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Candelaria
Your granddaughters are lost, Candelaria. Bianca, the brainy archaeologist, had to forfeit her life's work in Guatemala after her advisor seduced and deserted her. Paola, missing for over a decade, resurfaces in Boston as a brainwashed wellness cultist named Zoe. And Candy, the youngest, is a recovering addict who finds herself pregnant by a man she's not even sure ever existed.
None of this concerns you of course, until a cataclysmic earthquake hits Boston. Now you must traverse the crumbling city to reach the Watertown Mall Old Country Buffet—for a reason you still cannot disclose—battling strange entities and your own strange past to save your granddaughters and possibly the world.
Author of Dreaming of You Melissa Lozada-Oliva delivers an unsettling, raucous debut novel written with tongue-in-cheek humor and sharp cultural criticism that unearths one troubled family’s legacy, feasting on diasporic identity politics and examining the limits of bodily autonomy and the dangers of wanting to belong at any cost.
A sweeping, mystical novel following three generations of women as they grapple with muddled pasts and predetermined futures, Candelaria is a story of love that eats us alive.
None of this concerns you of course, until a cataclysmic earthquake hits Boston. Now you must traverse the crumbling city to reach the Watertown Mall Old Country Buffet—for a reason you still cannot disclose—battling strange entities and your own strange past to save your granddaughters and possibly the world.
Author of Dreaming of You Melissa Lozada-Oliva delivers an unsettling, raucous debut novel written with tongue-in-cheek humor and sharp cultural criticism that unearths one troubled family’s legacy, feasting on diasporic identity politics and examining the limits of bodily autonomy and the dangers of wanting to belong at any cost.
A sweeping, mystical novel following three generations of women as they grapple with muddled pasts and predetermined futures, Candelaria is a story of love that eats us alive.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 19, 2023
About the author
Melissa Lozada-Oliva
8 books370 followersMelissa Lozada-Oliva is an American poet and educator based in New York. Her poem, "Like Totally Whatever" won the 2015 National Poetry Slam Championship, and went viral.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews
December 30, 2023
A freewheeling, off-beat, and relentlessly chaotic read, Candelaria is a rhizomatic novel that defies easy categorisation. To borrow, once again, Lady Gaga’s words: “talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it”. Populated by bizarre characters (prone to huge leaps of logic, maundering, and dissociating from the fucked-up things that come their way), absurdist elements, and weird, sometimes gross, horror-like scenarios, Candelaria is the type of book that might make one feel that they can't make head or tail of what they are reading. Yet, I found myself wholly captivated by Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s playful dark humor and by her irresistibly irreverent social commentary. I was equal parts appalled and delighted by her characters’ tribulations. Their behaviors and responses to the small and large-scale catastrophes that come their way often verge on the surreal, reminding me very much of authors like Helen Oyeyemi, Kevin Wilson, and Ling Ma.
The novel’s opening is hectic enough. Through a 2nd pov we follow Candelaria, “you”, whose daily routine is interrupted by a devastating earthquake. Her surprisingly violent response to this event is in many ways more alarming than the earthquake itself, yet, the use of the 2nd pov keeps her motivations at arm's lengths from us. We know only that for whatever reason Candelaria sets out across Boston, her destination the Watertown Mall Old Country Buffet. Undeterred by the progressively apocalyptic obstacles in her path, Candelaria is determined to reach the Buffet, a place that, somehow, is connected to the ongoing chaos around her.
