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Eat the Mouth That Feeds You
Carribean Fragoza's debut collection of stories reside in the domestic surreal, featuring an unusual gathering of Latinx and Chicanx voices from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border, and universes beyond.
Carribean Fragoza's imperfect characters are drawn with a sympathetic tenderness as they struggle against circumstances and conditions designed to defeat them. A young woman returns home from college, only to pick up exactly where she left off: a smart girl in a rundown town with no future. A mother reflects on the pain and pleasures of being inexorably consumed by her small daughter, whose penchant for ingesting grandma's letters has extended to taking bites of her actual flesh. A brother and sister watch anxiously as their distraught mother takes an ax to their old furniture, and then to the backyard fence, until finally she attacks the family's beloved lime tree.
Victories are excavated from the rubble of personal hardship, and women's wisdom is brutally forged from the violence of history that continues to unfold on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
"Eat the Mouth That Feeds You is an accomplished debut with language that has the potential to affect the reader on a visceral level, a rare and significant achievement from a forceful new voice in American literature."--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, New York Times Book Review, and author of Sabrina and Corina
"Eat the Mouth that Feeds You renders the feminine grotesque at its finest."--Myriam Gurba, author of Mean
"Eat the Mouth that Feeds You will establish Fragoza as an essential and important new voice in American fiction."--Héctor Tobar, author of The Barbarian Nurseries
"Fierce and feminist, Eat the Mouth That Feeds You is a soul-quaking literary force."--Dontaná McPherson-Joseph, The Foreword, *Starred Review
". . . a work of power and a darkly brilliant talisman that enlarges in necessary ways the feminist, Latinx, and Chicanx canons."--Wendy Ortiz, Alta Magazine
"Fragoza's surreal and gothic stories, focused on Latinx, Chicanx, and immigrant women's voices, are sure to surprise and move readers."--Zoe Ruiz, The Millions
"This collection of visceral, often bone-chilling stories centers the liminal world of Latinos in Southern California while fraying reality at its edges. Full of horror and wonder."--Kirkus Reviews, *Starred Review
"Fragoza's debut collection delivers expertly crafted tales of Latinx people trying to make sense of violent, dark realities. Magical realism and gothic horror make for effective stylistic entryways, as Fragoza seamlessly blurs the lines between the corporeal and the abstract."-- Publishers Weekly
"The magic realism of Eat the Mouth that Feeds You is thoroughly worked into the fabric of the stories themselves . . . a wonderful debut."--Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World
Carribean Fragoza's imperfect characters are drawn with a sympathetic tenderness as they struggle against circumstances and conditions designed to defeat them. A young woman returns home from college, only to pick up exactly where she left off: a smart girl in a rundown town with no future. A mother reflects on the pain and pleasures of being inexorably consumed by her small daughter, whose penchant for ingesting grandma's letters has extended to taking bites of her actual flesh. A brother and sister watch anxiously as their distraught mother takes an ax to their old furniture, and then to the backyard fence, until finally she attacks the family's beloved lime tree.
Victories are excavated from the rubble of personal hardship, and women's wisdom is brutally forged from the violence of history that continues to unfold on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
"Eat the Mouth That Feeds You is an accomplished debut with language that has the potential to affect the reader on a visceral level, a rare and significant achievement from a forceful new voice in American literature."--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, New York Times Book Review, and author of Sabrina and Corina
"Eat the Mouth that Feeds You renders the feminine grotesque at its finest."--Myriam Gurba, author of Mean
"Eat the Mouth that Feeds You will establish Fragoza as an essential and important new voice in American fiction."--Héctor Tobar, author of The Barbarian Nurseries
"Fierce and feminist, Eat the Mouth That Feeds You is a soul-quaking literary force."--Dontaná McPherson-Joseph, The Foreword, *Starred Review
". . . a work of power and a darkly brilliant talisman that enlarges in necessary ways the feminist, Latinx, and Chicanx canons."--Wendy Ortiz, Alta Magazine
"Fragoza's surreal and gothic stories, focused on Latinx, Chicanx, and immigrant women's voices, are sure to surprise and move readers."--Zoe Ruiz, The Millions
"This collection of visceral, often bone-chilling stories centers the liminal world of Latinos in Southern California while fraying reality at its edges. Full of horror and wonder."--Kirkus Reviews, *Starred Review
"Fragoza's debut collection delivers expertly crafted tales of Latinx people trying to make sense of violent, dark realities. Magical realism and gothic horror make for effective stylistic entryways, as Fragoza seamlessly blurs the lines between the corporeal and the abstract."-- Publishers Weekly
"The magic realism of Eat the Mouth that Feeds You is thoroughly worked into the fabric of the stories themselves . . . a wonderful debut."--Brian Evenson, author of Song for the Unraveling of the World
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
May 27, 2022
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An exceedingly underwhelming collection. The cover and title of Carribean Fragoza's debut collection succeeded in making me want to read it. After reading the first three stories, however, I found myself feeling rather underwhelmed by Fragoza's storytelling. I, later on, decided to give this collection another shot, hoping that I would find the other stories in it to be more to my liking but alas no such thing happened. The stories in this collection struck me as the product of a creative writing assignment; they weren’t necessarily bad but the way these scenarios are presented to us struck me as contrived. The language tries hard to impress its importance on us, often through the use of showy metaphors that did not come across as particularly imaginative or clever. The prose has a sticky cloying quality that I find particularly unappealing but may very well appeal to other readers.
Many of these stories have domestic settings and centre on Mexican-American characters. These stories are permeated by an oppressive atmosphere. Characters feel trapped by their home life, the presence of their families and or friends does little to abate their fears and anxieties. Quite the opposite, in fact, these people often pose a threat to their physical and mental well-being. Through these stories, the author explores alienation, loneliness, paranoia, and otherness.
While I appreciated the themes that dominate Fragoza's storytelling, I was unable to fully ‘immerse’ myself in her stories. Her affected prose irked me and I found the weird and grotesque elements to be predictable and not particularly engaging. Perhaps readers who haven’t read a lot of collections of horror stories be able to appreciate this debut more than I did. These stories weren’t as morbid as Mariana Enríquez’s Things We Lost in the Fireor Brenda Peynado’s The Rock Eaters. They lacked the surreal humor that characterizes Shirley Jackson’s work and the prose wasn’t as solid as say Samanta Schweblin’s in Mouthful of Birds. Some of the imagery succeeded in being grotesque but I did not find any of these stories to be particularly disturbing. This collection basically reads like a lite version of Enríquez’s’s ones.
An exceedingly underwhelming collection. The cover and title of Carribean Fragoza's debut collection succeeded in making me want to read it. After reading the first three stories, however, I found myself feeling rather underwhelmed by Fragoza's storytelling. I, later on, decided to give this collection another shot, hoping that I would find the other stories in it to be more to my liking but alas no such thing happened. The stories in this collection struck me as the product of a creative writing assignment; they weren’t necessarily bad but the way these scenarios are presented to us struck me as contrived. The language tries hard to impress its importance on us, often through the use of showy metaphors that did not come across as particularly imaginative or clever. The prose has a sticky cloying quality that I find particularly unappealing but may very well appeal to other readers.
