So Far from God

by Ana Castillo

"A delightful novel...impossible to resist."—Barbara Kingsolver, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Sofia and her fated daughters, Fe, Esperanza, Caridad, and la Loca, endure hardship and enjoy love in the sleepy New Mexico hamlet of Tome, a town teeming with marvels where the comic and the horrific, the real and the supernatural, reside.

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Latinx, Fantasy, Feminism, Contemporary, Literature

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Ana Castillo (June 15, 1953-) is a celebrated and distinguished poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scholar. Castillo was born and raised in Chicago. She has contributed to periodicals and on-line venues (Salon and Oxygen) and national magazines, including More and the Sunday New York Times. Castillo’s writings have been the subject of numerous scholarly investigations and publications. Among her award winning, best sellling titles: novels include So Far From God, The Guardians and Peel My Love like an Onion, among other poetry: I Ask the Impossible. Her novel, Sapogonia was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has been profiled and interviewed on National Public Radio and the History Channel and was a radio-essayist with NPR in Chicago. Ana Castillo is editor of La Tolteca, an arts and literary ‘zine dedicated to the advancement of a world without borders and censorship and was on the advisory board of the new American Writers Museum, which opened its door in Chicago, 2017. In 2014 Dr. Castillo held the Lund-Gil Endowed Chair at Dominican University, River Forest, IL and served on the faculty with Bread Loaf Summer Program (Middlebury College) in 2015 and 2016. She also held the first Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Endowed Chair at DePaul University, The Martin Luther King, Jr Distinguished Visiting Scholar post at M.I.T. and was the Poet-in-Residence at Westminster College in Utah in 2012, among other teaching posts throughout her extensive career. Ana Castillo holds an M.A from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D., University of Bremen, Germany in American Studies and an honorary doctorate from Colby College. She received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for her first novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters. Her other awards include a Carl Sandburg Award, a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in fiction and poetry. She was also awarded a 1998 Sor Juana Achievement Award by the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago. Dr. Castillo’s So Far From God and Loverboys are two titles on the banned book list controversy with the TUSD in Arizona. 2013 Recipient of the American Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa Prize to an independent scholar. via www.anacastillo.net

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's kind of magical realism for the North American feminist. Growing up in a catholic feminist family with my mom and 3 sisters and a dad who was there -- but not so much -- the story felt like a dramatic and whimsical telling of themes I've lived. Like Ana Castillo, I've lived in Chicago and New Mexico, so the terrain and language felt pretty familiar, too.

It's a fun fast read and it's one of those books where you pick up odd little random facts such as:
* what really goes on in conglomerate factories,
* peacocks possess an annoying bawl in lieu of birdsong,
* how modern priests are often afraid of little girls
* what to expect in a community religious procession or pilgrimage
* why men pretending to spiritual enlightenment should be avoided like one of the seven plagues

It has some heavy-handed conceits and symbolism -- especially in the way the daughters named Esperanza, Fe, Caridad and La Loca of all things are actualized and personified. But it's a silly, fun, trip through the lives of women distilled through the perspective of mothers.daughters/sisters.

Incidentally, the title comes from a quote by Porfirio Diaz, "¡Pobre México! ¡Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos!" (Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States!)

[el · Rating 3 out of 5]

so far from god scratches all of my magical realist itches, particularly the strain of magical realism that is unique to xicana writers: matriarchs, medicine/brujería, food as a love language, and the sort of southwestern tongue born of borderland living. and yet, it fell short of my expectations in a lot of ways. i think this is one of those instances where the expository storytelling technique didn't work for me and actually blunted the impact of all the emotional writing and character development i hoped for. i wanted more out of the story, i was left unsatisfied by the wlw subplot, and i wish the writing hadn't dragged in so many places. in spite of that, this text holds a lot of personal and academic value to me in all that it taught me about the literary movement, so i'm giving it a solid three stars for what i've been able to take from it.

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"So far from God and so close to the United States.
Tan Lejos de Dios, y Tan Cerca de los Estados Unidos."

--- Porfirio Diaz, Dictator of Mexico during the Mexican Civil War

On my bookcover of my copy of So Far From God by Ana Castillo is a gold sticker from the Mountain Plains Booksellers Association that says Regional Book Award Winner. Not only this book, but inside was a beautiful book mark with other winners in 1993, two of my favorites being Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs by Wallace Stegner and All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. It should be noted that this beautiful book has been in my library since 1993 surviving several purges in the downsizing of our lives and my library.

