Much of the novel is devoted to the meta-fictional history of the narrative from Clara's notebooks to Blanca's letters to Trueba's recollections to Alba's compilation. Why do you think the narrative is so self-involved with this aspect of the multi-generational family history?

Alba narrates in third-person while Trueba narrates in first person. While this is perhaps correct for biography and autobiography it also has a remarkable influence on the narrative development. Discuss how the novel's construction largely relies upon periodic shifts in narrator and narrative point of view.

Severo del Valle, father of fourteen children, buys and imports a British-made automobile that the family names and then uses for decades. Eventually, Severo and his wife are killed inside the car in a bad automobile accident. The narrative notes that the automobile is one of the first cars in the entire country. How does the...