Many of these stories have domestic settings and centre on Mexican-American characters. These stories are permeated by an oppressive atmosphere. Characters feel trapped by their home life, the presence of their families and or friends does little to abate their fears and anxieties. Quite the opposite, in fact, these people often pose a threat to their physical and mental well-being. Through these stories, the author explores alienation, loneliness, paranoia, and otherness.
While I appreciated the themes that dominate Fragoza's storytelling, I was unable to fully ‘immerse’ myself in her stories. Her affected prose irked me and I found the weird and grotesque elements to be predictable and not particularly engaging. Perhaps readers who haven’t read a lot of collections of horror stories be able to appreciate this debut more than I did. These stories weren’t as morbid as Mariana Enríquez’s Things We Lost in the Fireor Brenda Peynado’s The Rock Eaters. They lacked the surreal humor that characterizes Shirley Jackson’s work and the prose wasn’t as solid as say Samanta Schweblin’s in Mouthful of Birds. Some of the imagery succeeded in being grotesque but I did not find any of these stories to be particularly disturbing. This collection basically reads like a lite version of Enríquez’s’s ones.
January 17, 2022
Unsettling, sometimes speculative but often more metaphorical, emotionally evocative short stories. With very few exceptions I really appreciated the stories for what they delivered.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
April 8, 2024
Read on hoopla. This collection of short stories is right up there with Mariana Enriquez, Things We Lost in the Fire and Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird by Agustina Bazterrica
See my updates:
25% done
It’s on hoopla and under 200 pages so of course I’m reading it. The first story “Lumberjack Mom” is about a family left devastated and broken after the Father leaves—the Mother goes out into the garden and hacks down the family’s beloved lime tree
43% done
“The Vicious Ladies” teen girls who hang out in a group, taking care of each other, because their fathers are gone and their mothers are working full time and suffer from depression. But the young women make money selling “nox” to pre-teen boys—one almost dies after a hit which is a wake up call to the narrator
47% done
“Eat the Mouth That Feeds You” about how we take what we need and even a little bit more from the ones that care for us. Not just buying the one that feeds you, but actually consuming them until they’re gone
50% done
“Mysterious Bodies” ugh so sad. Poverty level couple gets pregnant so they buy pills from some guy to help the young woman have an abortion and it’s definitely killing her but she’s just clinging to hope but describing the pain in her body.” :((
"But to each her own chi chis, I always say."
55% done
"Crystal Palace" is about a pristine, beautiful shop filled with expensive product. The young girl working their gets yelled at for tucking the glass bottles into her chest while she cleans the shelves. The manager chides her--but by the end of the story, she cares not for delicate bottles.
56% done
"When you've got nothing else, you'll always have at least a tortilla to get you through."
68% done
“Sábado Gigante”
“He sings and dances because he knows that some things need to change in this world, like who calls the shots in music and TV.”
80% done
"Ini y Fati"
Two young girls, their lives cut short. One struck by lightening the other by her Father. A story from the perspective of children who see their mothers and hate their fathers.
Holy shit! “New Fire Songs” about young boys playing a prank on some farmers, the elder farmers catch one of the boys and do something to him, the boys won’t say what and then threaten the boys but it escalates.”
The last story is haunting. A dead teen reflecting on their death
See my updates:
25% done
It’s on hoopla and under 200 pages so of course I’m reading it. The first story “Lumberjack Mom” is about a family left devastated and broken after the Father leaves—the Mother goes out into the garden and hacks down the family’s beloved lime tree
43% done
“The Vicious Ladies” teen girls who hang out in a group, taking care of each other, because their fathers are gone and their mothers are working full time and suffer from depression. But the young women make money selling “nox” to pre-teen boys—one almost dies after a hit which is a wake up call to the narrator
47% done
“Eat the Mouth That Feeds You” about how we take what we need and even a little bit more from the ones that care for us. Not just buying the one that feeds you, but actually consuming them until they’re gone
50% done
“Mysterious Bodies” ugh so sad. Poverty level couple gets pregnant so they buy pills from some guy to help the young woman have an abortion and it’s definitely killing her but she’s just clinging to hope but describing the pain in her body.” :((
"But to each her own chi chis, I always say."
55% done
"Crystal Palace" is about a pristine, beautiful shop filled with expensive product. The young girl working their gets yelled at for tucking the glass bottles into her chest while she cleans the shelves. The manager chides her--but by the end of the story, she cares not for delicate bottles.
56% done
"When you've got nothing else, you'll always have at least a tortilla to get you through."
68% done
“Sábado Gigante”
“He sings and dances because he knows that some things need to change in this world, like who calls the shots in music and TV.”
80% done
"Ini y Fati"
Two young girls, their lives cut short. One struck by lightening the other by her Father. A story from the perspective of children who see their mothers and hate their fathers.
Holy shit! “New Fire Songs” about young boys playing a prank on some farmers, the elder farmers catch one of the boys and do something to him, the boys won’t say what and then threaten the boys but it escalates.”
The last story is haunting. A dead teen reflecting on their death
May 31, 2021
This was a strong read from an author whose voice is assured and beautiful. I enjoyed the various scenarios --each distinct-- and the perspectives of mainly female characters in these short stories. There were magical elements and almost all the stories had a mother or grandmother figure.
New Fire Songs, Tortillas Burning and Sabado Gigante were my favorites. I'm going to watch for other titles from this author and I hope she writes a full novel.
A few quotes:
But in the years that followed, and through the end of high school, I did my best to keep as far away from the Vicious Ladies as I could. Despite their misshapen feelings of solidarity, I wanted to have nothing to do with them. When the pack of girls rolled through campus, as they always did, keeping close vigilance over an invisible territory they believed they claimed, I made sure to stay on the exact diametric opposite end of their orbit. But nothing I did or didn't do seemed to bother them. Not even when I said no to them. They simply ignored me and absorbed me into their little galaxy, though I kept myself apart like a renegade space rock, hanging as far as I could on the outer edges of their ring.
I was swallowed into their circle of perfumed bodies, the jangle of gold hoops and glow-in-the dark jewelry. the more I tried to push myself out, the closer Samira got. The Vicious Ladies closed in around me, and in the center, it was always Samira. She generated her own gravitational pull, like a black hole. She was a star that had imploded into itself and was the very substance of the voice, made of nothing but the relentless suck of unsuspecting matter and energy. She sucked the light from everything and made it a reason to party.
Over time, Emmanuel had noticed a change in his mother's singing. He couldn't quite pinpoint when it happened, but something had shifted inside of her, unbeknownst to him. His mother's songs didn't boom anymore. They didn't shoot like arrows from her heart. They lingered now, moving gently through the house and eventually settling in the quiet shadows, amongst her dusty doilies and knitting bag. It made him uneasy.
...Birds were startled into flight from their power line perches, but even they quickly settled back to roosting in the stillness of a late afternoon grown almost dark with pending rain. The sky had become heavy and shadowed, a rare experience during those years of drought when the blue sky imposed itself on the land like a burden. But this year, the rain had returned, tenuously at first and with much distrust, as if over the years it had lost faith in the ground it was supposed to fall upon, and which it then furiously pummeled with great reproach.