This fable-like tale takes place in Central New Mexico in a small sleepy hamlet, Tome, which lies directly east of the Manzano Mountains. However, with the skilled storytelling of Ana Castillo, this story comes to life on so many levels as there are many pulling and contradictory forces: the past and the present, reality and the supernatural or magical realism, the comedic overtones contrasted with tragedy, as well as the Native American and the Hispano and the Anglo. The book is narrated by an omnipresent voice, stylistic freedom by a self-described opinionated narrator. It is from this
narration we learn the story of two generations of a Chicana family where Sofia is the mother of four daughters: Esperanza, Caridad, Fe, and the baby la Loca. Sofia holds the family together in spite of her husband Domingo's disappearance. The allure of this book is the beautiful writing of Castillo as she weaves the mundane and the miraculous, ancient traditions and modern science, and magical realism. Having grown up in New Mexico, I love the writing of Ana Castillo and how she brings the fierce faith, superstitions and beliefs of the diverse populations making up the culture of New Mexico; that of the Hispanic, the Anglo and the Native American. And this is why New Mexico is often called "The Land of Enchantment." In closing, one of my favorite memories is embodied in this quotation:

"It was that month in the 'Land of Enchantment' when it smelled of roasted chiles everywhere. Fresh red ristras and sometimes green ones were hung on the vigas of portales throughout--all along dusty roads, in front of shops and restaurants to welcome visitors and to ward off enemies. Propane-run chile roasters were hand-rotated by bagboys in front of local supermarkets and everyone who didn't grow their own line up to get their chiles, women were packing them up, whole, dried, and in sauces, to send off to homesick boys stationed in Panama and wayfaring relatives in Wyoming and Washington, D.C., but mostly to their familias right there and to freeze for the winter."

[emma °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars. Read for class. This was beautiful. Not a lot happens in this book; it's more of a look inside the lives of this family of women, with magical realism sprinkled throughout it. I thought it was well done, and it moved me multiple times.

[Agnė · Rating 3 out of 5]

WHAT IT IS ABOUT:

“So Far From God” by Ana Castillo is a peculiar magical realism novel set in a small village of Tome in New Mexico. Abandoned by her gambling husband, Sofia single-handedly raises four daughters: Esperanza, an ambitious news reporter; Fe, a jilted bride suffering from a nervous breakdown; Caridad, a promiscuous nurse who is mutilated by a mysterious creature; and saintly La Loca who dies at the age of three and after resurrection avoids human contact. This unusual Chicano family’s saga has a little bit of everything, from tragedy to comedy, from realism to miracles, from cultural heritage to feminism.

THUMBS UP:

1) Worthwhile.
“So Far From God” is quite odd but it is nonetheless an engaging and moving read. And the more I think about it, the better it gets! It took me a while to get used to the author’s writing style but I grew to love it - her voice is strong and her narration is very readable, kind of gossipy. My favorite part is the later chapter on Fe - so tragically realistic and thought-provoking!

2) Tasteful magical realism.
In “So Far From God,” magical realism is subtle and often morphs into symbolism. The events can be explained away or at least understood as metaphors (with a few exceptions, namely, what the hell happened to Caridad and Esmeralda?), thus I would recommend this novel to the novice reader of the genre.

3) Authentic.
“So Far From God” has an authentic vibe as it is loaded with a blend of Chicano, Native American and Anglo cultures: folklore, local wisdom, religious beliefs, home remedies and even recipes. Plus, the language is authentic too as there are a LOT of words, phrases and even sentences in Spanish and a few obscure grammatical structures.

4) Thought-provoking.
Although Castillo’s tone is humorous and upbeat, this novel brings to light a lot of serious issues such as global violence, worker exploitation, violation of health and safety standards, environmental contamination, gross materialism and female discrimination. Plus, the story is told from a strong feminist perspective as all four of its protagonists, in their own way, break the stereotypical image of a Chicana woman.

COULD BE BETTER:

1) Slow beginning.
I had a hard time getting into the story. The narrator’s voice just seemed too distant, making it hard to relate to or care about the characters. Eventually, I got used to the writing style and enjoyed the story but not before I read almost a hundred pages.

2) Spanish overload.
As I mentioned before, there is A LOT of Spanish in this book. The upside: authenticity. The downside: I don’t speak Spanish, so I had to use a dictionary. A LOT.

3) Chapter titles.
The chapter titles are extra long. They basically summarize the whole upcoming chapter (yes, spoilers included).

