Soroche Summary

Zaga, a Hispanic woman, is the protagonist of the story. The story presents a complex chronology of Zaga's life—she is probably born around 1947, to a poor family. She is an excellent cook but lacks advanced social graces. In 1971, at twenty-four, she marries Joel, who is forty-two. Joel, divorced from a previous marriage in 1956, is upper class and has lots of money. Although his friends look down on Zaga, Joel appears to put her forward as an equal. Joel has two children from a previous marriage—Alicia, fourteen in 1971, and Rob, twelve in 1971. For their honeymoon, Joel and Zaga travel to Chile, accompanied by Joel's two children. During the trip, Zaga is pregnant and suffers greatly from altitude sickness, or soroche. Alicia and Rob find Zaga's presence irritating and after a few days of tentative care, Joel abandons Zaga to the...