The Man Who Could Move Clouds: A Memoir

I rarely re-read books, but I have found myself listening and reading it, in its entirety, 3 times in six months AND loving this beautifully crafted memoir more each time I read.The Man who Could Move Clouds is an exploration about generational inheritance of another dimension. As a direct descendant of curanderos who had abilities to see and hear in the spiritual realm she was expected to inherit some of these abilities herself. Ingrid Rojas Contreras unwraps the stories of her family, and their history layer by layer. In event after event she takes us into her world, the world of curanderos and otherworldly abilities. Some of the events, the abilities to ‘see’ may be hard for western readers to believe that they are real-Christians would call them miracles, or classify the individuals as saints; science may call them snapping synapses, and some might be a careful reading of the person be treated, not unlike a good therapist… But Rojas Contreras reminds us that our beliefs are not always what they seem, ‘White people in the United States held on to a hard line between fact and fiction, between what was possible and what was not….They told me theirs was a country founded on ideals, then got upset when I brought up the genocide of Indigenous peoples or slavery…. To believe in ghosts was to know the remnants of a past violence return. A country that doesn’t even believe in its own history cannot believe in ghosts.’Rojas Contreras’ perspective is one I've never encountered on the page and love her generosity to the reader. She is open about her experiences and how she has processed them in both her American world and her traditional world. Her writing is littered with sentences that are so beautifully composed that I felt as if the words were champagne bubbles massaging my brain.A few of my favorites:‘There is surviving, and then there is surviving the surviving.’‘Nona went from hating to him to watching the air sculpt the absence of him.’‘Her dismay was an eternity of air through which she dropped.’‘To believe in a curse is to believe oneself above suffering.’This is for readers who like to delve into the mystical, to put aside their doubts about what is real and what might be possible, to accept that their our worlds out there we don’t necessarily understand, to fall into the world of a culture and practice that you might otherwise not have access to. Layered onto this delicious cake of a book is an exploration of colonialism and Columbian life in the last half of the 20th century.It's hard to put into words why I loved this book so much, what caused me to read it 3 times in 6 months, and to underline passage after passage-I can only imagine I’ve had the most wonderful spell cast on me by the beauty with which Rojas Contreras writes.

I could not put this book down, didn't want to put this book down and didn't put it down every moment I got until done. This emotionally weighted, heartfelt memoir doubles in shining with the masterful craft of storytelling of Ingrid Rojas Contreras. She is a writer I immediately spotted as having the gift of to-be-celebrated literary fiction storytelling just from reading an excerpt of her novel, a melodious voice and cadence that captures the reader. Her voice stays with you. So much here on being a woman, Colombian, migration, war, 1491 1492 1493, past, memory... and gold nuggets in becoming one's own storyteller with this background in mind. Deeply felt is the love of family (specifically family that evolves together with a balance of individuality), the beauty of such a soul group, what writing a new story means within the lens of survivorship. Surviving survival. I could go on-- simply this is one of those books that knocks you inside and makes you smile. So many people to recommend this book to, also note this is wonderful for those in the Western medical profession to read.

Required reading for a class. Arrived quickly and was exactly what was required.

I loved this book. The author's indigenous perspective provided a wonderful window into a non-white culture, beautifully written, loved many of the characters, was both really enjoyable and felt like an insightful peek into human nature.

There should be some disclosure that this book is about ghosts and superstition… the book is not for everyone. I thought the book was about Colombia’s history but turns out it’s scary!