Dying Unfinished

by Maria Espinosa

Extending the story of the troubled life of Rosa, a character first developed by the author in "Longing," this novel describes her difficult relationship with her mother, Eleanor. Rosa's story unfolds... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0916727459
• ISBN13: 9780916727451
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Wings Press (TX)
• Length: 183 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A mirror of "terrible beauty"

Maria Espinosa handles language like no other writer. Using evocative prose and refreshing metaphors, she conveys basic truths with "terrible beauty". The life she breathes into her characters is so substantial that a reader can literally experience the emotions depicted. The resultant relationship dynamics create such tension that it almost manifests as a separate characterization. This becomes the motivation that drives the people portrayed, the binding element that cements their liaisons (familial, spousal or sexual), and the impetus for the narrative. Nothing is ever just black and white in this writer's universe; there are myriad tonalities. Sexual orientation is fluid just as one can hate and love the same person simultaneously. Absolutes are non-existent. Towards the end, the idea surfaces that "words could form a reflective mirror". Indeed, this novel succeeds in that it makes the reader confront his own preconceptions and prejudices. It shows that human needs are not always ruled by morals or virtuous acts, but that people can still be honorable while driven by their instincts in pursuing the objects of their desires.

Lyrical novel of a mother and daughter

Dying Unfinished is a glimpse into the love-hate relationship between a mother and daughter who attempt to overcome their shared character flaws, only to inflict deep wounds on each other. The author allows us to eavesdrop on these troubled women trying to find their way in love and the world. Eleanor clings to a marriage of love and infidelity, but she is seeking something more than her life with Aaron, her sculptor husband, who is constantly unfaithful in spite of his love for her. Eleanor flees into love affairs both transitory and more permanent, and tries to find a way to interact with her daughter Rosa, but can't seem to get any of it right. Rosa was deeply wounded by Eleanor's slights and criticisms growing up and these wounds fulminate within her into adulthood, where they erupt disastrously. Like her mother, Rosa uses sex as a way to try to gain insight into herself and human nature. She seems incapable of seeing how her own actions sabotage herself and her relationships, and eventually drive her into a psychiatric hospital with a complete breakdown. Rosa's mind gradually coalesces into a fragile sanity and she is released and moves to Paris. She falls in love and conceives a child. Rosa and her mother's shared pathology collide when Eleanor comes to Paris for the birth. Without giving away the plot, Eleanor can't stop herself from doing the worst thing a mother can do to a daughter. The rest of this wonderful and troubling novel is about Rosa's attempts to make a life for herself and her daughter, and her efforts to find a way to interact with her mother that doesn't make them both crazy. The final scene had me in tears. Maria Espinosa writes lyrically and with great insight into the minds and hearts of these two women. We find out in the acknowledgements that "the story lies somewhere in the terrain between fact and fiction." It is a final kaddish for her late mother. Many late nights reading into the wee hours were well rewarded. I highly recommend it.

Albert Rothman

I knew the author from many years ago. I began to read the book out of curiosity. I have become thoroughly engaged as I continue. The way Maria uses her chapters seems novel to me and draws me in even more. The book is beautifully written.

Dying Unfinished

Written with great intensity, its alienated characters practically springing from the page, Dying Unfinished describes the love-hate relationship between a mother and daughter both seeking a rebirth of their identities through sex--at one point with the same man. A hauntingly suggestive portrait.