Gene Guerin

This book has the perfict New Mexico pitch, as good as The Milagro Beanfield War and it's companions in capturing New Mexico and some of it's inhabitants. The author places much blame on the state and its backwardness for his characters failings. The books voice calls New Mexico his enemy, a manipulator. But, it seemed to me that the characters own failings and weaknesses ultimately gave voice to New Mexico's oddity.

The book follows the life of Margarita Juana as she makes her way through life, longing for promises and a life out of her reach. She describes herself once as Margarita No Cuenta (No Account) telilng us that she must "enjoy small triumphs across a desert of insignificance' because that is her place in life. But, she often falls into the traps of her families past, giving up when she should break out. She and all who she calls her own seem to follow this same pattern, blaming their race, their economic state, or the state of New Mexico itself.

Finally, her son, the voice of the book, makes a small break with the families past and follows his own path in some small way.

The author, a debut novelist, is a documentarian and is quite adept at chronicling this family. Though, he often tries to hit you over the head with some metaphors (like his description of Las Vegas , NM, as a painted lady who is eventually debauched) his writing shows real promise. The opening and closing paragraphs are among the best I;ve read lately. Another problem owing to the writer's newness is his attempts to 'thesaurisize'. I found him using the word sanguineous instead of bloody, the word fete instead of party, and twice the word collation instead of snack or light meal. While these were adequate words, they didn't fit the sentence or the voice of the character who was speaking. Less Roget and more writing from the heart.

I still recommend this book highly even for its small faults.… (meer)