The Tormenting Beauty of Empathy

★★★

I was fine reading this until...

...the author decided to parallel his character, Josefa, with Jesus. ​

​Ana, Josefa's mom, suffers a tragedy at an early age and becomes voluntarily mute. Even after she finds joy again, she remains mute. She gives birth to Josefa who, purportedly has a gift and the author all but calls her the next Christ, but doesn't mind making inferences, even going so far as to state "We perform the Sermon on the beach," and other scenes that made me a bit scared to read further because the way the author was leading the story. I don't want to give to much away. 

I don't know if the author is a devout Catholic who wanted to honor his beliefs in this work or if he's mocking Catholicism and Christianity. I felt it a mockery. As for the story, it wasn't badly written but plodded along at a steady pace that never really gained momentum. Nope, not even in moments that should've provided the reader with...more. There should have been a build up of some level so as to cause the reader to feel something, anything, but it was just words on a page. Zero empathy. I'm not saying that because I was offended at the text, rather because as a reader it's true. The writer has a good grasp of the written word, just misses the mark in drawing the reader in and creating empathy for his characters, which is odd since his title is "The Tormenting Beauty of Empathy".

​I kept reading, hoping it would take a turn, but then it abruptly ends soon after and that ending falls flat. What a disappointment that was. The last 40 pages were sneak peaks, so the story isn't as long as you might think.