The Wind Whistling in the Cranes by Línda Jorge
(2022) 528 pages

The Wind Whistling in the Cranes by Lidia Jorge is a novel that tells the story of two families, a white middle-class one, and a black working-class one. The two families inevitably become intertwined when the working-class family becomes the middle-class family’s tenants. A dramatic death happens, the death of the matriarch of the middle-class family, setting off turmoil and many consequences for the two families. Overall I thought that this book had quite a slow pace, given the amount of pages it had, but it was done carefully so that it was not thought of as boring but instead as a page-turner quality. Throughout the book, the reader will gradually learn more about the backstories of each family, and the dynamics that rule their world. The reader will be sucked in and unable to turn away, eager to find out what happens next in the storyline. While all this is happening, Jorge also develops the economic, social, and political context in which the families were living, highlighting the nuances of society. Jorge also develops the characters really well, as they all have a sort of 3-dimensional characteristic to them that makes them all quite interesting. Overall I would rate this book a four out of five stars, since it does have slow developments but is quite engaging and a page-turner for sure.