Ana Castillo

What a delight!

This is the story of a Chicana woman raising four daughters in New Mexico. Each of her daughters is extraordinary in fantastical and miraculous ways. As much as it is clear that a higher power is at work in these women's lives, to the point that some of them are considered saints, their lives are still grounded in the practical matters of day-to-day existence. Their stories are tragic, but told with such intense humor and compassion that the book feels very joyful. The writing show more style feels very colloquially Chicana - it's almost impossible not to hear it in a Mexican accent. It's a compelling and immersive book. show less

Ana Castillo is one of those writers I count on for engaging reading material. She has a knack for shining light on ordinary life in ways that make it bright and faceted: a combination of significant details that might not be captured by less adept writers.

The stories in Doña Cleanwell Leaves Home take place in Chicago, New Mexico, and Mexico City and contain overlapping characters. The overlap isn't enough to make this book a novel-in-stories, but it does allow opportunities to view show more individual people and situations from multiple perspectives. Doña Cleanwell examines the lives of Latinx families under stress—sometimes generational differences, sometimes a lack of trust within a marriage, sometimes gender tensions. These stories don't offer sweeping narrative arcs, but the small, detailed portraits they offer are fascinating, particularly when viewed in relation to one another.

If you enjoy writing about families, Latinx fiction, and/or short stories, this is a book you'll want to read—and will probably race through, as was my experience. Once I began reading I didn't put it down until I came to the final page.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less

Ana Castillo's voice pulled me through this novel--the humor and conversational tone is evident throughout. I thought it was going to be lighthearted when I started reading it, but it quickly became apparent that was not the case. It was hard to get a bead on this. I was kind of repulsed by the infatuation with her not actual cousin; I couldn't make sense of how the rapes were handled (or weren't); and I found much of the rest of the frequent, often graphic sex to be joyless, even when maybe show more it wasn't supposed to appear so. For much of the book, I felt really sad for Palma and also wondered if she was an anti-hero. The book doesn't have much of a plot, but really in the end, it's all about getting a fuller picture of how Palma has come to be. It was a little bit of a bummer after loving So Far From God sooooo incredibly much, but at the same time, I'm really excited to read more of Castillo's work. show less

Unlike many previous reviewers of The Guardians, I did not find the use of Spanish words and phrases in this book distracting or over-done. On the contrary, I think it added to the flavor of the story and helped identify and characterize the people. And, no, I don't speak Spanish; I do, however, live in the Southwest so either I pick up more than I realize, or I decide that each and every word isn't as important as the overall story.

I enjoyed this book and thought that it gave some important show more background and insight into the trials of one set of immigrants coming to the U.S. from Mexico. Since immigration has become such a national issue, and particularly here in the West, I think there's value for many people in reading this and other stories like it. Was this the greatest story/novel ever? No. But it was far from the worst and I spent a pleasant couple of evenings in the company of Tia Regina, Gabo and especially El Abuelito. show less