Award winning novelist meets ARCC students

As part of the Three Rivers Reading Series, Anoka Ramsey Community College had welcomed award winning novelist Sandra Bentiez and author of The Weight of All Things, to read a portion of her novel, then answer the questions of ARCC students and faculty. Hispanic Business Magazine has named her one of 100 influential Hispanics in the U.S.

Questions were prepared before her arrival by a faculty member that has read and introduced the novel to ARCC students. Benitez answered questions regarding her motivation for writing the novel and the incorporation of politics.

Benitez saw an opportunity to write an intense, heartfelt story when she traveled back to her childhood homestead of El Salvador and saw the impact the civil war had on the citizens. She had chosen to write the story through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy that had experienced, first hand, the damages of civil war. Benitez’s goal was to inhabit his sensibilities, then deliver a novel that expressed the most important events happening in his life.

When Benitez was asked what her motivation was for writing this novel she simply replied, “It touched my heart.”

Benitez was captured by the young boys devotion and faith in the Virgin Mary and forced her to remember her beliefs in Catholicism. She had taken words and scriptures from the bible to amplify the boy’s demeanor.

The reasoning behind the inclusion of scriptures and words of the bible was to give the novel a more religious meaning. Benitez portrayed the boy’s personality as the gentleness of a lamb and the strength of a lion. She explained that this insight had come from the bible.

Throughout the novel religion was apparent and so was the brutality endured by brothers and sisters during the civil war. This included rivalries between family members and the separation of mothers from their sons, sometimes resulting in death. Many ARCC readers had wondered about the significance of the civil and if the novel was an outlet to Benitez’s own political stance.

Benitez was asked why she decided to write about such a political topic. Benitez clarified that the novel was not meant to be about politics but that it only played a part of the story. She said that it was such a large and important part of the boys life that it must be written about with great significance.

Benitez said that she was not providing the readers with her opinion of the civil war. Her intentions were not to teach the reader but instead an attempt to understanding herself and to learn what her life means on her terms.

The novel had peaked her interest because of it oppressive nature upon many El Salvador communities and her personal connection to them. Benitez elaborated on her connection to the people by sharing her experience living with them as a child.

Following the question and answer session she allowed time for readers and fans to ask additional questions and autograph their copies of her novel.