Minerva
In Keila Vall de la Ville’s incisive novel Minerva, an aspiring Venezuelan dancer contemplates her artistic future and unusual family background.
Minerva is raised in an unconventional manner: by her mother and two fathers in Caracas. Her mother, Lissa, designs unique fashion creations. Diego and Martín both consider themselves Minerva’s fathers: Diego, a professor from Spain, was imprisoned for being gay during Franco’s regime; theatrical and captivating Martín is a “punk” and a “diva” who likes to dress up as La Mimí, his female alter ego. The trio’s gender roles are fluid, and Minerva grows up in an environment of love, encouragement, and domestic stability.
At school, however, Minerva receives disapproval because of her three-parent home. She’s also fixated on learning the identity of her actual biological father. Meanwhile, Venezuela experiences increasing sociopolitical chaos, crime, and shortages of food and medicine. When Minerva’s safety and ballet career are imperiled, her parents insist that she relocate to the US. Now twenty years old, she feels both guilt and relief as she boards the plane, excited by the prospect of new opportunities.
The swift, compact chapters alternate between enmeshed flashbacks and observations of Minerva’s evolving life in New York. The agile prose evokes the lithe tension of dance; Minerva’s “vital energy” compels her to express internal rhythms. “When I dance, I’m reborn like a lit match,” she notes. “I create the matter that makes me, one pulse at a time.” But upon learning that Lissa is in danger, Minerva rushes back to Caracas, leading the book to a heartening yet tenuous conclusion marked by personal emergence.
Propelled by sensuality, wit, and grace, the novel Minerva concerns the daughter of a distinctive family.
Reviewed by
Meg Nola
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