The novel switches between Candelaria’s ‘present’ journey to the events that lead to it. Here we meet her three granddaughters, as overwhelmed as they are overwhelming, each far too wrapped up by her own drama to realize that the weird shit happening to each one of them is connected. There is archaeologist Bianca, who is plenty book-smart but lacks self-awareness, her cold, brusque even, demeanour often sees her (in)voluntarily pushing others away. Having long been forced into the role of the reliable daughter/sister/granddaughter, she’s at a low point in her life and has just been duped & dumped by her advisor who kicked her off of her own dig back in Guatemala. Her life work in jeopardy, Bianca is licking her wounds back in Boston, where, mired by self-pity, she spends most of her time whining to her (far too) understanding housemate. We then have Candy, the youngest, who, despite her name, is brazen and mean. Candy is a recovering addict whose self-destructive antics have often been a concern in the family. A film aficionado, Candy now works at a cinema. She’s brash, extremely self-centred, and rarely thinks things true. Her attitude to life is seemingly blasé yet after she and Bianca fall out, we can see how bothered she is by it. She discovers that is pregnant after a one-night stand with a mysterious man, whose disappearance was as strange as his appearance. Worst still, her pregnancy seems to have worrisome, monstrous, side effects.
And last we have Paola, newly returned to Boston having been missing for over a decade. This new Paola goes by Zoe, and has become a devout member of a cultish wellness center. Having reinvented herself, Zoe is not interested in reuniting with her family, whom she’d run away from so many years before.
Throughout the novel, Lozada-Oliva plays around with so many tropes and genres that one might struggle to keep up. Often we seemingly lose sight of the plot, distracted by whatever latest bizarre thing is happening on the page (be it brainwashing, cannibalism, or the end of the world). A series of grotty, horrifying, and baffling events puncture the sisters’ seemingly disparate storylines, but, these scenarios are depicted in such an energetic way that one might, like the characters themselves, overlook the magnitude of what has happened/is happening. Lozada-Oliva's characters and their circumstances are entrenched in the absurd, at times verging on the hysterical. Yet, the humorous and grotesque elements don’t take away from Lozada-Oliva’s social commentary nor do they make the characters less humane. The narrative may poke fun at the characters but not their struggles or desires. The novel’s gritty commentary on contemporary American politics is balanced by an empathetic yet incisive portrayal of the interplay between diasporic identity and generational trauma. Family is at the heart of Candelaria, even if the sisters’ attempts at belonging, at achieving happiness and success, see them hurtling into and out of each other’s paths. I liked how the novel allows for these types of flawed characters and sisterhood to take the centrestage, showing the complex layers beneath each sister and allowing for nuance in their love/hate bond.
The novel’s foray into the horror genre is particularly effective as it allows for an uncompromising examination of bodily autonomy, female monstrosity, thorny family histories, and the hunger to belong. Lozada-Oliva's approach to horror made me think simultaneously of two very different films, Julia Ducournau’s Titane and Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, as well as Stephen Graham Jones' adrenaline-fueled horror novels (in particular My Heart is a Chainsaw).
This novel is a riot, and I was wholly wholly engrossed and invested in the ongoing chaos. There were some aspects that I wish could have been tweaked slightly (the reunion is too long delayed, several storylines are left unresolved, and i could have done without the offing of a certain character). Still, given its scope, those minor flaws hardly made a dent in my reading experience. I loved Lozada-Oliva’s punchy prose, her fucked-up sort of humor, and her messed-up characters. I can definitely see this appealing to fans of Helen Oyeyemi, Kevin Wilson, Hilary Leichter, and Ling Ma, as well as to readers who enjoyed Samanta Schweblin's bizarre short stories, An Yu's murky brand of surrealism, Sam Cohen's madcap stories in Sarahland, Candas Jane Dorsey's tongue-in-cheek postmodern murder-mystery, The Adventures of Isabel , Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier, or the realistically dysfunctional family dynamics depicted by authors like Angie Cruz and Eden Robinson. Lozada-Oliva delivers a high-octane genre-bending read that sucked me into its nonsensical, uninhibited, funny, and gross vortex. I can't wait to read it again and look forward to reading more by Lozada-Oliva.
