Argentinian social noir. Piñeiro uses the physical constraints of the protagonist to tell a much larger story about autonomy and institutional neglect. The narrative follows Elena, who suffers from advanced Parkinson’s, as she tries to uncover the truth behind her daughter Rita’s death. The pacing is dictated by Elena’s "pills"—the medication that grants her brief windows of mobility. This creates a relentless, physical tension that makes the reader feel her exhaustion. The book is less about a crime and more about the ownership of the female body and social and religious control over it. Piñeiro highlights how the state, the church, and even family members often treat a woman’s body as a vessel or a "thing" to be managed, rather than a person with agency. ​The ending masterfully connects Elena’s physical entrapment within her illness to the metaphorical entrapment women face in a society that enforces rigid roles of motherhood and sacrifice. So Elena knows is especially about all the things Elena doesn't know. The title Elena Knows is deeply ironic because, while Elena is convinced of her own deductive powers, the narrative is actually a study of her blind spots. ​Elena operates on a strict, almost mathematical logic. She believes that because she is her daughter’s mother, she possesses an absolute truth about Rita’s life. However, the book reveals several layers of what she actually doesn't know. Elena is so consumed by her own suffering and her need for a "caretaker" that she fails to see Rita as a woman with her own breaking points. She "knows" Rita wouldn't go near a church in the rain, but she doesn't know the psychological toll her own illness took on Rita. Elena tries to control her body with the timing of her "Levodopa" pills. The metaphor here is clear, she tries to control the world around her with the same rigid timing, but both her body and the people around her eventually fail to follow her script.

2,5 ⭐️⭐️ So my reading type is: is it fun and gets me feeling good things - I like Is it dirsturbing/ gives me anxiety and awakens bad feelings - I don’t like And that’s exactly what this book did. I thought this was more kind of a mystery but it was a explorations of chronical illness and the effects on the self on the caretaker which was not what I signed up for.

When starting this novel, I was a bit unsure about where it would lead, how it was paced and if I could get anything out of reading it. But the more I read, the more I realized the many important themes this book touches upon: disability in the form of the protagonists and the book's structure (just wrote an academic paper on disability in literature, so I could appreciate all the nuances even more), feminism, the woman's right to her own body, mother-daughter relationships, the role of the church in Argentina. But it were the last two chapters that raised my rating to five stars - I can't even begin to describe how incredibly touching and important they are, touching on themes that are relevant in my own life and that have been on my mind a lot lately. (Also, first book from an Argentinan author ever, I think? Always love to broaden my literary horizon 🗺️)