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Lorraine López

Auteur van The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters

7+ Werken 235 Leden 18 Besprekingen

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Reading these personal essays made me more interested in reading their fiction and poetry. I'm already familiar with the work of a couple of these writers, but I've now got a much longer to-read list.
 
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LizzK | Dec 8, 2023 |
Ugh. What a misleading, boring 300 pages of a total teasing let-down. There is nothing like a good coming of age book with a twist of sisterhood and magic, and this was nothing like a good coming of age book with a twist of sisterhood or magic. Don't let the title fool you, or the back flap they aren't given "gifts". Not in any sense of the word, not a physical or mystical gift. They got nothing, and the reader gets even less. Don't lie to me and tell me each of the sisters get these magical gifts when straight away it's clear that none of them have the gifts they imagined they did when they were 8! And then spend the next 200 pages confirming again and again that none of them have any gifts. I suppose it would have helped if any of the characters were develeoped well enough to care about them, but they weren't. All of the big moments in their life happen without the reader being there for them. Weddings, funerals, death, heartach, addiction, struggles, and triumps all happen without the reader. Total disappointment. Ticked off I stuck with it and read it until the end. Even more mad I paid 1.00 for it from a thrift store. Teach me to leave my library!… (meer)
 
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MsTera | 16 andere besprekingen | Oct 10, 2023 |
This is a Chicana coming-of-age novel set in Los Angeles. The four Gabaldon sisters (and their brother) were all named for movie stars – Bette Davis, Loretta Young, Sophia Loren, Rita Hayworth (and Cary Grant). When their mother died young, their father raised his brood in a modest LA bungalow with the help of their trusted criada (housekeeper/cook) Fermina, though she was quite old and in bed for much of her last year. Before she dies Fermina promises the girls they will each receive a gift on her death – one has the gift of telling stories; another, healing hands; a third makes people laugh; and the baby has the power to curse people.

Lopez tries hard to incorporate these “gifts” in the novel, without much success. If it weren’t for the blurb on the back I’m not sure I would have figured out what the gifts were supposed to be. The book’s chapters are narrated by the Gabaldon sisters – two told in first person, one in third person, and one in second person – and the story follows the family from 1966 to 1987. Interspersed is the story of Fermina, who was born in the 1860s. The result of the various narrators and different styles is a choppy story line that left me cold. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, and had trouble with some of the story lines because years would be skipped from chapter to chapter.

Lopez uses a lot of Spanish phrases throughout, frequently without translation or explanation. . While this doesn’t bother me (since I speak Spanish), I think this would cause many people to give up. As for me, I would have given up due to boredom, except that I was reading it for my Hispanic book club. I give it 2 stars because I found Fermina’s story fascinating – THAT would have made a good book.
… (meer)
 
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BookConcierge | 16 andere besprekingen | Feb 17, 2016 |
The Gifted Galbadon Sisters isn't a book I would have chosen on my own; instead, it came as part of a prize gift pack. After the four young Galbadon sisters lose their mother at an early age, they rely on their old Hopi caretaker, Fermina, to keep them going. Fermina is a mystery - always present, always speaking of the gifts she will leave for the girls, and so very, very old. In the 1960s when the story begins, Fermina is well over one-hundred. Only a year after losing their mother, Fermina is gone, too. The sisters struggle with their differences and grow up, all the while wondering if Fermina was a fairy godmother or a witch.

I didn't think this book was awful, but it didn't grab me, either. The story alternates between the four sisters, which can be confusing at times, and one of the viewpoints is even in second person. I could never get used to that. To complicate things further, the sisters are very realistic and in many ways unlikeable. The most "with it" sister, Loretta, doesn't even have a voice for a good chunk of the story, probably because she's not as dysfunctional as the rest. The real glue of the book is in the very brief stories from Fermina that were recorded by a WPA worker in the '30s; those are by far the most interesting tales, detailing Fermina's tragic young life and Hopi mythology and tradition. I would have rather had a full book on Fermina instead of the often-immature Gabaldon girls!
… (meer)
 
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ladycato | 16 andere besprekingen | Aug 31, 2009 |

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Werken
7
Ook door
1
Leden
235
Populariteit
#96,241
Waardering
½ 3.3
Besprekingen
18
ISBNs
17
Talen
1

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