The novel’s opening is hectic enough. Through a 2nd pov we follow Candelaria, “you”, whose daily routine is interrupted by a devastating earthquake. Her surprisingly violent response to this event is in many ways more alarming than the earthquake itself, yet, the use of the 2nd pov keeps her motivations at arm's lengths from us. We know only that for whatever reason Candelaria sets out across Boston, her destination the Watertown Mall Old Country Buffet. Undeterred by the progressively apocalyptic obstacles in her path, Candelaria is determined to reach the Buffet, a place that, somehow, is connected to the ongoing chaos around her.
The novel switches between Candelaria’s ‘present’ journey to the events that lead to it. Here we meet her three granddaughters, as overwhelmed as they are overwhelming, each far too wrapped up by her own drama to realize that the weird shit happening to each one of them is connected. There is archaeologist Bianca, who is plenty book-smart but lacks self-awareness, her cold, brusque even, demeanour often sees her (in)voluntarily pushing others away. Having long been forced into the role of the reliable daughter/sister/granddaughter, she’s at a low point in her life and has just been duped & dumped by her advisor who kicked her off of her own dig back in Guatemala. Her life work in jeopardy, Bianca is licking her wounds back in Boston, where, mired by self-pity, she spends most of her time whining to her (far too) understanding housemate. We then have Candy, the youngest, who, despite her name, is brazen and mean. Candy is a recovering addict whose self-destructive antics have often been a concern in the family. A film aficionado, Candy now works at a cinema. She’s brash, extremely self-centred, and rarely thinks things true. Her attitude to life is seemingly blasé yet after she and Bianca fall out, we can see how bothered she is by it. She discovers that is pregnant after a one-night stand with a mysterious man, whose disappearance was as strange as his appearance. Worst still, her pregnancy seems to have worrisome, monstrous, side effects.
And last we have Paola, newly returned to Boston having been missing for over a decade. This new Paola goes by Zoe, and has become a devout member of a cultish wellness center. Having reinvented herself, Zoe is not interested in reuniting with her family, whom she’d run away from so many years before.
Throughout the novel, Lozada-Oliva plays around with so many tropes and genres that one might struggle to keep up. Often we seemingly lose sight of the plot, distracted by whatever latest bizarre thing is happening on the page (be it brainwashing, cannibalism, or the end of the world). A series of grotty, horrifying, and baffling events puncture the sisters’ seemingly disparate storylines, but, these scenarios are depicted in such an energetic way that one might, like the characters themselves, overlook the magnitude of what has happened/is happening. Lozada-Oliva's characters and their circumstances are entrenched in the absurd, at times verging on the hysterical. Yet, the humorous and grotesque elements don’t take away from Lozada-Oliva’s social commentary nor do they make the characters less humane. The narrative may poke fun at the characters but not their struggles or desires. The novel’s gritty commentary on contemporary American politics is balanced by an empathetic yet incisive portrayal of the interplay between diasporic identity and generational trauma. Family is at the heart of Candelaria, even if the sisters’ attempts at belonging, at achieving happiness and success, see them hurtling into and out of each other’s paths. I liked how the novel allows for these types of flawed characters and sisterhood to take the centrestage, showing the complex layers beneath each sister and allowing for nuance in their love/hate bond.
The novel’s foray into the horror genre is particularly effective as it allows for an uncompromising examination of bodily autonomy, female monstrosity, thorny family histories, and the hunger to belong. Lozada-Oliva's approach to horror made me think simultaneously of two very different films, Julia Ducournau’s Titane and Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, as well as Stephen Graham Jones' adrenaline-fueled horror novels (in particular My Heart is a Chainsaw).
