Loving Pedro Infante

by Denise Chávez

In the soothing darkness of her local theater, thirty-something teacher's aide and divorcée Teresina "Tere" Ávila looks straight into the smoldering eyes of Pedro Infante and wonders where her life has gone. The impossibly handsome Mexican singer and movie icon died in 1957, but to Tere -- secretary of the Pedro Infante fan club chapter 256 -- he remains an everlasting symbol of the possibility of passion beyond her New Mexico town.
Tere's passions are wasted on Lucio, the married lover who plies her with sweet kisses and false promises. Comfort comes in her adoration for Infante and in the companionship of her best friend, Irma "La Wirma" Granados. Then, one night at the Border Cowboy Truck Stop, Tere is forced to confront reality -- and the choices she must make to reclaim her life.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Chick Lit, Novels, Latino

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2001

About the author

Denise Elia Chavez (born August 15, 1948) is an American author, playwright, and stage director. She was born to an Hispano family in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States, and graduated from Madonna High School in Mesilla. She received her Bachelor's from New Mexico State University and Master's degrees in Dramatic Arts from Trinity University. While in college, she began writing dramatic works. Upon graduation, she worked at the Dallas Theater Center while continuing her studies in drama and writing. She then entered the MFA program at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and earned a degree in writing. In 1986, she published her first collection of short stories, called The Last of the Menu Girls. She received several awards, including the American Book Award, the Premio Aztlán Literary Prize, the Mesilla Valley Author of the Year Award, and the 2003 Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature. Chavez was offered a professorship in creative writing at UNM, during which time she wrote the novel Loving Pedro Infante, which earned her critical acclaim. She left the University, however, to work at a rape crisis center. She is the founder of the Border Book Festival that is held every year in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She also serves as Executive Director of the Cultural Center de Mesilla, and manages its book, music and arts store.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Scottsdale Public Library]

Tere Avila is fed up with her no-good boyfriend, Lucio, and her stalled life in border-town Cabritoville, TX. Her only escape is to join the Pedro Infante fan club and to idolize her favorite movie star of the golden age of Mexican cinema. A bawdy and boisterous example of contemporary Chicana chick-lit. - Paula C.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Chicana Chick Lit at its best. I loved how she wove English & Spanish, it wasn't forced and just came naturally. Tere comes off as a truly likable character, even if she does act like a pendeja for being so in love with Lucio.
Also, this is probably the first fiction novel I've read that not only included my last name, but my mom's maiden name as well!

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

you know how when you read a book sometimes you need an 'in' or a reason to get interested.

i remember getting into this book during the scene when they are eating mexican food at this local diner. i am in love with simple from-the-home-kitchen Mexican food. i was amorously thinking "i wonder how they like their nachos?" i also had another in because I was living in Alpine when I read it not four hours from the setting of the book. so i got into it.

here's why i'm glad i did: chavez showed a woman getting into a mess over a love affair. i'm no masochist but it was so refreshing a book that was honest about the ways we debase ourselves sometimes. full fledged desperation, not like "i need tequila", but like "i just finished a bottle of tequila so now what?!" i think there was a time for the protagonist when she hadn't bathed in a week, i mean chavez went there. it was an awesome show of passion to me even if it was all so very unwise.

i think books like this are why Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez calls chicana lit whiny. but i think that's short-sighted of her to say. this book has power, you just have to have your eyes open to it. it's not CEO power, but love and living power.

[Rocky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually re-reading it because it made me laugh the first time I read it several years ago. I love Tere's character and her use of language (both English and Spanish, which she mixes quite a bit). I had forgotten that she nick-names her diaphragm "Swamp Thing."

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for my hispanic literature class, & I really liked it - enough to not sell back my book!

[Hannah S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand why people could like it, but I just couldn’t stand the main character. It has a good ending tho!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denise Chávez’s 2001 Loving Pedro Infante is one of those books that becomes your friend.

Tere Avila is an “educational assistant” – teacher’s aide – in Cabritoville, near El Paso. She’s a divorced, 30-something woman who spends her time hanging out with her best friend, Irma, at Tino’s La Tempestad Lounge every Friday and Saturday night and serving as secretary in the Pedro Infante Fan Club, whose members watch the Mexican actor’s old movies from the 1940s and 1950s and analyze them as though they were in an English literature class.

Tere’s ordinary, somewhat lonely, life gets a jolt when she starts an affair with Lucio Valadez, a married man whose daughter attends the school she works at.

Sounds like an ordinary plot, right? But what makes Pedro Infante so wonderful is Chávez’s writing. Tere speaks to the reader in first person, and the conversational tone makes you sympathize with her, laugh with her and, at times, want to scold her. (Fortunately, Irma does that for us.) Think of it as a Mexican version of Bridget Jones’s Diary or a small town Sex and the City.

The minutes from the Pedro Infante Fan Club meetings are particularly hilarious, but here’s some of the better lines:

On her love for Lucio: “There’s nothing a Mejicano or Mejicana loves more than the burning, stinging pain of thwarted, frustrated, hopeless, soulful, take-it-to-the-grave love. Nothing gets us going more than what I call rabia/love of the te-juro-you’re-going-to-pay-for-all-the-suffering-you-caused-me variety.”

