Amy's Reviews > The Man Who Could Move Clouds

Ingrid Rojas Contreras' "The Man Who Could Move Clouds" was a challenging book to listen to on my commute because I kept wanting to pull my car over and write down its wisdom. Contreras has crafted a memoir unlike any I have "read" before. In it she recounts not only her curanderos/as lineage, but also that of Columbia's-- a country beset by the trauma of European colonization and whiteness that sought to erase its native and indigenous peoples and traditions and then later of the Terrors caused by drug cartels. She examines what it means to come from a line of healers who commune with ghosts and spirits and who inhabit the world of dreams. I feel like I need to physically read it in order to take in its scope. The most interesting character is Contreras' Mami-- a powerful, fearless, and headstrong woman with an unflinching belief in her abilities. She dispenses the most wisdom, especially in how storytelling provides a path to healing; many people are telling themselves the wrong stories or need to seek new ones.

If you are at home with writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, and Jose Saramago, this book will resonate with you. Highly recommend.