...It occurred to Ini that children could be both burdens and buoys. They could be the ground on which an endless journey was marked, or the earth on which to stand and grow tall. She tried not to wonder which one she'd been. It was too late for that.
New Fire Songs, Tortillas Burning and Sabado Gigante were my favorites. I'm going to watch for other titles from this author and I hope she writes a full novel.
A few quotes:
But in the years that followed, and through the end of high school, I did my best to keep as far away from the Vicious Ladies as I could. Despite their misshapen feelings of solidarity, I wanted to have nothing to do with them. When the pack of girls rolled through campus, as they always did, keeping close vigilance over an invisible territory they believed they claimed, I made sure to stay on the exact diametric opposite end of their orbit. But nothing I did or didn't do seemed to bother them. Not even when I said no to them. They simply ignored me and absorbed me into their little galaxy, though I kept myself apart like a renegade space rock, hanging as far as I could on the outer edges of their ring.
I was swallowed into their circle of perfumed bodies, the jangle of gold hoops and glow-in-the dark jewelry. the more I tried to push myself out, the closer Samira got. The Vicious Ladies closed in around me, and in the center, it was always Samira. She generated her own gravitational pull, like a black hole. She was a star that had imploded into itself and was the very substance of the voice, made of nothing but the relentless suck of unsuspecting matter and energy. She sucked the light from everything and made it a reason to party.
Over time, Emmanuel had noticed a change in his mother's singing. He couldn't quite pinpoint when it happened, but something had shifted inside of her, unbeknownst to him. His mother's songs didn't boom anymore. They didn't shoot like arrows from her heart. They lingered now, moving gently through the house and eventually settling in the quiet shadows, amongst her dusty doilies and knitting bag. It made him uneasy.
...Birds were startled into flight from their power line perches, but even they quickly settled back to roosting in the stillness of a late afternoon grown almost dark with pending rain. The sky had become heavy and shadowed, a rare experience during those years of drought when the blue sky imposed itself on the land like a burden. But this year, the rain had returned, tenuously at first and with much distrust, as if over the years it had lost faith in the ground it was supposed to fall upon, and which it then furiously pummeled with great reproach.
...It occurred to Ini that children could be both burdens and buoys. They could be the ground on which an endless journey was marked, or the earth on which to stand and grow tall. She tried not to wonder which one she'd been. It was too late for that.
August 6, 2023
This was a huge disappointment.
Short story collections are usually a mixed bag of great and not-so-good stories, Eat the Mouth That Feed You was a mix of short stories that either seemed to not have an ending or not have a beginning (or both). The stories felt very underwhelming and pointless, with either no buildout or no 'point'/conclusion to it. The only commonalities were that they featured women (mostly mothers and grandmothers) with roots in Mexico.
Gorgeous writing, though. I loved how Spanish language was included in the stories. The only story I would give a higher rating would be 'Me Muero,' 'The Vicious Ladies,' and maybe 'Eat the Mouth That Feeds You,' but I can't say I enjoyed them.
(Why is this tagged as a horror on GR? This genre tags mess up my expectations every time.)
Short story collections are usually a mixed bag of great and not-so-good stories, Eat the Mouth That Feed You was a mix of short stories that either seemed to not have an ending or not have a beginning (or both). The stories felt very underwhelming and pointless, with either no buildout or no 'point'/conclusion to it. The only commonalities were that they featured women (mostly mothers and grandmothers) with roots in Mexico.
Gorgeous writing, though. I loved how Spanish language was included in the stories. The only story I would give a higher rating would be 'Me Muero,' 'The Vicious Ladies,' and maybe 'Eat the Mouth That Feeds You,' but I can't say I enjoyed them.
(Why is this tagged as a horror on GR? This genre tags mess up my expectations every time.)
June 4, 2021
Writing style was very good (distinct and extremely visceral at times) but I don't think it was for me. It felt like the stories were more about the atmosphere and mood than the plot and characters; a lot of them were too short to really explore the setting, characters, or story the way I wanted them to. I had a lot of questions that were left unanswered, and often the resolution of each short story felt like the weakest part with little closure. Great premises, unclear follow-through and conclusion.
Read
March 6, 2021
Lumberjack Mom
- ★★★.5
The Vicious Ladies - ★★
Eat the Mouth That Feeds You - ★★★★
Mysterious Bodies - ★★★
Crystal Palace - ★★.5
Tortillas Burning - ★★.5
Sábado Gigante - ★★
Ini y Fati - ★★★
New Fire Songs - ★★
Me Muero - ★★★.5
The Vicious Ladies - ★★
Eat the Mouth That Feeds You - ★★★★
Mysterious Bodies - ★★★
Crystal Palace - ★★.5
Tortillas Burning - ★★.5
Sábado Gigante - ★★
Ini y Fati - ★★★
New Fire Songs - ★★
Me Muero - ★★★.5
February 10, 2022
These intriguing stories center on the attempts by humans to assert control, over nature (with limited success) and over the nature of others (with even less success).
The author has a surreal perspective, linking the voice of those separated from the world with the voice of eternal regret. The living hear neither, so consumed are they with everyday concerns. They don't contemplate the big questions, until it's too late, trapping themselves in a cycle as old as time itself.
The stories demonstrate significant range from creeping manipulative horror to violent poignancy, to an almost humorous abdication to fate. A worthy read.
The author has a surreal perspective, linking the voice of those separated from the world with the voice of eternal regret. The living hear neither, so consumed are they with everyday concerns. They don't contemplate the big questions, until it's too late, trapping themselves in a cycle as old as time itself.
The stories demonstrate significant range from creeping manipulative horror to violent poignancy, to an almost humorous abdication to fate. A worthy read.
September 11, 2021
This is a debut collection of short stories. Unique women’s stories.
Some of the stories are filled with metaphors
Some quite surreal. But these were not the ones I enjoyed most.
The ones I liked best were of real situations, hardships laid bare.
Such as when young woman returns home from college. A smart girl coming back to a rundown town in “Vicious Ladies” where the young men/boys inhale nitrous oxide 'laughing gas' from balloons giggles and laughter.
I also liked the story “Crystal Palace”.
My preference for this book would to have had the stories more consistent. But if you enjoy a mix of storytelling then maybe you will like this book more than I did.
Some of the stories are filled with metaphors
Some quite surreal. But these were not the ones I enjoyed most.
The ones I liked best were of real situations, hardships laid bare.
Such as when young woman returns home from college. A smart girl coming back to a rundown town in “Vicious Ladies” where the young men/boys inhale nitrous oxide 'laughing gas' from balloons giggles and laughter.
I also liked the story “Crystal Palace”.
My preference for this book would to have had the stories more consistent. But if you enjoy a mix of storytelling then maybe you will like this book more than I did.
January 4, 2022
What an odd collection, I couldn't turn away.
April 27, 2026
"It's hard to see the mothers behind their veils. They are shielded, hidden, silenced by the fathers whose voices echo in all the throats, choke up the hallways of the house with their reverberations, so that even when they are not there, even in their absence, the walls are like an extension of their tyrannical bodies. Some mothers are as transparent as curtains held up against the light. Their purpose is to shield or frame another scene with their bodies.
