Much of her literary work centered on the cultural heritage of Jews in predominantly Catholic Latin America, the effects of military dictatorship on human rights and racial prejudices and exile.

[1][7] Vásquez-Bronfman' first novels, Les bisons, les bonzes et le dépotoir (The Bison, the Leaders, and the Rubbish, 1977, translated into Spanish as Los búfalos, los jerarcas y la huesera, 1987),[8][9] Abel Rodríguez y sus hermanos (Abel Rodríguez and his Brothers, 1981), and Sebasto's Angels (co-written with her son Cacho Vásquez, 1985) each explored a military dictatorship through fiction.

[8] Abel Rodríguez y sus hermanos deals with the fracturing of the family, and thus the nation, dividing Chilean society as brothers take opposing sides in the political climate.

The book was Vásquez-Bronfman's first novel in which the setting moved from Chile to France and her son, Óscar, known as "Cacho", who was a guitarist and singer of a Latin rock band, lends the story a more youthful focus.

Vásquez deals with the pain and guilt of exile, while her son focuses on his anger, rejection politics, and his desire to live in the present moment.

[1][14] It explores the stages of exile, isolation, indifference, and ultimately a loss of identification with one's place of origin, recognizing that one cannot live based on the hypothetical idea that at a future point you may be able to return.

[17][7] The work explored shifting relationships of couples, which arise over the course of a partnership, dealing with trust given partially or fully, beauty and ugliness, and the risks that are inherent in love.

Set in the first half of the twentieth century, the novel tells the tale of modern daughters descended of immigrants to Chile and indigenous migrants who have moved from the countryside to the city and explores how all of them are marginalized and reshaped by their experiences.

[19] Her academic works focused on child psychology and she often evaluated the psychosocial development of children through organizations and public institutions,[1] publishing several books on the topic.