Book Club Book - Something Fierce

This book was picked by one of the girls in book club for our April read.  The book is called "Something Fierce" written by Carmen Aguirre and was the Canada Read Choice 2012 Winner.  Needless to say, we went in with high expectations after that claim to fame, haha. 

This book is a true story and basically a biography about the author's life as she grew up within the Chilean resistance.  We first meet Carmen when she is 6 years old and living in Vancouver, Canada after her family fled Chile following General Pinochet's coup in 1973.  Five years later her family (mom, step-father, and younger sister) return to South America to help with the Chilean resistance movement.  Carmen learns very young in life that she cannot tell anyone what her family really does.  She learns to lead a double life and she takes the reader with her throughout her family's travels, trials, and tribulations.  Eventually Carmen becomes involved in the resistance when she turns 18 and we are taken in further to this movement and what exactly it entails.

I really didn't know anything about the revolutions in South America and that many Nazi leaders fled there after WWII  to reestablish themselves as leaders in this new country.  I was also surprised that part of the reason these South American countries were lead the way there were was because of American influence and their corporations.

This book was very interesting, but at times hard to understand for me due to my lack of prior knowledge about the subject matter.  All-in-all, a very good read and I'm sure would be even better if you knew the history behind the story.  It really is amazing the things that people have had to live through and how they survive.  Really makes me appreciate my comfortable life here in Canada.