'Out there, my daughters,' they seem to say, 'out there is a place to go, behold the unknown.'
What is a mother if not a frame to show you what you may become or what you must avoid."
Wow, what a powerful collection. I loved this. Sometimes you read a book and it just feels like something that was written for the purpose of being read and other times, like with this reading experience, you read something that just feels alive.
Eat the Mouth that Feeds You is a beautifully written bilingual short story collection that explores intergenerational connections, power dynamics, the metaphorical concept of filial cannibalism, nurturing as it hangs in balance with self sacrifice, the violence and oppressiveness of a father, the pain and protection of a mother, and more.
There's an overarching awareness of self and mortality that runs through this collection.
Some stories landed with more impact than others, but all were laced with the deepest quality of humanity and authenticity, so that I felt the pain, self assurance, and frustration of each narrator. I especially loved 'Ini y Fati' and 'Me Muero' - the exploration of the metaphysical, of martyrdom/sainthood, and the use of spirits was fascinating and creative. The tenderness that Fragoza tapped into to write a mother's grief in Me Muero and the way that the mother/daughter relationship saw the narrator through the hours after the end of her life was very, very moving.
As for the author - I admire her writing style (very inspirational for a fellow writer + poet) and mind and I cannot wait to read more.
August 6, 2021
Nightmarish (in a good way) read that reminded me a bit of the short fiction of Carmen Maria Machado and Nalo Hopkinson but was sometimes a bit more abstract than their work (which made it less affecting overall for me than their collections). Fragoza communicates a strong sense of human suffering and desire, but while many of the stories about visceral need and brutalized bodies will blend into one another over time for me, the exception was “Ini y Fati,” about a martyred child and her friendship with an abused mortal girl, which will stay with me for a long time and was worth the price of admission so to speak.
March 24, 2021
Really happy to have found this, one of the more "I gotta remember that line" collections I've come across in some time (and while I get why people love physical books to the point of some dismissing ebooks, I will say that this one was kind of fun to read on a Kindle, as i was screenshotting pages all over the place to remember pieces I loved... yeah, I know there's a better way to do that. :) ) Personal favorites from the collection were the opening "Lumberjack Mom"'s pondering of the place both creation and destruction have within the confines of the idea of love, and the must-read "Ini y Fati" which just groans at the seams with killer sentences in its tale of a living girl and the doll-toting spectre of a child murdered by her own father who may be sainted to save her.
Individual lines aside, Fragoza also really excels with/in this particular landscape/tonality of... vast barrenness? barren vastness?... that she's chosen of parched lots of "broken, unwanted land" with sagging peeling houses surrounded by jagged rock and scraggly brush. I won't be so cliche'd as to say the setting is its own character here but whoops I just did. Third favorite piece is probably the closing "Me Muero", told from the perspective of a girl who apparently lays freshly dead on the patio at a family party. All in all, highly recommended.
Individual lines aside, Fragoza also really excels with/in this particular landscape/tonality of... vast barrenness? barren vastness?... that she's chosen of parched lots of "broken, unwanted land" with sagging peeling houses surrounded by jagged rock and scraggly brush. I won't be so cliche'd as to say the setting is its own character here but whoops I just did. Third favorite piece is probably the closing "Me Muero", told from the perspective of a girl who apparently lays freshly dead on the patio at a family party. All in all, highly recommended.
September 17, 2021
4.5 stars
Truly one of the most emotional, beautiful, and at times ugly collections I have read. I could not recommend this enough.
"My daughter for lack of memory, eats me. Sometimes in little bites throughout the day. I don’t even notice it until I feel a dull pain in the ribs and see it is my daughter, chewing on the meat around the small bone.
...
But now I am beginning to understand. Now I know what she is doing. For now, the best I can do is let her eat whatever she needs and wants. I am relieved that I know now where to find my mother and grandmother. They are inside my daughter.” -Eat the Mouth That Feeds You
"But I want to lie inside my body as it begins to cave in. My ribs break down into the cement, my legs and arms shake into thick dry flakes. “Mami, everything is okay. I’m right here.” She can’t hold me anymore. My lips and my mouth collapse, but I don’t need them. We are waiting for everything to break up into dust and be carried away in the wind. This is turning out better than I expected." -Me Muero
Truly one of the most emotional, beautiful, and at times ugly collections I have read. I could not recommend this enough.
"My daughter for lack of memory, eats me. Sometimes in little bites throughout the day. I don’t even notice it until I feel a dull pain in the ribs and see it is my daughter, chewing on the meat around the small bone.
...
But now I am beginning to understand. Now I know what she is doing. For now, the best I can do is let her eat whatever she needs and wants. I am relieved that I know now where to find my mother and grandmother. They are inside my daughter.” -Eat the Mouth That Feeds You
"But I want to lie inside my body as it begins to cave in. My ribs break down into the cement, my legs and arms shake into thick dry flakes. “Mami, everything is okay. I’m right here.” She can’t hold me anymore. My lips and my mouth collapse, but I don’t need them. We are waiting for everything to break up into dust and be carried away in the wind. This is turning out better than I expected." -Me Muero
October 26, 2021
Really impressive debut, especially the first three or four stories in the collection. There were a few in the middle that felt a bit more like good ideas than fully realized, plotted pieces, but maybe that's just in contrast to the strongest work. Minor quibbles, though. These stories are full of energy and I'll absolutely read whatever Fragoza writes next.
June 25, 2021
thoughts coming shortly
Read
August 21, 2025This title is available at McCain Library in the Smith Collection. Call number: SMITH PS3606.R348 A6 2021
Follow the link to check availability and more information: https://agnesscott.on.worldcat.org/oc...
If you need help locating it or requesting it for pickup, just ask a librarian or visit the Circulation Desk!
Follow the link to check availability and more information: https://agnesscott.on.worldcat.org/oc...
If you need help locating it or requesting it for pickup, just ask a librarian or visit the Circulation Desk!
July 25, 2021
I read this book in the car while driving up through the California desert, on roads and highways I'd traveled many times as a child, but haven't revisited in years. This book sort of mirrored that feeling, in ways that are both pleasant and uncomfortable. It was heavy, and sharp, and I'm bleeding in a few places after tangling with it. It was very good, I guess is what I'm getting at.
November 2, 2021
3.5 stars
August 16, 2025
Out of all the short stories, me muero, eat the mouth that feeds you, ini y fati, and crystal palace stood out to me
April 19, 2021
What’s not to love about a story with the opening line “WE’D MEANT FOR the balloon to rise penis-first with the large pink balls pushing up from below, like the big fuck you it was supposed to be,” and then goes on to a much darker, unexpected place, but with a triumphant final note?
This slim, brilliant collection of mostly woman-centered stories are full of darkness and resignation and compassion and caring. The characters are primarily Mexican-Americans whose conflicts and struggles are just off kilter from the expected (e.g., a child struck by lightning who is befriended by one of those statues of virgin child martyrs paraded on catholic saints days, who has an unsettling view of God). The prose is richly textured with slang and Spanish and unapologetically embraces bodily functions and spiritual concerns with equal aplomb. Grit, good food, nitrous oxide, lesbian cat fights, and a modern urban female lumberjack fill this volume to brimming, such that every word feels like you’re catching it, before it spills over.
