11/17/2025
Get • Catalina Infante’s novel The Cracks We Bear was a quietly moving read about family, motherhood, womanhood, and identity, told through the perspective of a young woman who has not long become a mother. Like being cracked open, the stresses of new motherhood leaves every nerve ending raw and exposed, every joy an elation, every struggle an agony. This process of becoming also opens more cracks, the past that shapes the present that shapes the future. Matrescence has her thinking about her own late mother, grief mingling with memories of their past, the ache of never really knowing another person, even when they are integral to the becoming of you.
The personal plays out against larger upheavals in the background. Life under significant political repression necessitating the trauma of exile, disconnecting not just the self but future generations from their roots, from family and the home of their ancestors. The book’s present day feminist protests in post-dictatorship Chile show just how little has changed for women when it comes to gender equality, right to safety and bodily autonomy, and freedom from (patriarchal and state) violence. Another mother doing all she possibly can to birth a better future into being for her daughter, yet again. This spoke to that deep ache of sisterhood and solidarity, resonating with me as a mother, a daughter, a woman. That unspoken primal bond; to hurt when another hurts, to recognise vulnerabilities, to be a shoulder to lean on as others have been for you. A wellspring of strength to draw from, to gather what’s left and find your way home.
Originally published in 2023 as La Grieta (‘The Crack’), beautifully translated from the Spanish by Michelle Mirabella. Also appreciate the inclusion of her translator’s note at the end, with insights into the choice of the final English title. Thank you , loved it ❤️