This novel is a riot, and I was wholly wholly engrossed and invested in the ongoing chaos. There were some aspects that I wish could have been tweaked slightly (the reunion is too long delayed, several storylines are left unresolved, and i could have done without the offing of a certain character). Still, given its scope, those minor flaws hardly made a dent in my reading experience. I loved Lozada-Oliva’s punchy prose, her fucked-up sort of humor, and her messed-up characters. I can definitely see this appealing to fans of Helen Oyeyemi, Kevin Wilson, Hilary Leichter, and Ling Ma, as well as to readers who enjoyed Samanta Schweblin's bizarre short stories, An Yu's murky brand of surrealism, Sam Cohen's madcap stories in Sarahland, Candas Jane Dorsey's tongue-in-cheek postmodern murder-mystery, The Adventures of Isabel , Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier, or the realistically dysfunctional family dynamics depicted by authors like Angie Cruz and Eden Robinson. Lozada-Oliva delivers a high-octane genre-bending read that sucked me into its nonsensical, uninhibited, funny, and gross vortex. I can't wait to read it again and look forward to reading more by Lozada-Oliva.
December 16, 2023
at absolutely no point in this book did i anticipate what was coming next and i loved every moment of it
July 11, 2023
UPDATE: This book still slaps. I loved listening to it on audio, and had such a great time revisiting this family. MLO is a freak and we love her for it.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I loved this strange little book. The story (and Melissa Lozada-Oliva's writing voice) perfectly captured the vibe of some of my favorite horror movies—as chaos, destruction, and otherworldly/evil forces reign, the characters maintain a sort of flippant self-centeredness throughout it all. All of the horror was somehow completely unexpected, and felt really visceral and surreal. At the core of the story is a family trying to deal with the various betrayals, traumas, and failed expectations they've all endured collectively and individually. Even outside of the horror elements, this story got really dark, but I appreciated the way all of the sisters loved and hated each other so forcefully throughout the novel. It felt very familiar, like yeah your sister is a bitch, but you would still brave an apocalypse for her. There were a few elements of the story that could have been tied up a little more, but I'm not one for nitpicking the enjoyment out of a horror romp. There were here were a handful of typos/mistakes in the digital ARC, and that, combined with the PDF format made it a little tricky to follow at times. But either way, I'm so excited to pre-order and read this again (and make all my horror-loving friends read it, too).
ORIGINAL REVIEW: I loved this strange little book. The story (and Melissa Lozada-Oliva's writing voice) perfectly captured the vibe of some of my favorite horror movies—as chaos, destruction, and otherworldly/evil forces reign, the characters maintain a sort of flippant self-centeredness throughout it all. All of the horror was somehow completely unexpected, and felt really visceral and surreal. At the core of the story is a family trying to deal with the various betrayals, traumas, and failed expectations they've all endured collectively and individually. Even outside of the horror elements, this story got really dark, but I appreciated the way all of the sisters loved and hated each other so forcefully throughout the novel. It felt very familiar, like yeah your sister is a bitch, but you would still brave an apocalypse for her. There were a few elements of the story that could have been tied up a little more, but I'm not one for nitpicking the enjoyment out of a horror romp. There were here were a handful of typos/mistakes in the digital ARC, and that, combined with the PDF format made it a little tricky to follow at times. But either way, I'm so excited to pre-order and read this again (and make all my horror-loving friends read it, too).
June 15, 2023
i wanted to like this SO BADLY. i think the story is very interesting but there is just too much left unexplained/unsupported. i kept with this book BECAUSE i wanted to know what happened, as the prose left a lot to be desired. i had a much longer review written out earlier but then goodreads crashed and i lost the whole thing, but i will say this--the ending was not only disappointing, it felt sloppy and just plain bad! there could be an argument that we don't get to know what happens with the monster because the real conflict was the family ties/relationships that are wrapped up at the end. but this isn't a compelling argument, as the women can't seem to be bothered by the fact that their grandmother is being spun around in the air by the monster! it's a ridiculous scene, these four women huddled around a baby, bodies piled up all around, discussing whether or not paolo/zoe will raise the baby, while their mother/grandmother is being practically juggled! and then the very ending where candelaria spouts off some platitudes before we essentially fade to black? so so so bad
anyway i really should give this book one star but i will give it two because it tricked me into finishing it. that's mean--because it had enough potential to convince me that it could be better than it was. i think realistically it is a 1.5 star book.
