Motherland

From Venezuelan reporter Paula Ramn comes a powerful memoir about one womans 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 Ramn 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 couldnt afford to buy food, which was increasingly scarce. The once-prosperous country fell into ruin. Like many others, Ramns family struggled to survive each day in their beloved city, Maracaibountil, one by one, they each made the unbearable choice to leave the home they love. In the end, it was Ramns mother, a widow, who stayed behind, loyal to the only home shed ever known. In this heartbreaking mix of lived experience, family chronicle, and journalistic essay, Paula Ramn 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 bindand the fragile concept of home.