This slim, brilliant collection of mostly woman-centered stories are full of darkness and resignation and compassion and caring. The characters are primarily Mexican-Americans whose conflicts and struggles are just off kilter from the expected (e.g., a child struck by lightning who is befriended by one of those statues of virgin child martyrs paraded on catholic saints days, who has an unsettling view of God). The prose is richly textured with slang and Spanish and unapologetically embraces bodily functions and spiritual concerns with equal aplomb. Grit, good food, nitrous oxide, lesbian cat fights, and a modern urban female lumberjack fill this volume to brimming, such that every word feels like you’re catching it, before it spills over.
August 15, 2021
This has been my favorite collection of fictional short stories I've ever read! Haunting, memorable, and so full of vivid details.
August 4, 2025
Average rating: 4/5 stars
After falling hard out of the habit of reading for the better part of a decade, Caribbean Fragoza’s collection, Eat the Mouth that Feeds You, ushered me happily back into the habit. In an effort to use my phone less, I’ve been replacing phone time with reading, but I wanted something low-commitment with which to begin. This collection has been sitting on my shelves for a few years, with me meaning to get to it the entire time. Such a tiny book, it seemed like a good, low-commitment place to start, especially since my library had the audiobook available to check out through Libby.
The narrator did a really incredible job with these stories. I found myself wanting to do activities that would facilitate listening to an audiobook, just so I could soak up more of these stories and her narration. Caribbean Fragoza weaves Mexican culture expertly into stories with themes and experiences that I think, on some level, can be understood by anyone. Her imagery is incredible and vivid. Many of the stories have elements of women or children struggling, often at the hands of men, as well as complex family dynamics. Regardless of whether it’s the main focus or not, family plays some role in every story in this collection.
Lumberjack Mom
4/5 stars
The first story in this collection weaves together gardening and grief, framed by a gnarled lime tree. I loved how the sons tried to encourage their mother’s work, even as it evolved into destruction, even if they didn’t consciously understand that her behavior was a reflection of her grief. It made a lot of sense to me that children would prefer their mother do something, however manically, to doing nothing at all. Action can seem less scary than inertia. There wasn’t much dialogue, but that worked very well for this story.
The Vicious Ladies
4/5 stars
Man, the main character in this story SUCKED. I loved it. She had such a holier-than-thou attitude, yet went along with The Vicious Ladies, and was bad as they were, just in a different font. The Vicious Ladies were varying degrees of terrible, and Samira was especially bad and scary. Very tasty. I’m not sure if the author fully intended for this, but she seemed to really lean into the sapphic elements of a woman hating on another woman, especially when it’s originally for no reason other than the other woman’s popularity and femininity. I didn’t really understand the ending of this one, and I still don’t.
Eat the Mouth That Feeds You
4.75/5 stars
Is this story metaphorical? Is the body horror actually happening to the mother? Who cares! I like it. One of my favorites in the collection, this story explores the cannibalistic nature of a child devouring a mother’s life, culture, energy, and body, coupled with a mother that adores her child so much, she refuses to find fault with her daughter. I especially enjoyed the ending.
Mysterious Bodies
4.25/5 stars
The beginning of this one threw me off a bit because it also starts with the imagery of a body being [metaphorically] devoured. I thought it was maybe a continuation of the last story, perhaps from the daughter’s perspective as an adult. Rather, it’s about drug abuse and the inherent horror of having a body that isn’t behaving as it’s meant to. There’s incredible body horror imagery, exploring how scary it is to have something foreign within you, as well as how scary it is when you don’t understand what’s happening with your body. This is combined with drug-induced sensations. Outside of Angelica’s experiences, I really loved the description of her father. It’s a description that’s still on my mind, over a month after reading it.
Crystal Palace
4.5/5 stars
Fragoza is largely really successful at using plot and objects as allegory. Señora Sanz is as perfect and beautiful as her shop full of mirrors, crystal bottles, and self-care products. Working for Señora Sanz, the main character experiences the sudden onset of self-consciousness when her body, which once served her as she served it, is suddenly scrutinized and falls short. I loved the description as she was hit by self-consciousness. It was so visceral and palpable. I also loved the ending.
Tortillas Burning
3/5 stars
This story didn’t do a whole lot for me, but it wasn’t bad either. So many of the stories in this collection feature women facing adversity and strife, especially at the hands of men, so this one didn’t particularly stand out to me. I did appreciate the framing device of burning tortillas and the tortillas’ connection to the advice and strength of the women that came before the main character. Both this story and the previous are told as if the main character is telling the story to a younger relative or person, which I enjoyed.
Sábado Gigante
4.75/5 stars
Sábado Gigante is a real show and the setting for this fictional story. I think the fact that it’s based on a real show ruins the “magic” of this story for me a little bit, but it’s one of the strongest stories in the collection. I could see someone perhaps getting annoyed with the continuous reminder of Emmanuel’s daddy issues, but, considering this is a story about Emmanuel trying to prove himself, in part spurned by his anger at his father, I don’t think those reminders were overdone. I really loved how much inspiration he draws from his mother and her singing. I loved that the female singers he and his mother love take up space, and that that is both frightening and comforting to Emmanuel. I also really enjoyed how the story was structured.
Ini y Fati
5/5 stars
I’m writing this review in early August, though I read these stories in June. Since reading the collection, this story has resurfaced in my thoughts time and time again. I always love when the existence of a god is questionable or unconfirmed, especially when combined with intense devotion and religious imagery. As someone who has never had a fear of dolls, I tend to find creepy dolls in fiction to be a bit trite, but it was so subtle in this story, that I really liked it. Also loved the childlike innocence combined with the cruelty and pettiness of children. Such a wonderful balance of those things. The elements of death, life, childhood, wilting mothers, and the cruelty of fathers (whether through neglect or outright violence) all came together so beautifully. I don’t fully understand the ending, but not in a way that bothers me. Just an all-around incredible story.
New Fire Songs
3.25/5 stars
I don’t know if I lack the cultural context for this one, or if it just isn’t as strong as most of the stories in this collection, but I struggled to orient myself in this story. I couldn’t figure out the time period in which it takes place, which is often something I like, but it threw me off here. I liked that the story was told in the third-person plural. It really enhanced the us vs. them framework. Also, I very much enjoyed how opposition forced the evolution of new rituals. That was a great element of the story and saved this from a lower rating.
Me Muero
3.25/5 stars
I think I just didn’t fully Get this one. It’s about a young woman after her death, but the line between metaphorical and reality blurred so much that I felt unmoored. There was some incredible, absolutely disgusting imagery. The descriptions made me think about Laura Moon from American Gods a few times (I apologize for bringing Gaiman’s work into this, but that novel did have a lasting impact on me). I did like the bond between mother and daughter, though the mother’s calmness was confusing at times.
Overall, a great little collection of stories featuring complex family dynamics, beautiful imagery and allegory, and Mexican culture.
