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Fuentes uses Artemio Cruz to tell the tale of Revolutionary Mexico. A young idealist with a passion for social justice, Cruz becomes corrupted by power and money. We first meet him as a rich old man on his deathbed struggling with the inevitability of encroaching death. As the old man relives his life, we see the many facets of the individual, and we also come to view him as a symbol of Mexico. Cruz and the Mexican Revolution began as advocates for the rights of the common people, the working class and the peasants, only to be co-opted by the lures of luxury. This is a powerful literary tour-de-force by one of the modern masters of fiction; don't miss it!

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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McCarthy tells the tale of John Grady Cole, a young Texan who grew up on his grandfather's ranch in the 1940s. After his grandfather dies, John Grady's mother sells the ranch, separating him from the only life he's ever known. Feeling dispossessed, John Grady and his pal Lacey head for the last bastion of the old West - Mexico, where they secure jobs on a huge ranch. The rancher takes a liking to the young man with an uncanny ability with horses. Meanwhile, John Grady takes a liking to the rancher's daughter, which spells trouble in paradise. It is a beautiful tale portraying rites of passage, a vanishing way of life, and the loss of innocence; as usual with a McCarthy novel, however, the real star is the writing.

Reviewed by Bryon C., North County Regional

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The barely contained passions infusing Like Water for Chocolate create romantic, emotional, and family tensions that find relief and expression in the culinary efforts of Tita as her preparation of each chapter's recipe flows seamlessly into the telling of this wonder-filled story. Forced by tradition to forsake marriage in order to care for her mother, Tita pours her feelings into her cooking. From the longing and misery caused by the tears in her sister's wedding cake to the aphrodisiac-like quality of her quail or chiles in walnut sauce, Tita's dishes communicate her true self and enable her to find love. This fine example of Magical Realism will enchant readers with its understanding of the heart.

Reviewed by Charles D., Morrison Regional

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When I first read this book I was in a decidedly unromantic phase and was not at all interested in cooking. By the time I had finished, I felt ecstatic and I was itching to cook. A delicious book!
-Heather, Charlotte

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Susan was just 18 when she married trader Samuel Magoffin and joined him on the trail to Santa Fe. Her journal details the feminine side of the wild west, providing intimate views of daily life, the hard trail and her miscarriage en route. The editor has added historical footnotes to round out her story. Although written 150 years before Kathleen Norris’s Dakota, Susan Magoffin’s journal records similar soul searching on the great plains of the central U.S.

Reviewed by Pam R., Main Library

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This novel tells the story of Guadalupe Magdalena Molina Vasquez who was born into poverty in a Mexican coastal town. Magda eventually marries an American and runs her own business. It is about one woman’s battle with class, religion, prejudice, and her declining health. Through it all she maintains her dignity and resilience. Gershten, an eastern North Carolina native who has lived in Mexico, writes in a Spanish dialect. The novel won the Bellwether Prize, sponsored by Barbara Kingsolver, in honor of fiction that spotlights social and cultural issues. This prize gained her $25,000 and a book contract. If you enjoy literary fiction, this book is for you.

Reviewed by Megan M., Main Library

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Until now, Esperanza's life has been like a dream. She grew up on her family's beautiful ranch in Mexico, with everything a girl could want. When tragedy strikes, Esperanza is suddenly in a new country, and no one here is eager to wait on her. Follow Esperanza on her journey to California, as she learns to let go of the past, and find worth in herself and others.

Reviewed by Kathy M., Morrison Regional

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Reader's comments about this book

This is a good book and I think people in grades 5-7 should read it. It is a very good book about hardship and overcoming it with family and friends.
-K, CA

This is a very good book. It is also very sad and I think that all young people should read it.
-Noura, Blacksburg, VA

It was very exciting and interesting. I would recommend it to anyone in this big, huge, wide world.
-Brittany, Massachusetts

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Laura Diaz is the most fully realized, and memorable character Fuentes has created since Artemio Cruz in the 1960s. Through her Fuentes tells the tale of Mexico’s cultural, social and political history with all the drama intact. Born into an upper class family during the rule of the dictator Porfiro Diaz, Laura, and through her the reader, watches the world as it is turned upside down by revolution. Once in power the Revolution becomes, as usually happens when the "r" is capitalized, the thing it most despised – entrenched wealth and power. Showing the virtuosity of his talents and imagination, Fuentes has written a history, only nominally fictionalized, of Mexico in the Twentieth Century from the point of view of one very strong woman.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Isabel Santos, a bright pretty young woman says she has found a copy of a document written by a Jewish mystic Joaquin Rodriguez who was condemned to death in the Mexican Inquisition over 400 years ago. Claire Reynier, archivist at the University of Mexico, is undoubtedly excited at the discovery, but the document disputes his conversion to Catholicism on the way to his execution. Isabel is murdered before the document can be examined. Was the Santos family descended from Jewish immigrants that came north with Don Juan de Onate to escape the Inquisition? Claire wants to find out who killed Isabel, but the background creates even more questions about the culture of the crypto Jews that migrated to the New World at the time of the Spanish Conquest

Reviewed by Natalie M., Morrison Regional

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In this small, brilliant, novel Fuentes examines universal themes like art, music, love, death, and gender. Using mirroring narratives, one spanning the last half of the twentieth century and the other prehistoric, Fuentes revisits one of his central themes – the nature of time. Here is a tale of obsession between two people and two times. In our time there is Inez, Mexican diva, and Gabriel Atlan-Ferrar, European master conductor. Their obsession centers around three productions of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust. The prehistoric mirror narrates the first human interaction between a man and a woman. This is a magnificent interweaving of love and obsession, life and death, male and female by Mexico’s brightest literary star.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Poet, memoirist, and former gangbanger Rodriguez lets these twelve stories bring us all into his world. From undocumented migrant workers to descendants of generations of Californians dating back before there was a United States, from winos to long-suffering grandmothers, the residents of East Los Angeles come alive in this collection. These stories give the reader a feel for the Chicano culture of el barrio, but the themes are universal. People from all cultures struggle with family, work, violence, and dreams. Poverty knows no boundaries. Love can change any one of us. These themes play out in East L. A. with a Latin beat, but can’t we all feel the rhythm?