anyway i really should give this book one star but i will give it two because it tricked me into finishing it. that's mean--because it had enough potential to convince me that it could be better than it was. i think realistically it is a 1.5 star book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2023
this started off SO strong. the first half was almost perfect.
as always i love melissa’s voice! but towards the end it felt rushed and unfinished. i started to get confused with some of the plot threads that i felt she paid a little less attention to. there were too many side characters to possibly give all of them a solid chunk of plot, while still focusing the story on the sisters. however, melissa just poets really hard in several places throughout this book and i respect that. fiction just hits different coming from a poet.
poets love to write with no plot just vibes, but this was an attempt to do full plot and vibes, which was a big task.
as always i love melissa’s voice! but towards the end it felt rushed and unfinished. i started to get confused with some of the plot threads that i felt she paid a little less attention to. there were too many side characters to possibly give all of them a solid chunk of plot, while still focusing the story on the sisters. however, melissa just poets really hard in several places throughout this book and i respect that. fiction just hits different coming from a poet.
poets love to write with no plot just vibes, but this was an attempt to do full plot and vibes, which was a big task.
April 30, 2024
You kind of have to let this one take you for the ride. It's chaotic and gross and funny, with horror/absurd tendencies. There is a pretty bad earthquake. The cover is bananas. But family lies at its heart! Read it.
November 25, 2023
absolutely cherished every page of this insane book. i blasted through it in 2.5 days, alternating between giggling and screaming and going EeEeW!! it is so beautifully written and tender, such a fun puzzle to gobble up.
January 10, 2024
"What... what?... Oh, OK. No... wait, what?" Over and over again.
December 16, 2023
Hmmm, I LOVED the first half of this book but then it kind of lost me. Too much going on without a coherent feeling of what the “rules” are. The characters felt very well realized, and I liked spending time with them even as they made bad choices.
However, I have to say- and I haven’t seen this in other reviews - oh my god, an abortion at 11 weeks is not a “LATE TERM SURGERY.” I was so mad about an OB GYN character referring to an 11 week abortion as such that I almost stopped reading.
However, I have to say- and I haven’t seen this in other reviews - oh my god, an abortion at 11 weeks is not a “LATE TERM SURGERY.” I was so mad about an OB GYN character referring to an 11 week abortion as such that I almost stopped reading.
January 4, 2024
Lovely story about generational trauma, family, womanhood, and a zombie apocalypse :) This reminded me a lot of Everything Everywhere All At Once, which made me really want to see it as a movie.
This was the first book in a while that I’ve read without a recommendation, I just picked it up at a bookstore. It went very well, I should do that more often!
Also loved that it took place in Boston cuz I was like “omg I know that place” the whole damn time!
This was the first book in a while that I’ve read without a recommendation, I just picked it up at a bookstore. It went very well, I should do that more often!
Also loved that it took place in Boston cuz I was like “omg I know that place” the whole damn time!
Read
January 2, 2024This book TOOK ME TO UNEXPECTED PLACES and not only did I love the destination, but I absolutely adored the trip. Melissa has quickly ingratiated herself as an auto-buy author for me.
June 7, 2024
couldn’t tell you a single thing that happened but was absolutely enthralled nevertheless
November 24, 2024
Hear me out
September 20, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🍽️
“All your life, chugging your body through the air, a woman in motion”
What a chaotic, beautiful ride this was. Melissa, you left me speechless! I devoured this in less than 48 hours. I don’t even know where to begin but the first thing I want to say is this was absolutely beautiful in the coolest, most horrifying way. While journeying through generational trauma, this was also a love letter to family, sisterhood, and the love of a grandmother that was unwavering.
This novel takes you on a path through cannibalism and a yoga, loving cult, I know that might sound bonkers, but you have to trust me and experience this one for yourself. It’s a story unlike anything I’ve ever read and didn’t know I needed! I related to each sister in many ways, and thought of my own grandmother, as Candelaria did what she had to do for her family.