After falling hard out of the habit of reading for the better part of a decade, Caribbean Fragoza’s collection, Eat the Mouth that Feeds You, ushered me happily back into the habit. In an effort to use my phone less, I’ve been replacing phone time with reading, but I wanted something low-commitment with which to begin. This collection has been sitting on my shelves for a few years, with me meaning to get to it the entire time. Such a tiny book, it seemed like a good, low-commitment place to start, especially since my library had the audiobook available to check out through Libby.
The narrator did a really incredible job with these stories. I found myself wanting to do activities that would facilitate listening to an audiobook, just so I could soak up more of these stories and her narration. Caribbean Fragoza weaves Mexican culture expertly into stories with themes and experiences that I think, on some level, can be understood by anyone. Her imagery is incredible and vivid. Many of the stories have elements of women or children struggling, often at the hands of men, as well as complex family dynamics. Regardless of whether it’s the main focus or not, family plays some role in every story in this collection.
Lumberjack Mom
4/5 stars
The first story in this collection weaves together gardening and grief, framed by a gnarled lime tree. I loved how the sons tried to encourage their mother’s work, even as it evolved into destruction, even if they didn’t consciously understand that her behavior was a reflection of her grief. It made a lot of sense to me that children would prefer their mother do something, however manically, to doing nothing at all. Action can seem less scary than inertia. There wasn’t much dialogue, but that worked very well for this story.
The Vicious Ladies
4/5 stars
Man, the main character in this story SUCKED. I loved it. She had such a holier-than-thou attitude, yet went along with The Vicious Ladies, and was bad as they were, just in a different font. The Vicious Ladies were varying degrees of terrible, and Samira was especially bad and scary. Very tasty. I’m not sure if the author fully intended for this, but she seemed to really lean into the sapphic elements of a woman hating on another woman, especially when it’s originally for no reason other than the other woman’s popularity and femininity. I didn’t really understand the ending of this one, and I still don’t.
Eat the Mouth That Feeds You
4.75/5 stars
Is this story metaphorical? Is the body horror actually happening to the mother? Who cares! I like it. One of my favorites in the collection, this story explores the cannibalistic nature of a child devouring a mother’s life, culture, energy, and body, coupled with a mother that adores her child so much, she refuses to find fault with her daughter. I especially enjoyed the ending.
Mysterious Bodies
4.25/5 stars
The beginning of this one threw me off a bit because it also starts with the imagery of a body being [metaphorically] devoured. I thought it was maybe a continuation of the last story, perhaps from the daughter’s perspective as an adult. Rather, it’s about drug abuse and the inherent horror of having a body that isn’t behaving as it’s meant to. There’s incredible body horror imagery, exploring how scary it is to have something foreign within you, as well as how scary it is when you don’t understand what’s happening with your body. This is combined with drug-induced sensations. Outside of Angelica’s experiences, I really loved the description of her father. It’s a description that’s still on my mind, over a month after reading it.
Crystal Palace
4.5/5 stars
Fragoza is largely really successful at using plot and objects as allegory. Señora Sanz is as perfect and beautiful as her shop full of mirrors, crystal bottles, and self-care products. Working for Señora Sanz, the main character experiences the sudden onset of self-consciousness when her body, which once served her as she served it, is suddenly scrutinized and falls short. I loved the description as she was hit by self-consciousness. It was so visceral and palpable. I also loved the ending.
Tortillas Burning
3/5 stars
This story didn’t do a whole lot for me, but it wasn’t bad either. So many of the stories in this collection feature women facing adversity and strife, especially at the hands of men, so this one didn’t particularly stand out to me. I did appreciate the framing device of burning tortillas and the tortillas’ connection to the advice and strength of the women that came before the main character. Both this story and the previous are told as if the main character is telling the story to a younger relative or person, which I enjoyed.
Sábado Gigante
4.75/5 stars
Sábado Gigante is a real show and the setting for this fictional story. I think the fact that it’s based on a real show ruins the “magic” of this story for me a little bit, but it’s one of the strongest stories in the collection. I could see someone perhaps getting annoyed with the continuous reminder of Emmanuel’s daddy issues, but, considering this is a story about Emmanuel trying to prove himself, in part spurned by his anger at his father, I don’t think those reminders were overdone. I really loved how much inspiration he draws from his mother and her singing. I loved that the female singers he and his mother love take up space, and that that is both frightening and comforting to Emmanuel. I also really enjoyed how the story was structured.
Ini y Fati
5/5 stars
I’m writing this review in early August, though I read these stories in June. Since reading the collection, this story has resurfaced in my thoughts time and time again. I always love when the existence of a god is questionable or unconfirmed, especially when combined with intense devotion and religious imagery. As someone who has never had a fear of dolls, I tend to find creepy dolls in fiction to be a bit trite, but it was so subtle in this story, that I really liked it. Also loved the childlike innocence combined with the cruelty and pettiness of children. Such a wonderful balance of those things. The elements of death, life, childhood, wilting mothers, and the cruelty of fathers (whether through neglect or outright violence) all came together so beautifully. I don’t fully understand the ending, but not in a way that bothers me. Just an all-around incredible story.
New Fire Songs
3.25/5 stars
I don’t know if I lack the cultural context for this one, or if it just isn’t as strong as most of the stories in this collection, but I struggled to orient myself in this story. I couldn’t figure out the time period in which it takes place, which is often something I like, but it threw me off here. I liked that the story was told in the third-person plural. It really enhanced the us vs. them framework. Also, I very much enjoyed how opposition forced the evolution of new rituals. That was a great element of the story and saved this from a lower rating.
Me Muero
3.25/5 stars
I think I just didn’t fully Get this one. It’s about a young woman after her death, but the line between metaphorical and reality blurred so much that I felt unmoored. There was some incredible, absolutely disgusting imagery. The descriptions made me think about Laura Moon from American Gods a few times (I apologize for bringing Gaiman’s work into this, but that novel did have a lasting impact on me). I did like the bond between mother and daughter, though the mother’s calmness was confusing at times.
Overall, a great little collection of stories featuring complex family dynamics, beautiful imagery and allegory, and Mexican culture.
April 30, 2021
Metaphorical, speculative, grotesque, surreal, fantastical, and beautiful are just a handful of descriptors I thought of while reading this collection of short stories.
My favorite was Lumberjack Mom from the get-go. Crystal Palace will resonate with me for a long time (everything is going fine until someone points out that you're not performing up to their standards and then you feel like you can't move out of fear of messing up. No. Totally cannot relate). Tortillas Burning, I was just rooting for the nameless narrator and was relieved at the end. Ini and Fati was so foreboding that I was truly scared something horrible was going to happen.
The short stories in this collection focus primarily on women and their relationship with the patriarchy as well as relationships they have with each other. Stories of latinx women supporting latinx women in life and in very surreal death.
My favorite was Lumberjack Mom from the get-go. Crystal Palace will resonate with me for a long time (everything is going fine until someone points out that you're not performing up to their standards and then you feel like you can't move out of fear of messing up. No. Totally cannot relate). Tortillas Burning, I was just rooting for the nameless narrator and was relieved at the end. Ini and Fati was so foreboding that I was truly scared something horrible was going to happen.
The short stories in this collection focus primarily on women and their relationship with the patriarchy as well as relationships they have with each other. Stories of latinx women supporting latinx women in life and in very surreal death.
July 7, 2021
Surreal and yet so true. This hit me very strongly, like nothing I have read before. It is difficult to explain but I felt it as a whole person. It was bilingual and bicultural like me.
Thanks to the Los Angeles Book Festival for introducing me to this author. She was on a panel that I accessed via Zoom.
Thanks to the Los Angeles Book Festival for introducing me to this author. She was on a panel that I accessed via Zoom.
April 11, 2021
Beautiful. Zyzzyva describes Fragoza’s stories/genre as “the domestic surreal,” and I hope we get more of that from Fragoza (and in general)—more domestic surreal, mire surprisingly electric stories.
Read
August 16, 2023Every time I read a short story collection, it genuinely makes me long for a college classroom, so that I could have a space to sit and talk through each piece individually, breaking down the experience of reading it, what it means, what impressions it left with us.
April 25, 2021
brilliant
December 17, 2025
Este libro empieza y termina con un árbol. Específicamente, con un limonero y un aguacate. En ambos casos, el árbol funge como matriz simbólica de la identidad, el pasado, el desplazamiento y la orfandad del migrante ante el fracaso de replicar el hogar en una tierra ajena. Asimismo, la imagen es el umbral hacia los jardines, el espacio de tensión "controlada" donde se desenvuelven las mujeres animales de estos relatos.
Carribean Fragoza emplea paisajes vegetales para mostrarnos el inconsciente desbordado y visceral de sus personajes. Así, la hiedra crece de la noche a la mañana en la casa de una madre que empieza a "purgar" no solo el jardín, sino también el mobiliario en una preparación física y psicológica para lidiar con el duelo matrimonial y migratorio tras el abandono del marido. En "Vicious Ladies", el segundo cuento de la colección, la grama es el lugar donde retozan jóvenes intoxicados con noz, en medio de las fiestas iniciáticas organizadas por un grupo de mujeres que lideran actividades ilícitas en un pueblo de padres ausentes. El césped alto es el reino de Samira, la mujer jaguar, "eyes shining like obsidian blades", que ha asumido la tarea de guiar a las jóvenes en su transición a la feminidad. La narradora del relato, atrapada en el ciclo vicioso del grupo, describe el espacio como un lugar infértil donde solo hay palmeras y hierbajos. "I don't blame my mother for leaving. She needs to be in a more nurturing environment" (21).
En "Crystal Palace" el paisaje está en el cuerpo y funciona como reflejo de una naturaleza impetuosa e incompatible con las normas y restricciones de una boutique. La belleza normativa, hegemónica y de cristal frente a los "pechos como volcanes" de la trabajadora que ha sido criada en una comunidad proactiva y de acción colaborativa. El cuerpo "silvestre" ("my feet seemed enormous and permanently disfigured from going around barefoot most of my life", 54) contrasta la vida rural y de estrato socioeconómico bajo con los perfumes, cristales y labios rojos de la mujer de ciudad, más acomodada, pero que colapsa dentro del brillo del sistema.
El jardín regresa como símbolo de supervivencia y penurias en "Tortillas Burning", cuando una madre busca quelites y acelgas para alimentar a su hijo mientras hace lugar para su propia hambre; un agujero que crece en su interior, la alinea y acaba por darle el arrojo que necesita para liberarse de la violencia doméstica que la aprisiona.
La atemporalidad del trauma y el paso de las estaciones (primavera, verano, temporada de lluvias) sirven de vasos comunicantes en los cuentos para mostrar las fricciones entre lo público y lo privado. Las sociedades siguen su curso, pero el trauma privado, silencioso, habita en las mujeres y desata su furia. Hay mucha furia femenina en los cuentos de Fragoza. Las mujeres gritan, bailan, las hijas devoran a las madres, cortan sus raíces a machetazos, invocan tempestades, desaparecen. No sabemos la edad de Samira, no sabemos cuántas veces al día la Lumberjack mom revive sus traumas mientras desarma los muebles de la casa.
". . .inside I felt a large furry animal balled up, breathing slow but strong. It waited patiently to break out" (Lumberjack Mom). Digo que los personajes femeninos en estos cuentos son mujeres animales no para colgarlas del cliché de lo "salvaje", sino por el modo en que el estado de crisis (social, económica, cultural y psicológica) las afila hasta volverlas puro instinto. El tiempo transcurre de manera diferente para la mujer animal; es inmune a la linealidad del logos. Vive en el tiempo de la memoria y la emoción, en el presente del cuerpo y de la garra.
Fragoza dedica parte de sus agradecimientos del libro a las "diosas que nos dieron colmillos", quizá de esa reverencialidad se desprenda el tono mítico y fundacional que circunda algunos personajes y relatos, como en "New Fire Songs", donde el bosque vuelve a alzarse como metáfora de un inconsciente colectivo y separa a dos formas de vida enfrentadas. El miedo y el dolor de la colonización, la rabia de los desplazados y la necesidad de fundar nuevos mitos alternan con el reconocimiento de heridas intergeneracionales.
La mirada de los narradores de Fragoza suele turnarse entre madres e hijas, pero también busca el espectro queer para hablar de otras identidades que cuestionan el canon de la cultura mexicoamericana (sobre todo en la representación de la masculinidad, como sucede en el cuento "Sábado Gigante").
En síntesis, este es un libro de fronteras: temporales, identitarias y de lenguaje. Una lectura que culmina en un árbol de aguacate y el cadáver de una mujer que se pudre sin pena ni gloria en la casa familiar.
Fragoza abre y cierra su libro con un duelo. Si tuviera que describirlo en una línea, diría que Eat the Mouth that Feeds You es una invitación a los legados de la furia.
Carribean Fragoza emplea paisajes vegetales para mostrarnos el inconsciente desbordado y visceral de sus personajes. Así, la hiedra crece de la noche a la mañana en la casa de una madre que empieza a "purgar" no solo el jardín, sino también el mobiliario en una preparación física y psicológica para lidiar con el duelo matrimonial y migratorio tras el abandono del marido. En "Vicious Ladies", el segundo cuento de la colección, la grama es el lugar donde retozan jóvenes intoxicados con noz, en medio de las fiestas iniciáticas organizadas por un grupo de mujeres que lideran actividades ilícitas en un pueblo de padres ausentes. El césped alto es el reino de Samira, la mujer jaguar, "eyes shining like obsidian blades", que ha asumido la tarea de guiar a las jóvenes en su transición a la feminidad. La narradora del relato, atrapada en el ciclo vicioso del grupo, describe el espacio como un lugar infértil donde solo hay palmeras y hierbajos. "I don't blame my mother for leaving. She needs to be in a more nurturing environment" (21).
En "Crystal Palace" el paisaje está en el cuerpo y funciona como reflejo de una naturaleza impetuosa e incompatible con las normas y restricciones de una boutique. La belleza normativa, hegemónica y de cristal frente a los "pechos como volcanes" de la trabajadora que ha sido criada en una comunidad proactiva y de acción colaborativa. El cuerpo "silvestre" ("my feet seemed enormous and permanently disfigured from going around barefoot most of my life", 54) contrasta la vida rural y de estrato socioeconómico bajo con los perfumes, cristales y labios rojos de la mujer de ciudad, más acomodada, pero que colapsa dentro del brillo del sistema.
