Spirits of the Ordinary: A Tale of Casas Grandes
by Kathleen Alcal
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When the tale opens in the 1870s in a village in northern Mexico, the Caraval family has long been clandestine Jews. To the dismay of his parents, however, Zacarias abandons religion and wanders in the desert, searching for gold. At home in Saltillo, his wife Estela takes the rare and bold step of declaring herself independent from her husband and raises their children on her own. But as she takes a lover and tries to make her own path, she learns that the time-honored traditions of Saltillo show more can be tested only so far. Her young brother and sister, androgynous twins with unsettling powers, have already been banished north of the border. show lessTags
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A delightful book by a Chicana set in northern Mexico around 1900, full of unique characters, and touched with other-worldly magic and grace.
Kathleen Alcala is a true storyteller, able to intertwine a variety of stories into one narrative. At the center is Zacarias, a man descended from Jews who had come to Mexico generations earlier, publicly converting to Catholicism to avoid being killed in the Inquisition, but practicing their faith in secret. Zacarias’ father continues to study Jewish texts, and his mother is mute but extra sensitive to the world around her. As the book begins, Zacarias is obsessed with prospecting for gold. He spends most of his time, and his wife’s money, in the mountains. When she cuts off his access to her show more wealth, he leaves on a quest for gold. Living among native peoples, he changes and changes the lives of those around him.
Read more: http://wp.me/p24OK2-1oN show less
Kathleen Alcala is a true storyteller, able to intertwine a variety of stories into one narrative. At the center is Zacarias, a man descended from Jews who had come to Mexico generations earlier, publicly converting to Catholicism to avoid being killed in the Inquisition, but practicing their faith in secret. Zacarias’ father continues to study Jewish texts, and his mother is mute but extra sensitive to the world around her. As the book begins, Zacarias is obsessed with prospecting for gold. He spends most of his time, and his wife’s money, in the mountains. When she cuts off his access to her show more wealth, he leaves on a quest for gold. Living among native peoples, he changes and changes the lives of those around him.
Read more: http://wp.me/p24OK2-1oN show less
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