The Great Divide | Cristina Henriquez

This novel tells the story of the people behind the building of the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914. Henriquez's family is from Panama but while I understand that her previous works featured stories of Panamanians, this is the first time she's delved into the history of Panama. (Quick refresher: The US paid Panama $10 million dollars to create the Canal Zone with an annual payment of $250,000. The Canal Zone returned to Panama's control on December 31, 1999)

The Great Divide is an interesting story that uses real people to tell the story of how workers flood into Panama, largely from Barbados and other Caribbean countries with struggling sugar industries, native Panamanians who woke up to find themselves pushed down the social ladder by white Americans who were in charge. There are a lot of characters in the story and sometimes it's hard to keep track of the story lines. Like all stories with this structure, the narratives start to braid together. But to the benefit of the story (in my opinion), they don't all tie up neatly at the end. There are enough loose ends that you can see that some characters still have futures to figure out. Some of the characters have stories that could be built up more--kind of missed opportunities to tell a deeper story. Marian Oswald, the wife of an American researcher, has a very interesting backstory that get shortened up to get to her eventual death. The most sympathetic character, Ada Bunting's story is a little thin. John Oswald's story is also thin but it kind of works because he is so lacking in emotional depth. All in all, it's good, but not great. If you're interested in Panama and/or like historical fiction, you'll enjoy it.