All Yours

by Claudia Pineiro

This is a portrait of a wife betrayed, at first desperate to save her marriage but then intent on violent revenge, also an unrelenting dissection of family life among the Argentine middle class. Ines is convinced that every wife is bound to be betrayed one day, so she is not surprised to find a note in her husband's briefcase with a heart smeared in lipstick crossed by the words All YoursA" and signed Your true loveA". She follows him to a park on a rainy winter evening and witnesses a violent quarrel he has with another woman. The woman collapses; Ernesto sinks her body in a nearby lake. When Ernesto becomes a suspect in the case she provides him with an alibi. After all, hatred can bring people together as urgently as love. But Ernesto cannot bring his sexual adventures to an end so Ines concocts a plan for revenge from which there is no return.

• ISBN13: 9781904738800
• Publish Date: 4 August 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bitter Lemon Press
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 186
• Language: English

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

Ok, confession time this is the first time, that I can think of, that I have read a translated book. At first, I did find it a bit stilted but Iñes sucked me into her story and I didn’t see anything else. The translation was smooth and the story was an intriguing one.

I mean how would you behave if you found out your husband was cheating on you and then potentially killed said mistress? Would you help cover up the misdemeanour or would you send his sorry ass to jail?

It was interesting to see the type of woman Iñes was. She opens up her plight by suggesting that men always cheat it’s just a matter of when. She’s been married to Ernesto for over 20 years and they have their daughter Lali. Lali despises her mum, and the few random chapters we have with her we see this. The chapters with Lali are told through conversations she has had and her story really pummels home the isolation that surrounds this family, as both parents are oblivious to what is going in front of them.

Iñes only has eyes for Ernesto in every sense, she is a woman portrayed as obsessed but with her monologue you see her more protective. Her behaviour does scream at you being a bit off the charts but when you find out what has happened you can see why she behaves the way she did.

The ending was a shock, I can honestly say I did not see that coming. It was left in a way that’s open to interpretation but there is also a finality to the sorry scenario. That is all I can say on the matter

Piñeiro in a few short pages has taken us on a turbulent journey, one that sends shockwaves throughout. A woman scorned is not necessarily someone you would want to mess with. Her actions have reasons, right or wrong, she can see no wrong, she sees it as her mummy would be proud of her. It leads me to believe that Iñes might be slightly unhinged. You are never quite sure who held the aces between Ernesto or Iñes, a tightly fought battle fraught with a lot of tension and manipulation. Neither aware of the implosion they are about to cause in their family.