SOURCE: A review in Nation, Vol. 263, No. 13, October 28, 1996, p. 52.

In the following review of Tinísima, Stevens praises Poniatowska's ability to bring out the many facets of Tina Modotti's life.

Tinisima is many books in one: a voluminous novel about the notorious Italian photographer and activist Tina Modotti (1896–1942); a travelogue; a photo album; an annotated collection of Modotti's correspondence; and a catalogue of the innumerable personalities she came across during her stints as a Communist in France, Spain, the Soviet Union and the Americas both north and south of the Rio Grande. That Elena Poniatowska, Mexico's foremostiemme de lettres, almost succeeds in annealing these elements into a smoothly tempered whole is testament to her huge talent as a fiction writer and amateur historian.

Poniatowska's objective is not to scrutinize Modotti's heavy-handed Stalinism or correct center-right intellectuals like Octavio Paz, who have all but dismissed her photographic legacy. The...