We sat with Ada Torres Toro to discuss her new book, Unnecessary Loves.
The prose is beautiful and the story is truly captivating, blending historical elements and using them as a narrative vehicle to develop the story and describe the motivations and personalities of its characters.
The novel starts at the end of the 1940s, after the arrival of a family of European immigrants to Puerto Rico and extends its plot to the present, while taking the reader through many places, from Spain, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United States, Italy, Mexico.
Most of the narration takes place in Ponce, although in the book the author fictionally refers to it as the Autonomous Independent Region of Ponce. And although it is a multigenerational story, its narrative axis is located in Alda, a passionate, independent, brilliant woman, who throughout the novel touches many lives, while hers was deteriorated by abandonment and heartbreak. This leads her to set aside social customs and religious pressures to fully give herself to a new love, a returned love, an unconditional love; a love that eclipsed the years of suffering she lived under the yoke of a dehumanizing love, or as the author calls it, an unnecessary love.
The last part of the book focuses on Ainés, Alda's daughter. It tells us about a transformative process she goes through, which ultimately leads her to bring to life the book that tells her story, her mother's story, and all those she touched throughout her life.
A story that deserves to be told, and that we hope you all enjoy as much as we did.