"From the beginning of time, the human being, just like all nature, has migrated to where it would survive."

Four narrators reveal the culture clash that is so predominant in the border towns. In this book, El Paso/Juarez provides the setting, but I suspect the same divisiveness and exploitation exist all along the U.S./Mexican border. This is a book about illegal immigration and the hope for social transformation.

The voice of Regina led me to share her quiet but sustained outrage about the victims on both sides of the border. She tells her story in a placid, compassionate manner; although with careful reading one can discern her understandable anger at the injustices occuring. I know this is fiction, but I also know that many horrible things are happening right on our doorstep. It is not an easy book to read because of the subject matter and the language barrier. I have no background in Spanish and was puzzled by some of the writing where even context did not allow me to figure it out. That same predicament, however, lent an air of authenticity to the book. It makes me want to learn some Spanish so I can better understand our southern neighbors. ( )

This was a great novel about the border and the current experience of living there- felt a lot like hummingbird house at certain points. Deep and gorgeous writing. ( )

This story is told from the perspective of 4 individuals living in New Mexico: Regina, Gabo, Miguel, and Milton. Regina is a widow in her 50’s. Her nephew Gabriel (Gabo) is currently living with her in order to attend school while his father, Rafa, works as a migrant worker. When Rafa mysteriously disappears during an illegal border crossing, Regina turns to a fellow co-worker, Miguel, for help. Milton, Miguel’s grandfather, takes an interest in mentoring Gabo and helping with the search for Rafa.

There was much I found interesting about this story including the Mexican cultural mores and how each of these characters view them, identify with them, and are influenced by them. The only problem I had with the story was with some of the Spanish liberally sprinkled throughout the text. I usually have no problem with this technique when used to add cultural authenticity to dialog, but in this story there were just too many places where the definition of the words used were not readily apparent from the surrounding text which left the reader yearning for a Spanish/English dictionary. ( )

Middle-aged, virginal widow Regina is a legal U.S. resident raising her saintly teenaged nephew Gabriel, whose mother was brutally killed by “coyotes” (traffickers in illegal immigrants across the U.S./Mexico border) and whose father vanished during one of his frequent illegal border crossings. To help find Gabriel’s father, Regina enlists the aid of political revolutionary and public school teacher Miguel and of Miguel’s elderly grandfather, Abuelo Milton.

As the story continues, the main four characters are enmeshed in private battles with inner demons and external forces of injustice and violence. Gabriel fights for personal salvation, but finds himself entangled with violent gang members; Miguel tries to be a good father to his children and a friend to his ex-wife while longing for revolution; Abuelo Milton strives to remain relevant in a changing and increasingly dangerous world; and Regina simply struggles to protect her troubled nephew and find her missing brother.

A passionate and lyrical tale of death, faith, injustice, and the gritty details of life along the U.S./Mexico border, “The Guardians” explores the inner and outer lives of Mexican Americans with a poet’s expressive voice and a politician’s wry sensibility. ( )

As a fervent supporter of immigrant's rights, I appreciated the humanitarian message of the tale, and the fact that it was recounted without a heavy hand, or a pedantic hammer.

Castillo has a beautiful grasp of musicality in narration; The Guardians is an engaging poem for that reason.

That said, I had a hard time overcoming some of the stylistic hurdles, in particular the injection of Spanish vocab into narrations, sometimes in nearly every sentence, depending upon the narrator. My knowledge of Spanish is such that I was able to make my way through enough of the book without losing context, but there were times when I didn't understand a word, and didn't have a Spanish dictionary on hand to look it up. The result is jarring reading, and frustration at an often unnecessary pretention.

There is certainly a time and place to meld mother tongue and second language vocab, but I'm not sure Castillo has mastered that notion in this book.