mauritania

Urrea is a playful, generous writer who clearly loves life, women, and prose. Although this novel is not as sprawling as The Hummingbird's Daughter, it is a lively and sensory mini-epic about the love of a village in Mexico and the chance of a dream that extends into America--into the beautiful North--and back. Nineteen-year old Nayeli shimmers and sways when she walks. She dreams of better things than working at the taco stand in Tres Camarones, the remote village of her birth in Sinaloa. Her father traded his family for a job in the US, "Los Yunaites," years ago. Over time, the men have been disappearing from the village and migrating to Tijuana or even further into the U.S. And now bandidos are threatening to take over the unguarded town. Nayeli and her friends, as well as her Aunt Irma, who is running for mayor, hatch a plan after watching The Magnificent Seven at the local cinema, The Cine Pedro Infante. With the brio of Yul Brynner (who Irma insists is Mexican) and a determination to repopulate Tres Camaorones with men, they conceive a mission. Nayeli and her friends will find a way to sneak into the US illegally, find seven robust, strapping men, and bring them back to their village. Additionally, Nayeli intends to travel to Illinois, find her father, and convince him to come home. This novel embraces the exuberance of life and the love of Mexico with a witty, irreverent, and lyrically fluid narrative. All the prime characters are three-dimensional, authentic. Nayeli, with the strong brown calves and alluring, inscrutable smile; La Vampira, or Vampi, the only goth girl in Sinaloa; Yolo, the heady intellectual; and their lone male friend, Tacho--taco-master of The Fallen Hand. They are recruited to join Nayeli on her adventure North. The four friends experience dangerous adventure at the boisterous border in Tijuana and the pain and pleasure of growing up and shedding a few provincial feathers while they test their wings. Odd, ripe characters pepper the novel with their salty tongues, and a striking balance of ardor and menace keeps you off-balance and in suspense. Potent, enchanting, and sizzling like a tortilla in the sun; Into the Beautiful North will dance and delight you, seduce and entice you.

2022-10-29 03:25