VERDICT: 3.5 out of 5

Ana Castillo’s magical realism novel “So Far From God” is a charmingly odd and charismatic take on the lives of Chicana women. Although a little bit slow at first, this book is worth reading.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Castillo's writing is fast and quick with a hodge-podge of fantastic code-switching and pop Chicano cultural references. The story sometimes went all over the place, but even that suited the off-the-hip style. There's something about Castillo's writing -- it hooks me, and it's an easy, interesting read. I think that maybe more than her books, I am falling in love with Ana Castillo herself. Her voice is very strong, and I imagine her out there in the world, with clear, sharp eyes and a deep laugh and perception that could cut through ice.

[Lupita Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Siendo una fanatica del realismo mágico este libro fue un instante amor para mis ojos! es mi favorito libro y lo he leido mas de tres veces! Me encanta los remedios y tradicions que refleja la autora, las tradicions y la mezcla de ellas con una sociedad differente. Tambien me encanto los personajes y la manera en que Castillo refleja differente características de mujers en ellas. Unas fuertes y capaces de esta solas, otras con necesidad de tener un esposo y la vida perfecta. Realmente me encanto este libro!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that is much busier than it first appears. Castillo has written a novel that, on the surface, appears to be a kind of folksy, magical realism tale about a mother and the incredible fated lives of her four daughters. Below the surface we have a novel that intertwines Catholicism, indigenous (to the Southwest of present day U.S.A.)religion and Mexican American folk beliefs to build a striking critique of patriarchy, capitalism, and the consequences of unrestrained globalism.
Some people may not enjoy a book where nearly every character is a walking,talking symbol, but this worked for me.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when it was assigned in one of my college classes back in the early 2000s. I loved it then, and after a re-read of my battered college copy, I love it even more now. I’m a güera from New England, but after living in Texas for a decade and a half and having the privilege of working closely with Latino families as a nurse, my appreciation for this story knows no limits.

This book feels like a long, winding conversation around the dinner table with an ultra-feminist, left-wing tía dishing out all the good chisme. This book hit all my sweet spots and then some. The code-switching; the recipe sharing; and the everyday, working-woman’s social justice messaging woven throughout is just what I needed to read in today’s capitalist right-wing hellscape of conspiracy theories promulgated to keep a narcissist demagogue in power after the American people voted in historic numbers to end his assault on democracy and decency (oh my god I sound just like my grandmother, may she rest in peace and power ✊🏼).

Without spoiling anything, I’m struck by how so many of the issues tackled by this novel are relevant today, even though it was published in 1993. I’d recommend it to anyone, especially anyone who speaks Spanish, is culturally Latinx, or who lives in the Southwest. And if none of those describe you? Read it anyway, because it’s fantastic.

[Kt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I read it for a Women Writers in the West class in college, and it's the one that stuck with me the most (some other books in the course were Kingston's Tripmaster Monkey, Silko's Almanac of the Dead, Cather's My Antonia, and Kingsolver's The Bean Trees).

Following in the traditions of Latin American magical-realism, the story itself is not amazing, but Castillo's rendition of the characters, as well as their individual reactions to the problems they're confronted with, is beautiful. Castillo's rendition of women in the time of heartache, loss, poverty, love, and hope is a pleasure to read, making the book easy to read in one day.

Hope you love it as much as I do!

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

An all time fav. Should I go grad school and just read Chicanx lit all the time?

[Rachel León · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why don’t more people talk about this fantastic novel???

[chthonicbambi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bizarre mix of magic, humor, and tragedy! I can really appreciate this story as a fellow Chicana who grew up around machismo, Catholicism, and social injustice.

"Who better but La Llorona could the spirit of Esperanza have found, come to think of it, if not a woman who had been given a bad rap by every generation of her people since the beginning of time and yet, to Esperanza’s spirit-mind, La Llorona in the beginning (before men got in the way of it all) may have been nothing short of a loving mother goddess"

I love this interpretation of La Llorona. She is often portrayed as an evil woman who killed her own children and now preys on others. At no point did I wonder if certain, mainstream variations of this story were purposefully used to demonize mothers and scare women into being pious.