On visiting a curandera’s house in a poor neighborhood: “Doña Meche was one of the richest women in Cabritoville. … She loved to invest in the stock market. Oh yeah? Well, invest in your neighborhood, and your yard, girl!”

On a visit to the bathroom with Irma: “I could hear Irma’s spurty but intense urine stream. She was a fast pisser and in this session she outdid herself. I could barely keep up with her, and I flushed early to make a number of deep growly farts.”

I absolutely loved Loving Pedro Infante. Please stop what you’re doing and go read it now.

Note: This review appeared on my blog, http://hispanicreader.com.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tere Avila, the main character in Denise Chavez's novel 1CLoving Pedro Infante, 1D maintains a strange and beautiful love for the famous Mexican film star and mariachi. In fact for her its more than an infatuation with Pedro, it 19s a way of life. She 19s disconnected from her family, and abandoned by an abusive husband. She tries to keep things together by gutting it out as a school aide, and putting in her time in drunken singles bars and cafes.Her only sense of relief comes from two close friends that are also the members of the Pedro Infante Club de Admiradores Norte Americano #256. On a sad note, she feels closer to the characters of Pedro 19s movies than anyone she knows.
That 19s about it for Tere. She 19s caught up in this cellioud delusion where life just doesn 19t match up. The dreams go on and on while the pain stays constant.
Like in the movie 1CPepe El Toro, 1D Pedro is fucked from the beginning to the end. He was always poor, but when he his wife and twins are killed together in a tragic car accident, his life slides further into the ground. His meager carpentry business fails, and when in a desperate attempt to make ends meet he tries boxing to earn some money - he accidently kills the first opponent he faces.
Here Tere has someone that she can identify with. She knows his pain.
In 1CUn Rincon Cerca del Cielo, 1D Pedro throws himself off a rooftop. Moreover, in the movie, he 19s fucking the same woman he is fucking in real life! Here Tere doesn 19t know whether to scream or cry. She feels bad for Pedro, but at the same time she is jealous of his lover.
1CLoving Pedro Infante, 1D is a wonderful novel for the anxious ridden, manic depressive. Author Denise Chavez will have you to rooting for Pedro and his characters, but more importantly, and more impressively, she will have you doing the same for Tere Avila. Pedro is a man of the people. Tere is for all of us walking around with broken hearts.

[Britt DGx]

I really enjoyed this book. Granted, I particularly loved brushing up on all the interesting Mejicano words that were not in my dictionary, but I also felt that characters were real, very real. The protagonist was flawed, and although I hear that some other reviewers felt that the characters went in circles, this felt even more realistic to me. People do not grow in a straight line, in a linear fashion, try as we might. Instead, we circle around an issue, and circle around and circle around until it works itself out... with our brains, hearts, bodies, and dreams on whatever levels it needs to! In reality, these characters in this book were surprising because I felt like I was getting to know them, really. I miss them already and I just got done reading the book a few hours ago. As an special bonus, I felt Chavez's portrayal of border Mejicano culture and struggles, landscapes and tensions was so realistic it was visceral. It was like living in Cabritoville for a little while, getting to know it, feel it, smell it, and eat the food. This book is making me miss North America, and I haven't even left yet! And it made me hungry!

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

The timeline doesn't always make sense and there's almost no plot, but the joy here (as in Face of an Angel) is the love Chavez has for her southwest, even at its most ridiculous:

"The Border Cowboy offered down-home, country-style cooking with endless cups of coffee that could bring the dead back to life. Greasy-looking merchandise was on the wall for sale: white caps with Border Cowboy across the front in red, white and blue letters, white cotton T-shirts with the restaurant logo: 'Where the bullshit ends and the service begins.' The t-shirt said it all. It felt like home..." (p. 257)

and her sassy Spanglish-speaking heroine:

"Que sufres, baby, que sufres. I want all the world to know you're a cabron -- especially your mother. Para que sepan, puto, just how you did me wrong. Yeah, you. Pinche vato motherfucker, well, maybe not in this case, but you get my drift, desgraciado infeliz from Chuco Town. I don't have anything against El Paso, don't get me wrong. It's just that you live there with her. And not with nme." (p. 250)

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet Teresina "Tere" Avila a 30 something year old single woman who has an obsession with the legendary Mexican icon Pedro Infante. She studies his life, the women he loved, the women who loved him, and above all else his music and films. However, with all her studying she has found herself not only idolizing a womanizer but also dating one.

To say there is a true beginning and end to this story would be nonfactual. Instead, Chavez delights her readers through the journey of a middle aged woman who is still seeking the "one" and struggling with whether or not this is what she actually wants/needs.

On a basic level, this story is about relationships in every form, family, friends, one night stands, boyfriends, girlfriends, dangerous liaisons, and marriage.

Chavez writes with a breath of wisdom that can only be gained through a life well led. And of course, with a love for Pedro Infante.

[Sofia The Great · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for this book.

