Say Her Name

By: Francisco Goldman

Narrated by: Robert Fass

Celebrated novelist Francisco Goldman married a beautiful young writer named Aura Estrada in a romantic Mexican hacienda in the summer of 2005. The month before their second anniversary, during a long-awaited holiday, Aura broke her neck while body-surfing. Francisco, blamed for Aura’s death by her family and blaming himself, wanted to die, too. But instead he wrote Say Her Name, a novel chronicling his great love and unspeakable loss, tracking the stages of grief when pure love gives way to bottomless pain. Suddenly a widower, Goldman collects everything he can about his wife, hungry to keep Aura alive with every memory. From her childhood and university days in Mexico City with her fiercely devoted mother to her studies at Columbia University, through their newlywed years in New York City and travels to Mexico and Europe---and always through the prism of her gifted writings---Goldman seeks her essence and grieves her loss. Humor leavens the pain as he lives through the madness of utter grief and creates a living portrait of a love as joyous and playful as it is deep and profound. Say Her Name is a love story, a bold inquiry into destiny and accountability, and a tribute to Aura, who she was and who she would have been.

©2011 Francisco Goldman (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

“Quietly devastating . . . Powerful . . . As the story builds—inevitably, unbearably—toward Aura’s last day, Goldman has so convincingly brought her to life that her death still somehow comes as a shock. . . . Goldman’s beautifully written, deeply felt ode to his wife . . . lets you meet this unusual woman through Goldman’s lovestruck gaze, and you can’t help falling for her a little too. Even after the book ends, the sting of Aura’s absence lingers.” ( Entertainment Weekly)

"Goldman's searing novel Say Her Name is for me the book of the year. . . . A soaring paean to a brilliant young woman and to the infinite invincible power of love." (Junot Diaz, New York (Favorite Books of the Year)

“Passionate and moving . . . Beautifully written… the truth that emerges in this book has less to do with the mystery of [Aura’s] death . . . than with the miracle of the astonishing, spirited, deeply original young woman Goldman so adored….So remarkable is this resurrection that at times I felt the book itself had a pulse.” ( The New York Times Book Review)

Narrator sounds like he's selling breakfast cereal

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would read it, not listen to it.

What didn’t you like about Robert Fass’s performance?

He had a brittle, perfectionist way of speaking that did not capture the character -like an English teacher or speech therapist instead of an actor. The material is very somber and sophisticated and his chipper, clean patter interfered with my being able to enjoy it.

Did Say Her Name inspire you to do anything?

read the book if I ever have time.

El proceso de duelo

La historia triste, pero a la vez una historia de amor, permite conocer quien fue Aura Estrada

Say her name...but not that way

I looked forward to reading this book after reading and hearing many positive reviews.

However, I found the story to be lacking in focus, shallow at times, and the narrative rambled on like a distant uncle telling stories at a holiday dinner. But unlike listening to stories by said uncle, I could FF at my discretion. The writer likes to focus on the superficial details of his experiences and of his relationship with Aura, rather than on the layers of emotion accompanying those experiences.

And I could not get past the narrator's pronunciation of "Aura", the primary character's name, which to me means, among other things, a transparent, luminous glow surrounding a person or situation, as though to extend meaning and substance. Instead, the word was mangled as "OWrah" and could only create dissonance to my ears. OWch!

Should have stayed a magazine article

What disappointed you about Say Her Name?

The personal failed to transcend and become universal.

What could Francisco Goldman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Goldman could have been a little less obsessed with diarising the relationship, and put more effort into a philosophical approach to the tragedy, thereby placing it in the broader scheme of his life.

Any additional comments?

Goldman's untrammeled adoration for his young wife prevented us from seeing what there actually was to adore. A little less telling, and a lot more showing could have made it more believable.