Rosarita (President Obama's 2025 Summer Reads)

★歐巴馬2025夏季選書推薦
★布克三度入圍大師，魔幻現實與哲學的華麗交響
★母女秘密、身份探索與跨代創傷的深刻呈現
★墨西哥靈感場景，融合歷史重創與個人記憶的迷離敘事
★適合喜愛文學藝術、女性書寫與思索身份與歷史題材的讀者

揭開歷史與記憶的多層面面紗，《Rosarita》邀你踏入一場靈魂深處的詩意之旅

Anita Desai三度入圍布克獎，華盛頓郵報讚譽的「世界級作家」，帶來細膩且驚心動魄的《Rosarita》。這是一部深刻探討愛、記憶、歷史與母女秘密的小說，糾結著家庭與國族的創傷與救贖。

故事以印度女孩Bonita在墨西哥學習西班牙語為起點，某日她在花園裡感覺被注視，遇見一位聲稱與她母親曾是朋友的神秘老婦人。Bonita堅稱母親從未涉足藝術或墨西哥，卻無法擺脫那股被追蹤的陰影。兮後，她追尋這位名為「騙子（The Trickster）」的女子，展開對母親過往的追憶與質疑。在一連串神秘事件中，Bonita被迫面對真相的模糊、身份認同的困惑，以及家族和國家的暴力幽靈...

這部作品糅合魔幻現實主義與哲學省思，優美文字中流露女性、藝術與自我表現的掙扎與力量，同時展現創傷如何跨代延續，也喚起讀者對記憶、歷史和歸屬感的深刻思考。評論家譽為Desai的晚年巔峰之作，神秘而迷人，令人回味無窮。

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER

From “world-class writer” (The Washington Post) and three-time Booker finalist Anita Desai, an exquisitely written stunning exploration of love, place, memory, history, and the secrets between a mother and her daughter.

Away from her home in India to study Spanish, Bonita sits on a bench in El Jardin de San Miguel, Mexico, basking in the park’s lush beauty, when she slowly becomes aware that she is being watched. An elderly woman approaches her, claiming that she knew Bonita’s mother—that they had been friends when Bonita’s mother had lived in Mexico as a talented young artist. Bonita tells the stranger that she must be mistaken; her mother was not a painter and had never travelled to Mexico. Though the stranger leaves, Bonita cannot shake the feeling that she is being followed.

Days later, haunted by the encounter, Bonita seeks out the woman, whom she calls The Trickster, and follows her on a tour of what may, or may not, have been her mother’s past. As a series of mysterious events brilliantly unfold, Bonita is unable to escape The Trickster’s presence, as she is forced to confront questions of truth and identity, and specters of familial and national violence.

A masterpiece of storytelling from a gifted writer, Rosarita is a profound mediation on mothers and marriage, art and self-expression, and how the traumas from the past can impact future generations. years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all. The crisis that’s clicking into focus now has been building for decades—because we haven’t been building enough.