[Alexandra ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25/5

[Hetty · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 !!! My favorite read from my chicano class, marks for magical realism, sisterhood, unabashed political commentary, lesbians, and delish mexican food recipes

[anna maziarska · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading "So Far from God" by Ana Castillo I had major flashbacks to reading Márquez’s "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in high school. I could list the analogies: the little town of Tome as Macondo, Sofi’s family as the Buendía family, and the whole aura of the magical realism (I still have in mind Márquez’s ethereal passages about the butterfly meadows). But what struck me soon was the emphasis on the women’s role in the Latin American society — something very different from Márquez’s book (which was focused mostly on the male part of the family). It seemed that the women ran little Tome: as healers, workers, bank employees, news broadcasters, and even mayors. Compared to that, men either worked in the field, or were employed in a few jobs that were not of a high social-respect degree (i.e. shop at the gas station) — there were occasional male doctors, but even then their power and authority were juxtaposed with the forces of the female healers.

I could actually go on with my associations with other books and movies. The chapter which seems to work as an interlude to Sofi’s family story, the Helena and Maria car race, made me think of Ridley Scott’s "Thelma & Louise", a film from 1991, where two women travel by car through Texas and try to survive in a brutal male-centered world (Thelma runs away from an aggressive husband and later suffers from a rape attempt). In both the movie and "So Far from God" there were noticeable traces of the homo-erotic connection between two women. Castillo even wrote, that Maria and Helena were somehow in love with each other — a very interesting trope to investigate.

All in all, I loved every piece of this magical, twisted book.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel was unlike any novel i've read before, in a good way. The narrative voice resembled in some ways that of an 18th- or early 19th-c novel, Dickensian almost, in its third-person omniscient stance. The chronicle of Sofi's four special daughters and their lives in northern New Mexico is realist, with magic (but not magical realism). I found myself loving all four of her girls, and Sofi herself, so much that I didn't want this book to end. The blend of Indigenous, Spanish, Chicana, and Anglo cultures and languages found in this book was just the antidote to some slight homesickness. (I live in Sweden but am US American.) I read it mostly because 1) I love New Mexico, 2) I have never read anything by Ana Castillo and felt that was a gap for me, and 3) I heard it has an environmental justice subplot. The EJ subplot was indeed quite "sub" but no less powerful, and I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in social justice, broadly speaking, and anyone who appreciates women-centered stories. In a small way it reminded me of -The Poisonwood Bible-, perhaps just with respect to following the stories of a mother and her four daughters as they face obstacles big and small. But mostly it does not remind of any other book because Castillo's voice is one of the most individual (and captivating) I have ever read.

[Ola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25

[simbelmynë · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Bhargavi Suryanarayanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually don’t like magical realism, and if you're like me you'll find the writing style and plot a bit off-putting and disconcerting at first, but the book soon grows on you. My thesis guide introduced this book to me, suggesting I work on it for my thesis on post-colonial eco-feminism, so if you're interested in any of those domains, you should check this novel out.

This is a second-gen-feminist work. Which means that men are pretty much the enemies: they're either shiftless gamblers (Sofi’s husband), stalkers and possibly rapists (Francisco, who pursues Caridad), cheating, sexist bastards (Ruben, Esperanza’s boyfriend) or cowards (Tom, Fe’s fiancé, who abandons her the day before the wedding via a letter). The only decent man is Fe’s cousin, whom we don’t get to see much of, and the Vietnamese doctor who briefly treats La Loca at the end.

The novel is about how these women assert agency in the face of all these horrible men. Sofi bears
the stigma of being called an abandoned woman for twenty years after her husband leaves her, only
to realise at the end of the book that it was she who had asked him to leave and thus she hadn’t
been abandoned at all. Caridad is brutally raped and mutilated one night but heals herself through
Dona Felicia’s remedies, which have been passed down through generations of women. Spiritual faith heals her as well, along with her love for a Native American woman, Esmeralda.

La Loca, the youngest, spends all her days doing as she pleases and avoiding the outside world
(which sounds like heaven, not going to lie). Esperanza finally dumps Ruben and goes abroad, where
she dies, but comes back as a ghost and develops a close friendship with all her family. Fe marries her cousin and achieves a better life than the guy who dumped her, at least temporarily.

There isn't a deep exploration of the characters' feelings, and this gives the novel the feel of a folktale told around the fire. The novel has a dream-like quality and makes you feel removed from the scene and the characters, as though you are watching a drama through a glass without feeling personally invested in the action or the protagonists. For example, Sofi decides to become the Mayor of Tome and starts a town cooperative to generate employment among the women and lift everyone from poverty. In three paragraphs Castillo sketches the progress of these cooperatives and asserts that the town has been uplifted, reminiscent of old Tamil songs in which the hero goes from rags to riches over the course of a single song.

