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In the secret chambers of her computer she records family events,
including an ugly fight between her parents over Estela’s impending visit,
recorded in her “Family” file: “My parents have been fighting. The phrase whirled
around her head for days until she saved it in a file called FAMILIA. They’ve been
saying awful things to each other – she wrote. Things like coño and carajo,
which are parts of the body, private parts, if you know what I mean;
comemierda, shit-eater, and je m’en fou, which is Mom’s way of saying she
doesn’t give a damn. Heavy stuff”(60). Gina’s recordings enable her to store, and
then analyze the family drama that develops around her. She will, in due time,
go back and work them into her “Brand New Memory.”
The Tape Recorder
Even though the tape recorder is not a particularly modern technological
device, it is part of Gina’s armature of fact-finding and recording equipment. She
is determined to find out why her mother, Elisa, has been so quiet and nice
around Estela, whom she despises. Gina develops a strategy for taping their
conversation. We see Gina’s need for firsthand information, as opposed to the
indirect, or non-existent, information given by her parents. In this respect, Gina
resembles many young Cuban Americans who do not trust their parents’
generation to disclose the full reality of the Cuban exile experience:
“Camerawoman had to get to the truth of it all somehow. La
verité! She was in desperate need of data, craving firsthand
information. So she decided to hide a voice-activated recorder inside a
flower vase in the breakfast nook, and another in the den. If anything
was going to happen, it would happen in one of those two places. . . .
And it did. And thanks to the Moviemaker’s foresight, she managed to
document the Turning Point! Her machine picked up the two Domingo
ladies going at it! Transcribing and translating the recording was no easy
task, but the effort was well worth it.” (164)
This passage is followed by the full dialogue between her mother and
grandmother, as transcribed by Gina. All the recording devices are integrated
into the plot structure as narrative devices that move the plot forward. They
influence the movements of the characters, as well as the reader’s perception of
those movements. They also give the novel a multiplicity of voices, putting the
reader at the receptive center of a very intricate narrative line.
The Narrative Voice and Technology
The main narrator of this novel is crafted as a third person omniscient
narrator who is totally in tune with Gina’s fourteen-year-old mind. Sometimes
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