Written in bilingual poetry and prose, Claudia D. Hernández's Knitting the Fog is a memoir taking place in Guatemala, through Mexico, across the border, and settling in Los Angeles. Evoked by her writing, you can feel the hot humidity of Mayuelas, the cool air of Tactic, the Guatemalan pueblos central to Hernández’s upbringing and separated by a mountain range, a long bus ride. By ten years old, she leaves her beloved país behind, heading to the United States with her mother and sisters.
Cover Image from The Feminist Press website.
Told in multiple parts, "Part I: Life in Paradise, Also Known as Hell" is the longest of the four, purposeful in its detailing of her family and friends and life in the homeland. We follow Hernández as a child, sometimes referred to as diablita, witness to the domestic abuse between her parents, her father's alcoholism, the legendary throw-down between her mother and a local woman (the title to this story, "Pollita trasquilada" is perfect), and the pain enacted between girls and women. It feels heavy with truth, but the Spanish word that comes to mind as more encompassing of the feeling is pesado, like the humidity that descends on the pueblo. The truth is thick with the awareness and respect for where you come from. And one morning, at seven years old, Hernández wakes up to her mother gone, who left early to begin her journey north, leaving her three daughters in the care of her aunt until she could come back for them. It takes Victoria three years, but she crosses borders again to travel to Mayuelas. She will do the journey north once more with her daughters, her tesoros. It is an act of love and displacement meant to provide them all with better opportunities, though the impacts on her daughters are not all the same; this is not a one size fits all. For Hernández’s oldest sister, Sindy, who is eighteen by this time, the promise of a better life is hollow when it means uprooting her from a life she has chosen, one she wanted.
In “Part II: Our Journey to El Norte,” Hernández’s memories of their journey alongside a coyote is full of tension, naturally, without anything more than the frank narration of a child. The strain of paranoia and suspicion is palpable in their mother’s stress; she who has three children in tow. And one can only admire her, who has a ferocity born from love. With all the dangers this journey presents to its takers, especially to women and girls, the toll this takes on Victoria is another costly sacrifice immigrants and the children of immigrants recognize. Once in Los Angeles, her new home, Hernández describes learning English, her assimilation, and her experience being Guatemalan in a Latinx demographic that is predominantly Mexican. “Part III: The Promised Land” resonates with the Central American experience, perhaps particular to the west coast and border states, and not commonly explored in memoir. There is a certain validation seeing this on the page, detailed from the perspective of an immigrant child herself. “Part IV: Returning to My Motherland,” in which Hernández returns to Guatemala with her mother and her sister Consuelo for a brief visit, we arrive at a moment that feels like the peak of this memoir, what we were climbing towards. Beyond the harrowing journey with the coyote, further than migration and resettlement, or maybe precisely what that journey is meant to lead us to, we arrive at a circle of women who openly share their pain with one another, longing for peace. The story “Victoria” is beautiful and shattering. One must read this book if only to just get to that piece. Published by The Feminist Press, Knitting the Fog is a meaningful addition to the Central American canon.
(Note: a version of this review was posted on @nastymuchachitareads on March 4, 2020.)
Andrea Morales is a daughter of Guatemalan immigrants and from Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in Psychology. She now works at Macmillan Publishers as a Junior Contracts Associate for the adult trade division. Her book reviews and recommendations can be found on Instagram at @nastymuchachitareads and she lurks on Twitter as @nastymuchachita.
