The House of Broken Angels
Ratings12
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings12
Average rating4.3
"In Urrea's exuberant new novel of Mexican-American life, 70-year-old patriarch Big Angel de la Cruz is dying, and he wants to have one last birthday blowout. Unfortunately, his 100-year-old mother, America, dies the week of his party, so funeral and birthday are celebrated one day apart. The entire contentious, riotous de la Cruz clan descends on San Diego for the events--"High rollers and college students, prison veternaos and welfare mothers, happy kids and sad old-timers and pinches gringos and all available relatives." Not to mention figurative ghosts of the departed and an unexpected guest with a gun. Taking place over the course of two days, with time out for an extended flashback to Big Angel's journey from La Paz to San Diego in the 1960s, the narrative follows Big Angel and his extended familia as they air old grievances, initiate new romances, and try to put their relationships in perspective. Of the large cast, standouts include Perla, Big Angel's wife, the object of his undimmed affection; Little Angel, his half-Anglo half-brother, who strains to remain aloof; and Lalo, his son, trailing a lifetime of bad decisions. Urrea (The Hummingbird's Daughter) has written a vital, vibrant book about the immigrant experience that is a messy celebration of life's common joys and sorrows" -- Publisher's weekly.
Reviews with the most likes.
One of the things that was confirmed for me in reading this book is that I don't like stories of complicated families in which the entire book is about that. I don't mind complicated families participating in some sort of intricate plot, and I don't mind stories without plot if I enjoy the characters. But this book reminded me, in a very different cultural context, of my reading experience with Anne Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. The book centers around a dying man, who has to host his mother's funeral the day before what will be his last birthday party. That's the entirety of “what happens” in the book, but it really just serves as the framework to explore the back stories of all the family members who are coming to these two celebrations. There are important issues of identity in this book, and it is very well written, but it wasn't a favorite for me.
OK, this is not much of a review, but wow! What a book. A family epic, starring Miguel Angel De La Cruz, otherwise known as Big Angel, the family patriarch. The plot takes place over two days, when Big Angel, weak and sick with cancer, is presiding first over his mother's funeral and then over his last birthday party, after which he knows he will die. But the backstory of how he came to this point takes place, of course, over many years and back and forth across the US/Mexico border. This book needed to have a list of characters in the front, detailing how they are all related to each other. It's a wonderful read.
