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Chiva: A Village Takes on the Global Heroin Trade
"Chiva" is street slang for heroin-and heroin is a hot topic. Its use as a narcotic is on a precipitous rise. Worldwide heroin production has doubled in the last decade, and the United Nations estimates more than fifteen million users are addicted-up to three million in the United States. It's big business, too, with yearly global sales of 0 billion-up to billion in the U.S. Enmeshed with terrorism, crime, government collaboration, corporate globalization, and the spread of HIV, the opiate trade is inextricably entangled with the functioning of global society. Finally, heroin is controversial because of the on-going debates about solutions to the health, social and economic havoc it creates. Chiva uses creative nonfiction to merge the global epic of heroin trafficking with the human-scale story of its presence in the small desert town that boasts the most per-capita overdose deaths in the U.S. The book interweaves three Compelling, disturbing, yet hopeful, Chiva is both personal and political, revealing the relationship between colonization and drug abuse, and the importance of reclaiming sustainable culture as a key to recovery.
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 26, 2012
One of those small gems of a book, with a sweeping vision for story and plot. Glendinning takes the local travails of a village (and a love affair with a junky) and ties it to the worldwide big business of dope (8 % of the global economy). Chiva is one of the street names for heroin, a Latino slang word, and is used particularly appropriately here, since the book surrounds and embraces Hispaño culture and the village of Chimayo, New Mexico.
Chellis is weakest when she gets into rants about the loss of 1700's farming practices and economies (does she really want to go back to medieval child mortality rates, rank illiteracy, and life expectancies of 40?) and globalization. Sure, no one pretends to like Walmart, but pretending that it's an evil perpetrated by outsiders on us is silly - each Chimayo resident that shops Walmart participates democratically in globalization. Glendinning also has a legitimate but confusing set of views on colonization and the negative impacts of cultural exploitation. She is, after all, a European-American living in a Hispaño farming community as a writer because she likes New Mexico better than her place of origin. It's hard not to be an exploiter when you move into the `hood, but don't actually have to actually be dirt poor, a farmer, and latino.
Her narrative about her lover and nearly married Joaquin rings true, even though she has to fictionalize this complex, flawed man. Evidently, though they shone together like the sun, he never could really explain himself to her - but at least the Joaquin she invented was a true metaphor for the village, and the book. Where she shines is in describing the culture, and in talking about the contradictions of politics, money, and drugs. Where she could legitimately rant about US / Euro policy, she is actually constrained and well researched. The narrative of the number of times our governments have supported the drug trade in order to take on some implacable political foe (Communism, Taliban, right wing or left wing dictatorships, Muslim governments or political movements ...) underscores our hypocrisy without beating us up with it. Surprisingly, Glendinning does not favor legalization of heroin, though the book sets the premise well - she believes we would pay the same money to the global pharmaceutical houses, and that is unacceptable to her.
Characterization: A
Dialogue: B
Plot: B
Use of Language: A
Research and Background: B
Political Balance and Reason: C-
Chellis is weakest when she gets into rants about the loss of 1700's farming practices and economies (does she really want to go back to medieval child mortality rates, rank illiteracy, and life expectancies of 40?) and globalization. Sure, no one pretends to like Walmart, but pretending that it's an evil perpetrated by outsiders on us is silly - each Chimayo resident that shops Walmart participates democratically in globalization. Glendinning also has a legitimate but confusing set of views on colonization and the negative impacts of cultural exploitation. She is, after all, a European-American living in a Hispaño farming community as a writer because she likes New Mexico better than her place of origin. It's hard not to be an exploiter when you move into the `hood, but don't actually have to actually be dirt poor, a farmer, and latino.
Her narrative about her lover and nearly married Joaquin rings true, even though she has to fictionalize this complex, flawed man. Evidently, though they shone together like the sun, he never could really explain himself to her - but at least the Joaquin she invented was a true metaphor for the village, and the book. Where she shines is in describing the culture, and in talking about the contradictions of politics, money, and drugs. Where she could legitimately rant about US / Euro policy, she is actually constrained and well researched. The narrative of the number of times our governments have supported the drug trade in order to take on some implacable political foe (Communism, Taliban, right wing or left wing dictatorships, Muslim governments or political movements ...) underscores our hypocrisy without beating us up with it. Surprisingly, Glendinning does not favor legalization of heroin, though the book sets the premise well - she believes we would pay the same money to the global pharmaceutical houses, and that is unacceptable to her.
Characterization: A
Dialogue: B
Plot: B
Use of Language: A
Research and Background: B
Political Balance and Reason: C-
April 27, 2008
Was asked to review this book for a prize:
Glendilling's passion for her subject is patently clear throughout the whole book. She tackles the so-called “war against drugs” as it plays out in her own small New Mexico town in an emotional, personal, and oftentimes poetic treatment of an issue which is usually seen only from a distance. Overall, her writing style is very clear with a pleasing balance of personal anecdotes, philosophy and external data and perspective.
Weaknesses:
The first thing that affected me as I was reading was the semi-didactic tone that Glendilling sometimes adopts especially when implicating governments and “big business” in the downfall of individuals and communities. At these times her own opinions are very clear – that “colonial oppression” was and is to blame for the problems she addresses – but these strong opinions clash with the more nuanced portrait she builds around the drug dealers in her community, and in particular her romantic relationship with a drug user. In general, this wavering between nuance and single-minded preaching distracted from the narrative.
The book also tended towards repetition, as if there wasn't enough meat to fill out the full book.
