4.2
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232 ratings
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
“A vivacious, page-turning novel of rebellion and rebirth.” —Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming and Anita de Monte Laughs Last
A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations—"Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.” (Erika L. Sánchez)
In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguirre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family.
More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town.
Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms—and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices—one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.
Rich with cinematic details—from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings—this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means.
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ISBN-10
0593915410
ISBN-13
978-0593915417
Print length
512 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Random House Large Print
Publication date
June 03, 2024
Dimensions
6.04 x 1.07 x 9.18 inches
Item weight
2.31 pounds
ASIN :
B0CH9HPX8N
File size :
4093 KB
Text-to-speech :
Enabled
Screen reader :
Supported
Enhanced typesetting :
Enabled
X-Ray :
Enabled
Word wise :
Enabled
Marcela Fuentes is a Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer and essayist. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was the 2016-2017 James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in the Indiana Review, The Rumpus, Texas Highways Magazine, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and other journals. Her debut novel MALAS (June 2024) and linked story collection MY HEART HAS MORE ROOMS THAN A WHOREHOUSE are forthcoming from Viking Books. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
Marcela Fuentes
Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation where he grew up. His story collection Night of the Living Rez is forthcoming from Tin House Books (July 5th, 2022), and his work has appeared in Granta, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, Narrative Magazine, LitHub, and elsewhere. A winner of the 2021 Narrative Prize, Talty’s work has been supported by the Elizabeth George Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts (2022). Talty teaches courses in both English and Native American Studies, and he is on the faculty at the Stonecoast MFA in creative writing as well as the Institute of American Indian Arts. Talty is also a Prose Editor at The Massachusetts Review. He lives in Levant, Maine.
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Customer reviews
4.2 out of 5
232 global ratings
Kristin Prusynski
5
Haunting
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
I have to confess that I met Marcela when she was teaching at the University of Wisconsin. We both had beautiful German Shepherds that enjoyed the dog parks. And, today, we have puppies, Dolly for her, Copper for me, that are littermates!
I'm saying this to a) brag, b) mention our dogs, but also c) because I'm a middle-aged white woman in Wisconsin. I don't know anything about real life on the border. My 90s were grunge and jangly pop rather than Selena. And while this book wasn't written for me or about a place I can recognize, it doesn't matter. Part of the fun of reading is being introduced to a new world, and I immediately felt immersed into every version of La Cienega.
But what I do recognize is grief and the way that spite and fear can make you eat your own face. Lulu, and especially Pilar, kind of haunt me a bit after finishing this book. I'm not going to forget about either of them anytime soon. What a lovely book and I'm so thrilled to have been able to read it.
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7 people found this helpful
Melinda
5
Great read!
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
“Malas” by Marcela Fuentes is a captivating debut that dives into a story of passion, revenge, and family spanning generations along the Texas-Mexico border. Fuentes’ vivid writing brings Tejano culture to life, making this a heartfelt and unforgettable read! I loved it!
Amazon Customer
5
Awesome read!
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2024
Verified Purchase
I love the plot, language and especially the author because I know her!! A must read!!
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