El jardín regresa como símbolo de supervivencia y penurias en "Tortillas Burning", cuando una madre busca quelites y acelgas para alimentar a su hijo mientras hace lugar para su propia hambre; un agujero que crece en su interior, la alinea y acaba por darle el arrojo que necesita para liberarse de la violencia doméstica que la aprisiona.
La atemporalidad del trauma y el paso de las estaciones (primavera, verano, temporada de lluvias) sirven de vasos comunicantes en los cuentos para mostrar las fricciones entre lo público y lo privado. Las sociedades siguen su curso, pero el trauma privado, silencioso, habita en las mujeres y desata su furia. Hay mucha furia femenina en los cuentos de Fragoza. Las mujeres gritan, bailan, las hijas devoran a las madres, cortan sus raíces a machetazos, invocan tempestades, desaparecen. No sabemos la edad de Samira, no sabemos cuántas veces al día la Lumberjack mom revive sus traumas mientras desarma los muebles de la casa.
". . .inside I felt a large furry animal balled up, breathing slow but strong. It waited patiently to break out" (Lumberjack Mom). Digo que los personajes femeninos en estos cuentos son mujeres animales no para colgarlas del cliché de lo "salvaje", sino por el modo en que el estado de crisis (social, económica, cultural y psicológica) las afila hasta volverlas puro instinto. El tiempo transcurre de manera diferente para la mujer animal; es inmune a la linealidad del logos. Vive en el tiempo de la memoria y la emoción, en el presente del cuerpo y de la garra.
Fragoza dedica parte de sus agradecimientos del libro a las "diosas que nos dieron colmillos", quizá de esa reverencialidad se desprenda el tono mítico y fundacional que circunda algunos personajes y relatos, como en "New Fire Songs", donde el bosque vuelve a alzarse como metáfora de un inconsciente colectivo y separa a dos formas de vida enfrentadas. El miedo y el dolor de la colonización, la rabia de los desplazados y la necesidad de fundar nuevos mitos alternan con el reconocimiento de heridas intergeneracionales.
La mirada de los narradores de Fragoza suele turnarse entre madres e hijas, pero también busca el espectro queer para hablar de otras identidades que cuestionan el canon de la cultura mexicoamericana (sobre todo en la representación de la masculinidad, como sucede en el cuento "Sábado Gigante").
En síntesis, este es un libro de fronteras: temporales, identitarias y de lenguaje. Una lectura que culmina en un árbol de aguacate y el cadáver de una mujer que se pudre sin pena ni gloria en la casa familiar.
Fragoza abre y cierra su libro con un duelo. Si tuviera que describirlo en una línea, diría que Eat the Mouth that Feeds You es una invitación a los legados de la furia.
April 29, 2021
Coeditor of Boom California the cultural journal of UC Press, Carribean Fragoza’s Eat The Mouth That Feeds You is a masterful debut collection centering themes of power, the body, and ancestral roots in the lives of the mostly Latina/Chicana protagonists. Stylistically, the visceral stories detail such themes as motherhood, pregnancy, and domestic abuse. Fragoza deftly writes of women at crossroads in these stories: young women making choices about their future (“The Vicious Ladies”, “Mysterious Bodies”); devoted maternal figures (“Eat the Mouth That Feeds You,” “Crystal Palace”) and the historical legacy of colonialism recounted in the riveting “New Fire Song”.
In the eponymous “Eat the Mouth That Feeds You,” maternalism is conveyed in fantastical, life-affirming ways as a mother is mysteriously devoured by her daughter who literally sucks the lifeblood, marrow, and other bodily organs from her. Inasmuch as the mother doesn’t know how much more she can withstand, by the end of this phenomenal story the mother’s qualms are cast aside. At the heart of the story is the ancestral lineage between mothers, daughters, and granddaughters, as maternalism conveys nurturance, sustenance, and ancestry: “the best I can do is let her eat whatever she needs and wants. I am relieved that I know where to find my mother and grandmother. They are inside my daughter.” (41)
In “Mysterious Bodies,” a young Latinx woman is faced by the consequences of an unintended pregnancy swallowing a synthetic Plan B-type pill with grotesque consequences. After consulting a curandera who offered various caseros remedios, including oils, rubdowns, and incantations, her boyfriend Eduardo slips her white pills produced by his friend Alex. Instead of styming the pregnancy the strange pills have the opposite effect. In the end, she did not rid herself of her fetus but rather it subsumed her “sucking the walls of her ribs into the vacuum of its center. . . liquefying bone.” (50)
“New Fire Song” is a story about Latinx/Indigenous field workers who lament the farmers who routinely alter crops grown. There are hints of colonialism as the narrator notes that the farmers have long abandoned ancient Indigenous traditions: “fire rituals are so pagan, and they’ve left all that far behind . . . they were Christians now.”(100) By the end of the story, the agricultural land has been torched and the laborers have scattered. This whip-smart story seems to connect the laborers to ancient Aztecs who, in fact, honored new life annually with a New Fire Ceremony, one of the most significant markers in Aztec culture.
The ten fantastical stories in this book illuminate the lives of Latinx/Chicanx women. Simply put, this electrifying book may cement Fragoza’s legacy in the canon of Chicanx/Latinx literature as the visceral stories dance off the pages.
In the eponymous “Eat the Mouth That Feeds You,” maternalism is conveyed in fantastical, life-affirming ways as a mother is mysteriously devoured by her daughter who literally sucks the lifeblood, marrow, and other bodily organs from her. Inasmuch as the mother doesn’t know how much more she can withstand, by the end of this phenomenal story the mother’s qualms are cast aside. At the heart of the story is the ancestral lineage between mothers, daughters, and granddaughters, as maternalism conveys nurturance, sustenance, and ancestry: “the best I can do is let her eat whatever she needs and wants. I am relieved that I know where to find my mother and grandmother. They are inside my daughter.” (41)
In “Mysterious Bodies,” a young Latinx woman is faced by the consequences of an unintended pregnancy swallowing a synthetic Plan B-type pill with grotesque consequences. After consulting a curandera who offered various caseros remedios, including oils, rubdowns, and incantations, her boyfriend Eduardo slips her white pills produced by his friend Alex. Instead of styming the pregnancy the strange pills have the opposite effect. In the end, she did not rid herself of her fetus but rather it subsumed her “sucking the walls of her ribs into the vacuum of its center. . . liquefying bone.” (50)
“New Fire Song” is a story about Latinx/Indigenous field workers who lament the farmers who routinely alter crops grown. There are hints of colonialism as the narrator notes that the farmers have long abandoned ancient Indigenous traditions: “fire rituals are so pagan, and they’ve left all that far behind . . . they were Christians now.”(100) By the end of the story, the agricultural land has been torched and the laborers have scattered. This whip-smart story seems to connect the laborers to ancient Aztecs who, in fact, honored new life annually with a New Fire Ceremony, one of the most significant markers in Aztec culture.
The ten fantastical stories in this book illuminate the lives of Latinx/Chicanx women. Simply put, this electrifying book may cement Fragoza’s legacy in the canon of Chicanx/Latinx literature as the visceral stories dance off the pages.
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