Optic Nerve

Optic Nerve / Maria Gainza, translated by Thomas Bunstead, 193 pg.

A novel with a first person narrator who goes between talking about works of art and her life.  I started strongly on this book then drifted away.  I'm not blaming the book but the time.  I enjoyed reading every page but not sure I got as much out of it as I could.  Reading other reviews on GoodReads and the professional reviews makes me think I missed something.  This did make it to the last round of the Tournament of Books and for me, that is reason enough to read it.

Who is Vera Kelly?

Who is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht, 266 pages.

We meet Vera when she has disappointed her mother. Vera has been kicked out of school, institutionalized, and disowned. We meet her again nine years later in Buenos Aires working for the US, evaluating opposition to Argentine leadership.
Knecht does a great job with the sense of time and place, convincing the reader (or at least a sometimes inattentive reader like myself) that this is 1966 Argentina.
Vera is an interesting character, too. She is alone in the world, seemingly always will be. While she is more comfortable with herself and her sexuality in Greenwich Village, she gives us the idea that she is always detached from others. The story moves along nicely, jumping back and forth between her younger years in New York and the turmoil in Argentina.
I listened to this through our Overdrive collection.
Narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers.