En Italia admiró, como todos, al Che Guevara. Recordaba la fascinación de su abuelo por Fidel Castro y la revolución. Pero ella no era de esa estripe. Lo tenía muy claro. Una cosa era no estar de acuerdo con la dinastía y otra cosa era luchar con las armas contra un ejército entrenado para matar a sangre fría. Se requería otro tipo de personalidad, otra madera.

The Inhabited Woman is an extremely realistic story of feminism, privilege and social injustice with a hint of magical realism. Lavinia, a young architect that belongs to the privileged class of Faguas, an imaginary city in a country that closely resembles Nicaragua- Belli’s native country- under the military regime, considers herself an independent and empowered woman. After returning from her studies in Europe, and against the will of her family, she moves by herself to the house of her late aunt Inés and starts working in an architecture firm. She is proud of being able to break the patterns of the traditional upper-class life and feels like she’s won the fight against the patriarchal society. Then she meets Felipe, a man who is involved in the revolutionary movement that is fighting against the dictatorship in Faguas, and her life changes completely.

Itzá is an indigenous woman that fought against the Spanish during the conquest of America. Her spirit inhabits an orange tree in aunt Inés’ house, and then Lavinia’s body, where she observes and interferes with Lavinia. Lavinia thus becomes the inhabited woman. Itzá helps Lavinia realize that the status quo can change and gives her the courage to join the revolutionary movement. With Itzá’s story we observe the similarities between the fights of the indigenous population and the revolutionary movement against their oppressors, and the shared feelings and dreams of women across time.

Belli’s writing is descriptive and many times even poetic. The plot is realistic yet full of suspense. However, what I liked the most were the characters and their development throughout the story. Even if she had not described anything in the book, the reader would be able to understand the injustice, the privilege and the fear of changing the status quo or the need to fight, both against the patriarchal society and the military regime, just by looking at the characters. Although I found Itzá’s story beautiful and the prose gorgeous, I don’t think her intervention was necessary for Lavinia to realize that she had to fight against the injustice of her country. Lavinia’s character was strong enough to have these realizations by herself, and the fact that she needed a spirit inside her inspiring her to fight, lessened the force behind Lavinia’s transformation. Belli did an amazing job at depicting Lavinia’s internal fight; how she reconciled her privilege with the revolutionary fight and her own internal feminist fight. Lavinia realizes that women always have to fight harder to earn their place in history, but that her place in the world makes it easier for her than for other, and she is willing to do anything to change that.

About Gioconda Belli

Giaconda Belli was born in Managua, Nicaragua in 1948. As Lavinia, she belonged to the privileged people of Nicaragua. She was an active participant in the Sandinista struggle against the Somoza dictatorship, which forced into exile in Mexico in 1975. The Inhabited Woman was her first novel.

Other books written by Nicaraguan women:

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Nicaraguan initiatives and projects that support and empower girls and women

Grupo Hijas de la Luna

Grupo Hijas de la Luna is a theater company that since 1999 educates, through plays and visual arts, young people about sexual and reproductive rights. They have a program to support lesbian and bisexual women. And work with boys and young men to promote gender equality.