Queen of Water Laura Resau Maria Virginia Farinango Books Reviews

I'm always fascinated by stories of people who beat the odds and rise above a likely dreadful destiny. I met the dynamic real-life character of this book; she treats others with the kindness and dignity she was denied as a child, makes no excuses, doesn't look back and pushes forward. I teach high school and have read this book with classes on several occasions. Most students experience a great sense of empathy; some high school boys have told me this was the first book they actually read all the way through.
The story is magnificent;the telling of the story is even better. A remarkable, insightful, very personal, and incredibly uplifting biographical story that begins with a young girl, and ends with a teenager. In between are stunning of revelations into culture, inbred racism, coming to terms with life, self introspection, honesty with oneself, with one's existence and one's identification. Powerful and instructive. This is a story of an amazing child/woman, that is written deftly, caringly, honestly, and engagingly. Thought and reflection of message are the guiding principles in this fantastic book. This story and this novel are a gift to us all. This is a superb crafting of the life story that is real and visceral.
This is somewhat like a fairytale... in the end anyway. The beginning, not so much.

Virginia comes from a very poor Indian family in Ecuador. References to the tv show MacGyver had me thinking her childhood was the 1980s and I was surprised by how very backwards Ecuador was. Virginia doesn't even know her birthday. Her family lives in a dirt hole basically. They work themselves to the bone for the white man who come sand steals their children and make them into slaves.

Virginia is forced to be a nanny. She is beaten for every little thing. She is locked inside the house even for entire weekends. She is not allowed to go to school. To make matters worse, as she enters womanhood, the man of the house begins to look at her in a very "unfatherlike" way.

It's a very sad story.. of a girl forced to be slave and denied the life she wants and deserves. She has a bright mind and teaches herself while locked in the house. She learns to read, does science experiments, writes poetry. Even worse, her kidnpaper/boss raises her believing her people, her heritage, her family even, is something to be ashamed of.

In the end, Virginia is asked to be enter a pageant for an Indian queen. How can she be an Indian queen when she is ashamed of being Indian? She must decide what side of the fence she is going to be on and come to terms with her heritage. It's nothing to be ashamed of.. and she can either continuing pretending to be "white" or she can become an Indian that can represent her people.

Extremely well written and hooked me from the get go. I have one quibble.. Virginia made me mad.. her weakness and inability to take any opportunity to leave her abusive captors angered me to the point I had to set the book down at times. I don't like weak heroines. I was yelling at her, "he's gonna rape you and you want to go back?? What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you leave when you had the chance??" and so on. I began to suspect that Virginia had Stockholm's syndrome, but as Virginia says, "Fear feels familiar. And freedom feels terrifying." I still didn't like it though.

She redeems herself in the end, however, and even brought me to tears with a heartfelt speech.

Favorite quote "Have you noticed that if you really want something, you can make it happen? But you need to be sure it's what you really want, because sometimes, when it comes true, you realize too late that it's not what you wanted."
The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau, opened my eyes to some of the problems of racism and classism in contemporary Latin America.

A novel based on a true story, "The Queen of Water" tells the story of Virginia, a little girl who is taken from her dirt-poor indigena family in mountainous rural Ecuador to be, basically, a slave to a slightly wealthier couple. To Virginia, who is only seven at the time, it's never clear whether she was sold, taken, or given away. She just knows that she is a housekeeper and child care provider to a couple who keep her locked inside the house at all times and won't even let her eat off the same plates the family uses.

As Virginia grows up in this household, her world begins to change when she learns how to read and begins to educate herself as much as possible. The story winds up being a testament to the power of education and determination. It's also a poignant memoir of how it feels to not belong anywhere.

Technically, "The Queen of Water" is a young adult novel. As such, it didn't go into as much depth as I would have liked. But it's a fascinating story, made even more interesting by being based on fact, and it's an easy read. If, like me, you don't remember much from that tiny bit of Latin American history you got in school, you might find this book eye-opening.
I could not put down this special collaboration between Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango! The Queen of Water perfectly depicts the cultures and setting of rural Ecuador, and taught me a lot about the social issues. I was deeply moved by Maria Virginia's struggle and inspired by her strength and will to overcome. The fact that she took an unjust and tragic situation and used it to formally educate herself and significantly raise the quality of her life is commendable. This story has been steadfast in my head since I read it and I look forward to reading it again soon... And getting my hands on more of Laura Resau's writing! I have shared The Queen of Water with my mom, sisters, and various friends... the conclusion is it is a fast read, yet very impactful and everyone loved it. I am happy a dear friend passed it along to me in May!

*I was recently fortunate enough to visit with Maria Virginia in Otavalo and she is every bit of the strong, yet gentle woman I expected her to be. She is caring, sincere, and a true advocate of education and individual rights.

Now that I have read Laura Resau's very rich, raw, and realistic novels (though labeled a novel, The Queen of Water is a biography with minor changes), I feel that Laura wrote The Queen of Water using Maria Virginia's voice, or her portrayal of it. I would love to see The Queen of Water translated and published in Spanish!