I was almost about to give up on this book after just reading 30 pages. It felt very stereotypical and prejudice about every kind of person but then I thought, "well I guess that made it more realistic." The way the characters thought was by no means politically correct and I think that showed that the characters were flawed. Anyways, the characters and the story grew on me. I felt these chicanas were people I knew and I was rooting for them. My only complaint with the book is the amount of Pedro Infante talk. Yeah, I know the title is "loving Pedro Infante" but I guess I wasn't expecting it to be that much. I feel I could write his bio now. oh well, it was a good book.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who does not speak Spanish. There isn't much translation or the use of context clues. You either know the words or you don't.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really liked this book. I'd describe it as a darker and chicana version of Bridget Jones' Diary. Not that this book was written as diary entries or even as overtly funny, but the narrative was similar. And like the Jones character, a real life version of Tere would probably drive me nuts, but there was still something likeable and relatable to the protagonist, because, I guess, of all her faults. Chavez is a very descriptive writer, almost to the point of giving you TMI, and the read for me was very visual, which I liked. And of course I could relate to the Infante obsession, although I'm not nearly as bad as Tere and co. Seriously, I'm not.

[Sierra 🌸 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the final book that I had to read for my Senior Seminar class this semester and it was definitely my lest favorite of the four. There were parts of it that I enjoyed, but they were few and far between. In general I don't like adult novels or books set in the past very much, so the odds were already stacked against this book in my eyes, but my biggest problem was how inappropriate this book was. And I don't just mean overly descriptive in intimate moments. There were a lot of moments that were extremely and unnecessarily crude and vulgar. I was very uncomfortable during the majority of this book. Also it would have been nice to have some closure on what happened to Ubaldo.

[Ondine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed Chavez's style, the flow between Spanish and English, the class consciousness and the intimacy between friends. I really felt like I was there with Irma and Tere at La Tempestad or curled up in front of their favorite Pedro film. It amuses me that several folks didn't like the book because they didn't understand the Spanish. Shifting in and out of Spanish isn't just about the setting (Texas/US border), or the characters (Chicanas), but about creating an insider/outside dynamic. This book was intimate, all the way down to whether or not you comprehend enough Spanish to "get it."

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tere, the main character, is like a kiddie roller coaster. Her life has little ups and downs but nothing unexpected happens. She keeps doing the same things over and over again and somehow expecting the outcome to change because she is so persistent. The town, her social life, and her job all are going nowhere. The only thing that kept this book from being a complete dead end was that she didn't die. Great study of how not to live your life if you want to accomplish anything.

[Martha A. Galvan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. I felt like I became a friend to the main characters. When they hurt, I would hurt. The tears that were shed, I found myself wiping my eyes. It was nice to read a book that had some of the characteristics of me and women I know. The way of Mexican-American traditions and tired of the machismo of the culture.

I also laughed when cheezme was being said and they owned it.

I will read again.

[Mendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, the characters and the plot were pretty believable, except for Texas Cowboy. Why must everyone make Texans over the top! Anyway that aside I really enjoyed the story but did get lost several times trying to translate the spanish. Go figure the only words I really understood were the bad words! I plan on reading more by this author!

[Chi Dubinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thirty-something Tere Avila is in love with Mexican movie star Pedro Infante, who is Elvis and Cary Grant all rolled into one. This is a more gratifying relationship than the one she has with her real-life married lover, who refuses to commit. The author explores femininity and cultural identity, and there are many references to Chicano culture and language.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love vivid characters and this book definitely had that. However, I was so frustrated with Tere that I found myself wanting to shake her most of the time. She was in a cycle of bad relationships and every time I thought she turned a corner, she was back in the middle of one. And while that's realistic, it was frustrating to me.

[jaylene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really funny, but you need to have a working knowledge of Spanish, or a friend to help you. The english and spanish are interwoven, lots of slang in the jokes. It is alost like a Mexicana seinfeld, where it is a story about everyday life, nothing spectacular. It is a quick fun read.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the descriptions I thought it would be quite humorous - it wasn't. There is a lot of Spanish interspersed throughout the book. I am comfortable with that, as I speak Spanish, but not all readers will appreciate it. All in all, I'd say it's an okay read.

[Claudia Pocasangre · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have ever fallen hard for the wrong man this book is a mirror into your bitchy, self indulgence, pendeja type of mind set. I don't recommend it for those who are anti-melodrama. But hey, I'm Latina I love the stuff.

[Bill Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just not my kinda book. Chick-flicky and it just didn't grab me. Part of this is probably because I read it for a class and didn't read it of my own accord. Not badly written though. It was enjoyable from that perspective. I think someone with a better grasp of Spanish might like this more.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

good a little like chick lit but a slightly older audience and with a latina twist.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it.

[Blaire Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me home sick for my beloved NM.

[Katie M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall pretty enjoyable, and vastly less fluffy than the cover gives it credit for.

[Zinnia Bayardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

i FREAKING LOVED this book and continue to read it OVER AND OVER again!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

My year living in Santa Fe taught me enough Spanish slang & cursing to be able to laugh with Tere. The descriptions of places & people were pretty funny