In the book ‘Everything Personal II’ by the journalist and now writer Yurina Melara, the voice of Tatiana emerges, a modern woman who criticizes, complains and silently shouts her disagreement against a sexist society, full of prejudices towards the new generations who insist in realizing themselves as professionals, living on their own terms and prioritizing themselves.
The novel ‘Nothing Personal II’ is the triumphant culmination of the return to El Salvador of Darwin, who like thousands of gang members were deported from the United States in the 1990s, but thanks to the perseverance of changing his life and becoming everything that he did not have as a child, he tries to be an exemplary father, who does not cheat, who does not abandon the family and respects a woman’s decisions; Although at the same time he fights for the transformation of a country that was mired in violence, and upon achieving it, destiny leads him to run for the most important position in the country.
Although also, ‘Everything Personal II’ is a love story of two characters, Darwin and Tatiana, who do not escape the daily vicissitudes of life: a tragedy in their struggle to break with the country’s corrupt past and the fight against the prejudices that limited the role of women in society. In this case there is a third protagonist, who is not a woman, but who tests Darwin and Tatiana’s relationship.
If this 170-page novel, easy to read and maintains a certain level of suspense, had been written a few decades ago, possibly the third protagonist would have been a woman who broke up a relationship and where the man had to decide between the lover and a submissive and obedient girlfriend.
However, in this second installment of Melara, that third protagonist is a man who places the woman in the role of command, who will determine which man she wants to stay with and regardless of what they will say, leaving behind that role of victim that It was traditionally encouraged in stories of the past.
The writer Melara expressed that she tries to offer an alternate reality in which women have greater control of their lives and where good people also triumph, without the need for corruption or perverse decisions that clouded the past of a country and of which the new generations seek escape.
“I would love for Darwin, as a father and husband, to serve as an example for Salvadoran men,” Melara emphasizes. “I have seen many cases in which Salvadorans have several families at the same time, and that is not good for anyone. They harm their wives, the other one or others, and all the children. “It shouldn’t be accepted, however, it is.”
Regarding the character of Tatiana, the writer’s life has many similarities with the protagonist since, like her, she was a journalist and then went to work in California politics; But otherwise, the characters are experiences of other known people, some friends, family members and even her own mother.
“In general, I think that many people are going to identify with some of the characters, or at least I hope so,” explains the writer from a corner in Los Angeles, the city where more saviors emigrated and live outside of El Salvador.
In short, in ‘Todo Personal II’ the situations seem true because they have links to real events, and there are characters that take on characteristics of the Salvadoran social and political reality, but it is still fiction, Melara confirms.
Todo Personal is a series of three books, two published so far, that focus on the life and decisions of three characters, Darwin, the gang member who turned his life around 180 degrees, Tatiana, the journalist who fights to free herself. of the prejudices of the past, and Rodolfo, the love that never happened, but that remains present in the lives of the main protagonists.
Melara explained that as a writer she has been growing and little by little she feels more comfortable with her narrative that she began in 2013, the date she finished writing the first part of ‘Everything Personal. The massacre of the sacred family’.
“Editing the first book took around 18 months. The editing of the second book took about 10 months, and I expect that the editing of the third – which is expected to be ready this year – will take about 6 months.”
In book three, ‘Everything Personal. The damage count’, the same three characters will face even greater challenges with implications for all of El Salvador, the writer explained.
‘Todo Personal II’ will go on sale in the United States on May 19, and in El Salvador it will be available at the end of June, after the official presentation.
Where to get the book
To pre-order the book at an introductory price of $2.99 you can visit amazon.com or use this link: https://a.co/d/dgAr5Vj
The first book ‘Everything Personal. The Massacre of La Sagrada Familia’ will be available for free between May 12 and 16. https://a.co/d/aBldGGC