Overall Literary Merit:
Though I liked the idea of combining personal experiences with external events, I personally found the links between the multiple story-lines disjointed and difficult to reconcile. In part, as mentioned earlier, this was because the tone changed so drastically between the sections. Glendilling also failed to incorporate the impressionistic vignettes of her romance with Joaquin well with her discussion of US Drug policy, and historical anecdotes.
Though the writing itself was clear, and I found myself drawn into her clear prose, I often had to stop and take a step back to understand how everything fit together.
Glendilling's passion for her subject is patently clear throughout the whole book. She tackles the so-called “war against drugs” as it plays out in her own small New Mexico town in an emotional, personal, and oftentimes poetic treatment of an issue which is usually seen only from a distance. Overall, her writing style is very clear with a pleasing balance of personal anecdotes, philosophy and external data and perspective.
Weaknesses:
The first thing that affected me as I was reading was the semi-didactic tone that Glendilling sometimes adopts especially when implicating governments and “big business” in the downfall of individuals and communities. At these times her own opinions are very clear – that “colonial oppression” was and is to blame for the problems she addresses – but these strong opinions clash with the more nuanced portrait she builds around the drug dealers in her community, and in particular her romantic relationship with a drug user. In general, this wavering between nuance and single-minded preaching distracted from the narrative.
The book also tended towards repetition, as if there wasn't enough meat to fill out the full book.
Overall Literary Merit:
Though I liked the idea of combining personal experiences with external events, I personally found the links between the multiple story-lines disjointed and difficult to reconcile. In part, as mentioned earlier, this was because the tone changed so drastically between the sections. Glendilling also failed to incorporate the impressionistic vignettes of her romance with Joaquin well with her discussion of US Drug policy, and historical anecdotes.
Though the writing itself was clear, and I found myself drawn into her clear prose, I often had to stop and take a step back to understand how everything fit together.
June 1, 2022
This helped me to understand the place where I live more.
July 31, 2014
(c says 3.5 stars)
my first encounter with Chellis was her book My name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization. I read it in 2006 when I too was in a similar fragile state of recovery. it was a life altering read for me.
this book, chiva, took c and me back to Espanola and the area in NM I have especially come to love. as the overall description explains- you will get to know the small village of Chimayo, what it is like living in the number one state, the number one county for deaths related to overdoses of illegal substances. you will come to a better understanding of the epidemic and big business (big government) aspect of opiate trafficking. you will become more familiar with processes and organized recovery menus. you will feel again, as I did in reading that earlier book of hers, that so much of our suffering in the first place is losing our ways of living closer to our roots, our cultures, our connections with each other, history & the land. how so often it goes directly back to that, again and again.
we wish chellis had gone into more detail about her relationship with Joaquin. his story is a central piece of this creative non-fiction. and we feel we knew parts of that well. we had tiny glimpses into their love for each other. we wished there had been more but perhaps that was too personal and perhaps she provided enough.
we know Chimayo and espanola better now. we understand more about the unique mix of culture, history, religion, peoples and landscape that is New Mexico. it is a beautiful, intricately woven and colorful, impoverished and rich tapestry. we are left shaking our heads at the devastating toll Big Drugs take, touching all of our lives with grief and loss.
my first encounter with Chellis was her book My name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization. I read it in 2006 when I too was in a similar fragile state of recovery. it was a life altering read for me.
this book, chiva, took c and me back to Espanola and the area in NM I have especially come to love. as the overall description explains- you will get to know the small village of Chimayo, what it is like living in the number one state, the number one county for deaths related to overdoses of illegal substances. you will come to a better understanding of the epidemic and big business (big government) aspect of opiate trafficking. you will become more familiar with processes and organized recovery menus. you will feel again, as I did in reading that earlier book of hers, that so much of our suffering in the first place is losing our ways of living closer to our roots, our cultures, our connections with each other, history & the land. how so often it goes directly back to that, again and again.
we wish chellis had gone into more detail about her relationship with Joaquin. his story is a central piece of this creative non-fiction. and we feel we knew parts of that well. we had tiny glimpses into their love for each other. we wished there had been more but perhaps that was too personal and perhaps she provided enough.
we know Chimayo and espanola better now. we understand more about the unique mix of culture, history, religion, peoples and landscape that is New Mexico. it is a beautiful, intricately woven and colorful, impoverished and rich tapestry. we are left shaking our heads at the devastating toll Big Drugs take, touching all of our lives with grief and loss.
December 4, 2009
I drive through Espanola a few times a year.....I remember hearing about how it was the heroin OD capital of the US...Always wanted to know what the real story was..so I bought the book...It is about 50% Chimayo and it's heroin problem and 50% of the GLOBAL heroin trade...With conspiracies, CIA, rebels, etc. thrown in..The organization is kinda weird...The writing style is kinda weird as well...but, she is a good a good writer.....I really liked the part about Chimayo, the march, The Great Bust of 1999, and the general description of live in Rio Arriba County...The part about the global heroin trade wasn't anything I couldn't get from Wikipedia....Anyone one know where Joaquin is today?? I also didn't realize that Chimayo is one of "the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States"....
March 27, 2008
an incredible take on the global heroin trade and the way in which a village 30 miles from me, fought it. a sober perspective on the relationship between people of the land and the governments seedy and unseen ability to grow addicts and subsequently dehumanize them as well as split their connection from the earth.
also potent confirmation of the power of community, prayer and ritual to fight a global war on anything.
also potent confirmation of the power of community, prayer and ritual to fight a global war on anything.
September 2, 2016
This tells the small-scale story of real people in a very small town struggling with addiction and the business of addiction. The magical front that this town presents to visitors isn't a part of the book at all. Grueling.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews