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Angel Family #2
Migrant Souls
Continues the depiction of the Angel family who live on the border of Mexico and the U.S., focusing on Josie Salazar, the only divorced woman in the clan, and her aunt
- GenresFiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1990
3 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Arturo Islas
10 books15 followersArturo Islas, Jr. was an English professor and novelist from El Paso, Texas, whose writing focused on the experience of Chicano cultural duality. He received three degrees from Stanford: a B.A. in 1960, a Masters in 1963 and a Ph.D. in 1971, when he joined the Stanford faculty.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 3, 2020
“We are on the border between a land that has forgotten us and another land that does not understand us.”
Recently I read about how the brain organizes storage and one point that popped out for me was that memory is improved through schemas. These systems of organizations help us use prior knowledge for new experiences so that we essentially pull up old blueprints that are familiar to a new experience so that when we encode this new memory we don’t start from a blank slate. This information was so interesting to me because there are books that are filled with vibrant impressions and mold themselves against the blueprints of our lives. You essentially bring in your own experiences into them and like a beautiful puzzle piece you fit right into the picture that the writer created. Such was the case with Migrant Souls, the sequel to the Rain God.
Earlier on, I had mentioned that picking up this book felt akin to being reunited with an old friend and I stand by that statement. When Miguel Chico stepped into this story I smiled and was hungry for more information about his life. We got to see more of the Angel Family, this time through Eduvige’s, daughter of Mama Chona, her daughter, Josie Salazar, and Eduvige’s sister, Jesus Maria. I loved that Arturo Islas gave the women of the Angel family a prominent space to tell their side of the history of the Angel family. Wherein the Rain God seemed to be the story of a first-generation Chicanx family, Migrant Souls gave a chance for the second-generation to achieve their own reckoning. “I think the main reason we went to school was to learn how to explain that generation to itself”.
There were so many family dynamics explored in Migrant Souls. We got to witness a family saga and the ripple effect from one generation to another. We got to see how the Mexican Revolution and its actions are still felt across borders. The damaging effects of colorism upon generations. We get to witness how stodgy religious dogma can isolate and separate families that are trying to set upon their own path. We get to see how even when you love your family (and especially because this was written in 1990) you have to separate a part of yourself from them because of their own homophobia.
We saw Miguel Chico struggle with alcoholism because of his struggle to be the “perfect” Angel and his homosexuality. We saw three sisters take very different paths against the backdrop of expectations. Ofelia, the eldest of Eduvige’s daughters, married a “decent man of Anglo-Mexican background” and was swept away in the duties of being a wife, mother, and keeping up with her religion, Josie (the character we follow from childhood to being herself a mother in the first part of this book) went to college, got a divorce, and is outspoken against her family’s rigidity and is not afraid of speaking out against the men in her family (no matter how many times they call her crazy), and Serena never married but moved in with Mary Margaret Ryan. As Josie sees it, “Serena’s acts of charity protected her and (she) forgave her sister the duplicity of her life. She knew the truth and was afraid for Serena”.
The characters of Migrant Souls exist as vessels to drive a story and history that will resonate with so many Chicanx. Islas’ does a beautiful job in pulling narratives together to create a world that will feel familiar to so many of us. When reviewers write that there seems to be something missing from this writing they fail to acknowledge that what’s missing is their own blueprints. It is these experiences that allow us to mold ourselves into the writing. Islas writes for us! This book was written 30 years ago and it is still so deeply relevant. If the story feels unfinished to a reader then please keep in mind that this was supposed to be a trilogy but Arturo Islas died a year after completing this book.
Recently I read about how the brain organizes storage and one point that popped out for me was that memory is improved through schemas. These systems of organizations help us use prior knowledge for new experiences so that we essentially pull up old blueprints that are familiar to a new experience so that when we encode this new memory we don’t start from a blank slate. This information was so interesting to me because there are books that are filled with vibrant impressions and mold themselves against the blueprints of our lives. You essentially bring in your own experiences into them and like a beautiful puzzle piece you fit right into the picture that the writer created. Such was the case with Migrant Souls, the sequel to the Rain God.
Earlier on, I had mentioned that picking up this book felt akin to being reunited with an old friend and I stand by that statement. When Miguel Chico stepped into this story I smiled and was hungry for more information about his life. We got to see more of the Angel Family, this time through Eduvige’s, daughter of Mama Chona, her daughter, Josie Salazar, and Eduvige’s sister, Jesus Maria. I loved that Arturo Islas gave the women of the Angel family a prominent space to tell their side of the history of the Angel family. Wherein the Rain God seemed to be the story of a first-generation Chicanx family, Migrant Souls gave a chance for the second-generation to achieve their own reckoning. “I think the main reason we went to school was to learn how to explain that generation to itself”.
There were so many family dynamics explored in Migrant Souls. We got to witness a family saga and the ripple effect from one generation to another. We got to see how the Mexican Revolution and its actions are still felt across borders. The damaging effects of colorism upon generations. We get to witness how stodgy religious dogma can isolate and separate families that are trying to set upon their own path. We get to see how even when you love your family (and especially because this was written in 1990) you have to separate a part of yourself from them because of their own homophobia.
We saw Miguel Chico struggle with alcoholism because of his struggle to be the “perfect” Angel and his homosexuality. We saw three sisters take very different paths against the backdrop of expectations. Ofelia, the eldest of Eduvige’s daughters, married a “decent man of Anglo-Mexican background” and was swept away in the duties of being a wife, mother, and keeping up with her religion, Josie (the character we follow from childhood to being herself a mother in the first part of this book) went to college, got a divorce, and is outspoken against her family’s rigidity and is not afraid of speaking out against the men in her family (no matter how many times they call her crazy), and Serena never married but moved in with Mary Margaret Ryan. As Josie sees it, “Serena’s acts of charity protected her and (she) forgave her sister the duplicity of her life. She knew the truth and was afraid for Serena”.
The characters of Migrant Souls exist as vessels to drive a story and history that will resonate with so many Chicanx. Islas’ does a beautiful job in pulling narratives together to create a world that will feel familiar to so many of us. When reviewers write that there seems to be something missing from this writing they fail to acknowledge that what’s missing is their own blueprints. It is these experiences that allow us to mold ourselves into the writing. Islas writes for us! This book was written 30 years ago and it is still so deeply relevant. If the story feels unfinished to a reader then please keep in mind that this was supposed to be a trilogy but Arturo Islas died a year after completing this book.
June 29, 2019
Migrant Souls written by Chicanx scholar Arturo Islas (1938-1991) is a tour de force. Islas succumbed to complications from AIDS and unfortunately we will not know the reach of his career.
Migrant Souls depicts three generations of the Angel-Salazar family who moors itself to the fictional Del Sapo, Texas ( a thinly veiled El Paso). The Angel family migrates from northern Mexico led by Encarnacion Olmeca, better known as Mama Chona, during the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. I appreciated the diverse characters as Islas paints Mexican Americans as devout Catholics, free thinkers, with female protagonists, college educated professionals and more. The book seems before its time as a counternarrative of the history of the Southwest.
The main theme of the novel is the migration process. Unlike the current presidential administration that perceives the border as fixed and impermeable, Islam’s border is a fluid, transient space. The title itself refers to the fluidity of movement where “migrants not immigrant souls” move from “one bloody side of the river to the other. . . “
The book still resonates even more than 25 years after its publication. There is still a continuous movement of Latinos who are now met with perilous circumstances. One wonders how Islas would respond to the daily traumas at the border.
Migrant Souls depicts three generations of the Angel-Salazar family who moors itself to the fictional Del Sapo, Texas ( a thinly veiled El Paso). The Angel family migrates from northern Mexico led by Encarnacion Olmeca, better known as Mama Chona, during the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. I appreciated the diverse characters as Islas paints Mexican Americans as devout Catholics, free thinkers, with female protagonists, college educated professionals and more. The book seems before its time as a counternarrative of the history of the Southwest.
The main theme of the novel is the migration process. Unlike the current presidential administration that perceives the border as fixed and impermeable, Islam’s border is a fluid, transient space. The title itself refers to the fluidity of movement where “migrants not immigrant souls” move from “one bloody side of the river to the other. . . “
The book still resonates even more than 25 years after its publication. There is still a continuous movement of Latinos who are now met with perilous circumstances. One wonders how Islas would respond to the daily traumas at the border.
August 4, 2024
Islas is just such a fabulous writer. This text didn’t quite have the emotional resonance of the “The Rain God,” but it was a fascinating continuation of the Salazar family history. The exploration of Mexican-American family life and religion is fascinating. Josie and Miguel Chico stay being such an iconic duo.
August 16, 2020
A great read that explained, in an engaging informative way. The book helped me understand the difference between Chicanos and Mexicans and how the societies formed are facing long time “rules “ putting up challenges and barriers and how individuals meet those obstacles successfully.
An excellent read to get a better hold of schisms in contemporary society.
An excellent read to get a better hold of schisms in contemporary society.
October 24, 2009
This book revisits the characters from The Rain God, but doesn't tie up any loose ends. I really liked The Rain God, but this one seems a bit less incisive. There are some memorable scenes, but not as many.
July 1, 2008
Not as good as The Rain God, but still quite great.
April 8, 2009
just a continuation of the rain god. kind of repetitive.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews