BY DAVID LEARY
I really enjoyed The Altering Eye. The photographs, some of which you showed me last year, were arresting and striking. Remarkable, really. That, I expected. But I was wasn't prepared for how good the writing would be, full of vivid detail and color and well-chosen anecdotes. You put the reader right there with you.
The book really brings home the horrors of Colombia's violent past. I just finished reading Marie Arana's Silver, Sword and Stone (you've probably heard of it, but I'll put a link to the NY Times review), and she discusses Colombia at length, especially the 1948 political assassination that sparked so much rioting and violence in Bogatá. The death of your uncle in that tumult suddenly put a face to the violence she described. In fact, there were many instances where your reporting and descriptions fleshed out and personalized news stories I had heard over the years. The reader sees how traumatized you (and by extension, the country) were by all the blood. The book also reads like a microcosm of the country's class struggles.
Well done, Zoraida. I’m proud to know you. I'm now going to put The Altering Eye in my bookcase. Thank you very much.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/books/review/silver-sword-and-stone-marie-arana.html