The chapter with Fe at the end is the most moving and realistic of the lot. Fe works with harmful
chemicals in a factory in a bid to earn a lot of money and have the life she has seen on TV – owning a
car, a flat and modern household appliances and all the other trappings of middle-class life. She
gets cancer owing to the dangerous chemicals, however, and dies a painful death. There’s a critique
of Western medicine as well: La Loca refuses to go to a hospital to be treated for HIV, because in her mind the hospital is a place you go to die. There is a simplistic binary of native culture + nature = good and modern/American culture = bad but this is unsurprising given that the author wants to highlight the strengths of Chicano and native American cultures, especially of the women of these cultures, in a world that usually looks down on them.

The novel is powerful because it shows how class and ethnicity and gender intersect to render
certain people’s position in society precarious. All four daughters die over the course of the novel, and the worst part is that their deaths are all preventable, and are caused solely due to their marginalised positions in society. And yet the focus is not on these women as victims. Castillo emphasizes how powerful these women are even in their limited circumstances. And that makes this an inspiring book to read.

[cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

castillo’s narrator tells the story of sofi and her four daughters in the tradition of oral story-telling. that, paired with the story’s setting in a small town of northern new mexico give this novel the feeling of sitting next to an older family member and being told one’s own family lore—it’s warm, inviting, and dignified.

what kept this novel from being a moving piece rather than an entertaining one was the emotional distance from the four sisters (aside from Fe’s last chapter.) the only characters that really had any growth i found to be admirable were sofi and domingo. while their characters were interesting, the four sisters didn’t really have much development and i found claridad’s ending did her no justice. i had no information about her interior feelings, especially regarding esmerelda. the novel seemed to center claridad as the most major character, yet the motivations for her decisions seemed unfounded and more confusing than mysterious. she and her sisters felt purely ornamental even though the narrator spent so much time describing them—it was disappointing.

i found the feminist label to be quite restrictive to this work. each of the women declare themselves independent from men at some point in the novel, and this is supposed to be for growth and liberation, but i feel as though castillo relies too heavily on these decisions to show true character growth. it works excellently for sofi bc the reader sees how the spell of attraction is broken and she is able to hold domingo accountable for his actions—an decision that is liberatory, radical, and admirable. however, with the four sisters, the reader is just supposed to assume that bc they are now separated from men they used to love, that they have grown and will continue to do so, but there lacked language in the text for me to be convinced that this was the case. it reminds me that liberation, though attached to systems and the relationships we have with them, requires internal and emotional work for it to be meaningful.

it was such a privilege to read this book and learn so much about traditional and historical practices passed on between chicanx and indigenous cultures in the southwest region through a spiritual and medicinal lens. thus, it would be a disservice to sort castillo’s work into the magical realism genre; to do so would discredit the customs and cultures that very much rule the rio abajo of New Mexico. the magic is not realistic but real—for it is a product of the land and the characters’ multigenerational connection to it.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really disappointed in So Far From God. I had been wanting to read it for awhile after falling in love with Peel My Love Like an Onion.

My favorite portions of the story were those focusing on Sofia's exploits and the later chapter on Fe. The most hilarious and charming part of the book for me is when the narrator shows the family through the eyes of a somewhat busy-body neighbor. It's basically a short retelling of everything you've just read peppered with her own prejudices and the assumptions of one with incomplete knowledge.

I wish the rest of the book was as colorful as the neighbor's chapter. While I think Castillo went to great effort to make it so, my opinion is that it fell flat. I also really don't like magical realism, which is something that's utterly strange and a bit incomprehensible to me given I love fantasy and science fiction. All of a sudden this highly "logical and rational" side comes out against flouting the already set "rules" of the world, which is rather frustrating to me. I also feel like I can't decipher if the author is trying to "say" something with improbable events and that makes me feel like an inadequate reader!

[Seriously_Savy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this book for a college class and all I can say is I did not enjoy it at all. I did not like how it was written, how the narrator talked in the book, how they described stuff, none of it, the writing I thought was terrible. If I could I would have never picked up this book. That's not to say someone else may not enjoy it but it wasn't my cup of tea, this book could have been written so much better we could have used raw emotions, deep connections but we got none of that, I now own a copy of this book and honestly, I'll be donating it because I won't be picking it up again. I gave it two stars out of certain passages that I enjoyed which were many 2 out of the whole book, and I had to force myself to read the book because it was so boring and I dislike dit so much I did not want to read it.

