Two questions about this sentence

Two questions about this sentence
 

I am reading a book and have the following passage. I'm interested in the bolded sentence, though I've included the two other paragraphs for more context:


"Supongo que podría haberlo tomado como un simple desvarío producido por su enfermedad, pero mi corazón me decía que había algo más; quizás algo oculto que el paso de los años dilapidó en el olvido y que la enfermedad había sacado a la luz. Mi vena de psicóloga enseguida comenzó a conducir mis pensamientos, buscando patrones que se pudieran ajustar a un trastorno.

Mi especialidad es la psicogenealogía y que mi madre mostrara esa reacción tan visceral al mencionarle a mi abuela Esther, era como mínimo para tenerlo en cuenta.

Está demostrado que arrastramos la vida de nuestros antepasados y que sus desgracias y sus penas pueden afectarnos hasta límites que no somos capaces de imaginar. En ese momento no estaba segura, pese a que echando la vista atrás, recordé que en torno a mi abuela siempre existió un halo de misterio."

My first question is why is "mostrara" being used? I think that this is basically saying "..my mother shows that reaction upon mentioning my grandma..", and so the subjunctive would make sense, since she is talking about theoretical instances of this reaction. But given this, I feel like it should be the present subjunctive "muestre". Of course, the initial reaction of her mother happened in the past, but then if she's just referring to that one past action, I would expect "mostró".

My second question is about the phrase "era como mínimo para tenerlo en cuenta". I'm sure the latter part means "to have in mind" or "to keep in mind".. but the first part, "era como mínimo", confuses me a bit. I feel like it's saying "it was the least I could do to keep it in mind", but I would have expected "era lo menos". Does it mean something else?

I have an opinion on your first question, and why "mostrara" (imperfect subjunctive) rather than "muestre" (present subjunctive) or "mostró" (preterite): it will be interesting to learn what others think, especially native speakers.

The use of the word "que" introducing "mi madre mostrara..." is significant: a better translation of that entire clause is "(the fact) that my mother would show that so-visceral reaction upon mentioning my grandmother to her".

The writer wasn't asserting that their mother did it (simple statement of fact about a past event, objective), they were wondering (in the past) why their mother would do it (the topic of an opinion or hypothesis, rather than a statement of fact), which is consistent with using imperfect subjunctive.

There is a second possibility, depending on how long ago the book was written and how old-fashioned the writing seems to be in general. In earlier forms of Spanish "mostrara" wasn't imperfect subjunctive, it was pluperfect indicative with the same meaning as saying "había mostrado". Over the course of the past few centuries the usage of "mostrara" has changed so that currently it almost always functions as imperfect subjunctive. Journalists still use it with pluperfect meaning at times, but that's the only type of contemporary writing where you're likely to see that usage. So, if the book is relatively modern, it's much more likely that the writer has used "mostrara" as imperfect subjunctive.

As an English speaker, I would translate this as, the fact that my mother would
show (as opposed to shows) seems very natural especially considering that
the following verb in the sentence in the past tense era.

If used in the present tense, the tone seems clinical as in a physician's medical notes. An example would be, patient presents with symptoms of...

The usage of "mostrara" is hard to explain, but I'll try:
When the author says "y que mi madre mostrara" is an ellision of a set phrase that needs the subjunctive: "el hecho de (que mi madre...)".
Apart from that, a better conjugation agreement would be "(el hecho de que mi madre) haya mostrado esa reacción...", or even "hubiera mostrado" Yet, in formal writing, we tend to replace the subjunctive present perfect with the subjunctive preterite. In this case, the subjunctive is not prompted by uncertainty, but rather by a set phrase with "que".
The author can't use "muestre" (present), because she's speaking of a reaction her mother had in a previous moment. "Mostrara" is not agreeing with "mi especialidad es", but with all the verbs in preterite from the preceding paragraph.

Some examples with this use of subjunctive:

-(El hecho de) que tengas sueño no te salva de hacer el examen.
The fact that you are sleepy won't save you from making the test.
-Que tuvieras / hayas tenido sueño no te salvaba de hacer el examen.
The fact that you were sleepy was not enough to save you from making the test.
-El (hecho de) que estés cansado no es razón para que nos eches de tu casa. :rolleyes:
The fact that you're tired is no reason for you to kick us out of your house.
-El que hayas estado cansado no era razón para que nos echaras / hayas echado de tu casa.
The fact that you were tired was no reason for you to kick us out of your house.



As for "como mínimo", this is another set phrase, synonymous with "al menos" and "por lo menos"; they mean "at least".
-Espero, como mínimo, que me escuches cuando hablo.
I expect, at least, that you listen to me when I speak.
-Para abrir una cuenta de ahorros necesito, al menos, mil pesos.
To open a savings bank account, I need at least one thousand pesos.
-En Navidad, los niños quieren, por lo menos, dos regalos.
On Christmas, the children want at least two presents.

"Lo menos (que)" is used differently, and it means "the least".
-Lo menos que espero, es que me escuches cuando hablo.
The least I expect is that you listen to me when I speak.
-Lo menos que puedo decir, es que eres una gran amiga.
The least I can say is that you are a great friend.
-No me agradezcas, era lo menos que podía hacer.
Don't thank me, it was the least I could do.
-Este dinero es lo menos que mereces por salvar a mi perro.
This money is the least you deserve for saving my dog.
-Juan siempre hace lo menos posible.
Juan always does the least work possible.


I know all this might be confusing, so keep asking questions until it's all clear. ;)