Motherland : A Memoir

From Venezuelan reporter Paula Ram�n comes a powerful memoir about one woman's complicated relationship with her family as her beloved homeland collapses into ruin. In the span of a generation, oil-rich Venezuela spiraled into a dire state of economic collapse. Reporter Paula Ram�n experienced the crisis firsthand as her middle-class family saw their quality of life deteriorate. Public services no longer functioned. Money lost its value. Her mother couldn't afford to buy food, which was increasingly scarce. The once-prosperous country fell into ruin. Like many others, Ram�n's family struggled to survive each day in their beloved city, Maracaibo-until, one by one, they each made the unbearable choice to leave the home they love. In the end, it was Ram�n's mother, a widow, who stayed behind, loyal to the only home she'd ever known. In this heartbreaking mix of lived experience, family chronicle, and journalistic essay, Paula Ram�n explores the anguish of her own relationships set against the staggering collapse of a country. Motherland is a uniquely human account about the ties that bind-and the fragile concept of home.