[Breanne Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do think that every book has it’s place on a bookshelf somewhere with someone, how ever I am not that someone for this book. Initially I was intrigued with the Spanish text mixed in, however after a chapter or two it really became more frustrating to stop and look up the words my very limited knowledge of Spanish could not figure out.

The flow of this story is also very choppy. You begin a chapter thinking the story is going in one direction, however a detail is added or a character is introduced and then suddenly you have derailed and have no idea what is happening. If there were subtle connections between these transitions, I was not able to grasp them.

[Melanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems a bit unfocused - a lot going on in a rather short period of time and all the chapters are episodic and a bit non-sequential. Some of the cover blurbs compare it to a telenovela and that seems pretty fair.

But judging from the title and the last quarter of the book especially, Ms. Castillo certainly has a political agenda and I'm not sure that the episodic nature of the family's story really did as much justice to her points as it could have.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been recommending this book for more than 25 years, and after rereading it myself for the first time in that span I'm here to say "You're welcome" to all those beneficiaries of my (in this case and few others) impeccable good taste.

[Ebony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Castillo’s voice is compelling. I want the narrator of So Far from God to be my friend not only because she is prescient but also because she’s preceptive, funny and irreverent in the most respectful way possible. The narrator gives the story form. Without her dropping hints and connecting disparate dots, the reader would be like WTF.

Because WTF moments abound. I’m not talking about the mysticism, folklore, or healing magic. All of that I was down for. It was incredibly cool to see healing traditions I was familiar with fully fleshed out in this story.

I was even on board with the psychic surgery where a doctor’s hand disappears within flesh and pulls out blood clots and tumors without cutting. What I didn’t understand was how a character who never interacted with other human beings, like never went to school and never left the house, ended up with HIV. I needed Castillo to make that make sense. There were several plot devices that didn’t make sense even if I were activating faith to believe in the unbelievable. I love the tone and the premise of the story, but it’s uneven. Castillo makes me care about the daughters and then writes chapters about new characters that I definitely didn’t care about instead of filling in some really important gaps. I think Castillo erred on the side of not realistic enough with her magical realism because there truly are holes in the plot that could have been filled in with a sentence or two.


I also was thoroughly depressed with all the death. I did not see it coming and did not enjoy losing these characters I had quite honestly fallen in love with because of all of their shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. Castillo’s novel is driven by women and that’s one of the things I love about it. There are so many representations of how to be a woman here so much so that while I would not describe it as such, I would not argue with reviews that label the book a feminist novel. I also appreciated the social commentary as often subtle as it was with emphases on gender equity, environmental racism, and land theft. The novel is so progressive that I was always shocked to read characters’ Spanish hagiography and how proud they were of their colonizer heritage.

I can understand how the unevenness of the novel mirrors the unevenness and the unfairness of life especially for these folks whose land and lives were literally being cut short by an oppressive capitalism. The story is important. The saints need to be uplifted. And I personally needed some more explanations.

[Steve Kreidler · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the past few months I've been reading as much as I can to help educate myself to the culture, history, oppression, and passion of our Latinx sisters and brothers. This is perhaps the 10th book along that pathway, and likely the best thus far which is high praise among other wonderful books. Castillo's world isn't too far from the mystical realism of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, but takes place in northern New Mexico in recent times.

Sofia is the Matriarch of 4 daughters, a wayward and worthless husband, entrepreneur, and eventually, self proclaimed mayor of her tiny village not far from Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

That's all I'll offer here as to the story, which you need to read to enjoy, to become angry, to fall into despair, and to celebrate. I highly recommend this important novel published in '93 and more relevant than ever.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a magical realist text, Castillo’s work provides incredible wealth of material to analyze, discuss and compare and contrast to other works in this wonderful genre. The rich discourse generated from this novel makes be love and esteem it for its literary merit. The bold and distinctly feminist social and political commentary is thought provoking and entertaining. The characters, though tragic, are humorous and endearing in a quirky way. I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

[Eleanor Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

I had a difficult time with this book. Chapter 11 was really well done, but the rest of it (despite dealing with some interesting topics) was extremely boring for me. I feel like I'm going to need magical realism to be either more or less obvious in the next books from this genre I read. This specific balance just felt off for me. It's not even the lack of payoff but something else.

If this book sounds interesting to you I wouldn't necessarily say you shouldn't read it... but I'd maybe pick something else first.