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Esperanza Cordero lives on Mango Street in Chicago. This novella is her coming of age story and a window into the Latino urban world. Esperanza, like most teens, has more questions and angst than answers. Her situation is also complicated by the poverty that is all around her. The short vignettes mirror the staccato rhythms of the city and introduce us to a multitude of characters. We meet Esperanza’s sister Nenny who seems to float through life, the barrio bad boy Tito, and most memorable, Sally, a victim of child abuse who uses her sexuality to escape from her father’s house. Not heavy on plot or character development, this book instead gives the reader verbal snapshots of the heartfelt moments of growing up in el barrio.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Reader's comments about this book

I loved this book. It is so rich and so real. Sandra writes the book with such focus and tells it just how it is. I like how it has short chapters and at first is seems as if they don't connect, but in the end they combine to form a wonderful work of art.
-Eliza, Minneapolis, MN

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Never comment on a stranger's shoes. It might get you killed. This happened to 17-year-old Chuy on his way to meeting the girl of his dreams. Rachel was going to be his novia (girlfriend) once he wooed her with his charm, if he had only made it out of the bathroom. Now he must settle for taking on a ghostly form as he watches the people he loves. The Afterlife, a ghost story from the perspective of a teenager, takes an unconventional look at death. For Chuy and the reader, the end is only the beginning.

Reviewed by Mercede W., Freedom Regional

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In short anecdotal chapters that recall her staccato style from previous works, Cisneros continues her examination of the experience of Mexican-American families and those they leave behind. Young Celaya, or Lala, tells us the saga of the Reyes family on both sides of the border. We meet Lala, her father Inocencio, and his mother, the Awful Grandmother, and other members of the Reyes clan in this wonderfully sensuous novel. The novel spans the years of the Diaz dictatorship, the revolution that brought him down, Chicago in the 1920s, and sees both countries into the present. Told with the same irreverent, loving humor as The House On Mango Street,Caramelo, shows that family is family no matter the culture or country. Differences divide only if we let them.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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More than any artist, Diego Rivera has shown Mexico to the world. Often seen through the fog of its Spanish colonial past or the shadow of the giant to the north, Mexico still struggles with feelings of inferiority. For so long Mexico looked to Europe for models of identity. Rivera was one of the artists who turned his eye, and that of the world, towards his own heritage. His work has presented Mexico’s indigenous beauty to the world, and indeed to Mexico herself. This lively and beautifully illustrated volume presents Rivera the man and his work, revealing him as a very flawed man, but one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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This lively look at Mexico’s move toward democracy is by two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who served as Mexico correspondents for The New York Times from 1995 to 2000. After a quick look at the 2000 election that toppled the political party that had run the nation since the 1920s by bringing Vicente Fox to the presidency, the book goes back in time to examine the hold authoritarian leaders have had on Mexico since the rule of the Aztecs. The most moving parts of the book focus on the role of everyday men and women in the recent victory of democratic forces after decades of struggle. This book shines a light on the new democratic Mexico that it may be a beacon to the rest of Latin America.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Carlos Fuentes of Mexico is primarily known for his exquisite novels. He is, however, much more – he is a true Renaissance man interested in everything around him. This collection of alphabetically arranged essays illuminates the depth of Fuentes’ thinking on a wide array of topics ranging from art to love to literature to time and xenophobia. The essays are a sort of autobiography of the mind of a brilliant man. The clarity of these pieces shine a light on one of today’s true intellectuals and will give any reader fuel for their own mental examination of the world. Whether you agree with his take on things or not, his essays will prod you to rethink your own beliefs; that is the real value of these essays.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Montezuma is not happy. Strange things are happening, and omens from the east are not helping. When an intended sacrificial victim screams what sounds like omens and then leaps to his death, cheating the gods, a fast-paced mystery is set in motion. Sorcerers sought by Montezuma to explain the unexplainable disappear, and the emperor sees a connection between these events. Yaotl, a slave of the chief minister, is given the task of finding the missing sorcerers and bringing them to Montezuma. Yaotl has a major problem; his master wants these missing sorcerers brought to him first. Ah, but that is only the beginning of his troubles! Levack brings a new series to lovers of historical mysteries, and brings the world of the Aztecs to life in all its bloody splendor.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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By 1998 over 100 bodies of young women had been found dumped outside Juarez, Mexico, right across the border from El Paso, Texas. Ivon Villa, a native of El Paso who has been living with her lover in California and working on her doctorate, knew nothing about them. When she flies home to finalize the adoption she and Brigit have been planning it all comes much to close to home and she is forced to get involved. Ivon sets out in search of some answers. This is more than a mystery novel – it is a disturbing examination of the culture on both sides of the border that allows these slaughters with hardly a blink from authorities. The murders are still occurring and now more than 400 are dead.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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