When you pick up a Candelaria, you are a journeying with a grandmother, her daughter, and her three daughters through a wild ride. They are so wonderfully messy and chaotic. I couldn’t stop turning the page to see what amazing chaos would ensue next.
I really loved the rotating point of views and the timeline as we got closer to the end of the world. This was apocalyptic horror at its finest with so many intricate touches.
I was also lucky to enough to be at the “Candelaria” book release and what a treat that was!
Don’t walk, run to pick up “Candelaria”. It’s something you’ll want to devour from the first page. 🍽️
“All your life, chugging your body through the air, a woman in motion”
What a chaotic, beautiful ride this was. Melissa, you left me speechless! I devoured this in less than 48 hours. I don’t even know where to begin but the first thing I want to say is this was absolutely beautiful in the coolest, most horrifying way. While journeying through generational trauma, this was also a love letter to family, sisterhood, and the love of a grandmother that was unwavering.
This novel takes you on a path through cannibalism and a yoga, loving cult, I know that might sound bonkers, but you have to trust me and experience this one for yourself. It’s a story unlike anything I’ve ever read and didn’t know I needed! I related to each sister in many ways, and thought of my own grandmother, as Candelaria did what she had to do for her family.
When you pick up a Candelaria, you are a journeying with a grandmother, her daughter, and her three daughters through a wild ride. They are so wonderfully messy and chaotic. I couldn’t stop turning the page to see what amazing chaos would ensue next.
I really loved the rotating point of views and the timeline as we got closer to the end of the world. This was apocalyptic horror at its finest with so many intricate touches.
I was also lucky to enough to be at the “Candelaria” book release and what a treat that was!
Don’t walk, run to pick up “Candelaria”. It’s something you’ll want to devour from the first page. 🍽️
January 17, 2024
PERSONALLY…..This book was not for me. I hated every minute spent reading it. The only reason I continued is because I absolutely needed to know was going on and it was incredibly unsatisfying. This book really sucked for me. It felt like I was reading a draft. The editing fell short.
The plot was all over the place. Every character was unlikable and underdeveloped. The mystical aspects felt lazy and underdeveloped. The book also had a try hard feel. Like a person in your college sociology class who thinks they are saying something smart but doesn’t make a single point. At no point did I know why anything was happening. Every page felt disjointed. The flow did not exist. This book took WAY too long to explain why the things were happening and then had the audacity to not even be satisfying.
Wish I would have DNFd but I was hooked into thinking the ending would at least be decent.
The plot was all over the place. Every character was unlikable and underdeveloped. The mystical aspects felt lazy and underdeveloped. The book also had a try hard feel. Like a person in your college sociology class who thinks they are saying something smart but doesn’t make a single point. At no point did I know why anything was happening. Every page felt disjointed. The flow did not exist. This book took WAY too long to explain why the things were happening and then had the audacity to not even be satisfying.
Wish I would have DNFd but I was hooked into thinking the ending would at least be decent.
December 9, 2023
I stayed up too late finishing this last night and had the weirdest fucking dreams.
I started the year with Dreaming of You: A Novel in Verse, and both of these books have ripped my heart into a thousand bloody shreds and then lovingly sewed it back up again, better than it was before.
An apocalyptic story that is less about the end of the world and more about sisterhood, intergenarational trauma, and the dangers of wellness cults.
My perfect kind of weird.
I started the year with Dreaming of You: A Novel in Verse, and both of these books have ripped my heart into a thousand bloody shreds and then lovingly sewed it back up again, better than it was before.
An apocalyptic story that is less about the end of the world and more about sisterhood, intergenarational trauma, and the dangers of wellness cults.
My perfect kind of weird.
October 27, 2024
yes this is about cannibalism and a murderous fertility cult but also about family and heritage. plus i always have a soft spot for things set in boston
August 19, 2024
(3.5) [audio] what a wacky read!! Candelaria captures an immigrant family story sort of spanning over generations, dealing with mental health, addiction, and spooky magic / dreamscapes too!
Loved the characters, very creative. I wish I would have read it with my eyes instead of my ears because it was sometimes difficult to follow on audio. I want to reread already
Loved the characters, very creative. I wish I would have read it with my eyes instead of my ears because it was sometimes difficult to follow on audio. I want to reread already
January 14, 2024
So unexpected and weird and fun!!!
May 21, 2024
You are a monster... But shouldn't she have learned by now? This is what women must become.
Eating and flesh and pregnancy and women mmmm yes
Eating and flesh and pregnancy and women mmmm yes
September 28, 2023
Gruesome, unhinged, and darkly hilarious, yet so tender in a way that didn’t make me want to roll my eyes. Lozada-Oliva built an absurd, monstrous mirror of our world and grounded it in a kind of unbreakable kinship that had me rooting for her characters at every messy turn.
October 27, 2023
Fast-paced, hilarious, heartfelt. This novel is simultaneously a delicious horror show and a beautiful piece about mothers and daughters and sisterhood, how you can love and hurt the people closest to you in the same breath. Even in their specificity, these characters feel familiar, a version of someone you've known since childhood or met in a coffee shop line one time. I laughed, I gasped, I cried. I had so much fun.
July 21, 2023
I laughed, I gagged, I teared up…all the good stuff
January 9, 2024
Don’t ask me what just happened.
June 25, 2026
Everything Everywhere all at Once, but instead of focusing on the relationship between a mother and her daughter, make it about a family of five women, three sisters, their mother, and their grandmother. This was emotional, funny, disturbing, and surreal and I really really enjoyed it.
Candelaria moves through her life, now in America, with a quiet grief. Her son has died, her one daughter is back in Guatemala, her other resentful but deeply caring daughter Lucia, watches over her while also trying to wrangle her two (three?) adult daughters as they each uniquely ruin their own lives. Candy, named after her grandmother, is a recovering addict and all around mess, in an unhappy relationship with her boyfriend, trying her best at a "normal" life as a manager of a movie theater without knowing where she wants to go in life. Bianca is in New York, but is supposed to be in Guatemala at an archeology dig site in a cave-in that claimed the life of her uncle in mysterious circumstances, but she's been dismissed from the site by her dissertation advisor who she has been sleeping with, and she hasn't had the heart to tell her mother she's back in the states. Paola, or Zoe now, has just killed her husband. This will be the second time she upends her life to run away, the first away from her family, who assumes she's dead, now to escape the life she escaped to in the first place. All of this is as directed by Maria, the leader of the women's center (cult) that she's become involved with. And it turns out Zoe is the key to their goals. What follows is a tangled web of strange, creepy coincidences that slowly reveal into a larger conspiracy. Candy has an escapade with Bianca's thesis advisor, but he's supposed to be in Guatemala, and he's also supposed to be dead. The same strange barista with a bowl cut seems to pop up in every family member's life. People come back into Candelaria's life who should be dead, people she doesn't trust. Zoe is struggling to follow the directives of Maria when they become more and more hostile towards... her sister Candy. And Candy is now eating people. Bianca can't get in touch with Candy, so enlists help from the weird alt guy she lost her virginity to in high school, and who was also the drug dealer that led to Candy overdosing. And it only gets crazier from there.
This is a book about the apocalypse, and cannibalism, and cults, and strange primordial beings, but really it is a book about sisterhood, family, and generational trauma. It is a story about how we can't help but hurt the ones that love us the most, and who we love the most, because we know they'll always love us no matter what. It is extremely funny and sad and heartwarming and heart wrenching. It is a story that is so American but the prototypical picture of an immigrant family. There's so much to unpack, I can't even begin to touch upon it all in a book review, but it was ultimately very well done. I enjoyed this a lot.
Candelaria moves through her life, now in America, with a quiet grief. Her son has died, her one daughter is back in Guatemala, her other resentful but deeply caring daughter Lucia, watches over her while also trying to wrangle her two (three?) adult daughters as they each uniquely ruin their own lives. Candy, named after her grandmother, is a recovering addict and all around mess, in an unhappy relationship with her boyfriend, trying her best at a "normal" life as a manager of a movie theater without knowing where she wants to go in life. Bianca is in New York, but is supposed to be in Guatemala at an archeology dig site in a cave-in that claimed the life of her uncle in mysterious circumstances, but she's been dismissed from the site by her dissertation advisor who she has been sleeping with, and she hasn't had the heart to tell her mother she's back in the states. Paola, or Zoe now, has just killed her husband. This will be the second time she upends her life to run away, the first away from her family, who assumes she's dead, now to escape the life she escaped to in the first place. All of this is as directed by Maria, the leader of the women's center (cult) that she's become involved with. And it turns out Zoe is the key to their goals. What follows is a tangled web of strange, creepy coincidences that slowly reveal into a larger conspiracy. Candy has an escapade with Bianca's thesis advisor, but he's supposed to be in Guatemala, and he's also supposed to be dead. The same strange barista with a bowl cut seems to pop up in every family member's life. People come back into Candelaria's life who should be dead, people she doesn't trust. Zoe is struggling to follow the directives of Maria when they become more and more hostile towards... her sister Candy. And Candy is now eating people. Bianca can't get in touch with Candy, so enlists help from the weird alt guy she lost her virginity to in high school, and who was also the drug dealer that led to Candy overdosing. And it only gets crazier from there.
This is a book about the apocalypse, and cannibalism, and cults, and strange primordial beings, but really it is a book about sisterhood, family, and generational trauma. It is a story about how we can't help but hurt the ones that love us the most, and who we love the most, because we know they'll always love us no matter what. It is extremely funny and sad and heartwarming and heart wrenching. It is a story that is so American but the prototypical picture of an immigrant family. There's so much to unpack, I can't even begin to touch upon it all in a book review, but it was ultimately very well done. I enjoyed this a lot.
June 1, 2024
It is hard to write a review of this book but, here it goes: this was a wild ride, crazy, original, thoughtful and meaningful. it is an apocalyptic novel about family and womanhood and sisterhood and … colonization? and aging. it is beautiful and crazy. i know parts of it were literally grotesque, but i never felt scared or icked out. it was all part of the plot and the wild cannibalism was writing so beautifully that i never once felt bad reading it. And the sisterhood and american-guatemalan family at the center of this feels like my own in many ways and is different and eye opening in other ways. i will be thinking about this for a long time— little pieces become clearer and more intentionally the more i dwell on this book.
April 26, 2024
MLO’s mind is totally fucking twisted and I love it. This book was impossible to put down. In addition to an absolutely bonkers plot, the characters in this book are impossibly tangibly real. I was bouncing between being horrified to giggling with delight to heart aching. This is an apocalypse story but also a story about generational trauma and also cults and also sisterhood and also.. and also?!!!??
January 12, 2024
What a trip! One of the most creative stories I have read in a long time. The bonkers horror feminist fever dream rollercoaster I didn't know I needed and I loved every second of it, an absolute masterpiece.
May 30, 2024
I enjoyed reading the perspectives of the women in Candelaria’s family and getting to know them, while set to an absurd, horrific and often comical apocalypse.
I think this could’ve benefited from being a bit longer because the ending began to feel chaotic and a little rushed, in a way that I started to feel a little lost. But, I had fun reading it and found the writing and supernatural elements to be a thrilling exploration into intergenerational trauma.
I think this could’ve benefited from being a bit longer because the ending began to feel chaotic and a little rushed, in a way that I started to feel a little lost. But, I had fun reading it and found the writing and supernatural elements to be a thrilling exploration into intergenerational trauma.
February 16, 2026
this was so wild and creative and i loved every moment
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