[.uk] Caramelo (Today Show Book Club #9)

Amazon.com Review:
Caramelo, Sandra Cisneros's first novel since her celebrated The House on Mango Street, weaves a large yet intricate pattern, much like the decorative fringe on a rebozo, the traditional Mexican shawl. Through the eyes of young Celaya, or Lala, the Reyes family saga twists and turns over three generations of truths, half-truths, and outright lies. And, like Celaya's grandmother's prized caramelo (striped) rebozo, so is "the universe a cloth, and all humanity interwoven.... Pull one string and the whole thing comes undone." The Reyes clan, from Awful Grandmother Soledad and her favorite son Inocencio to Celaya, follow their destinies from Mexico City to the U.S. armed forces, jobs upholstering furniture, and to Chicago and San Antonio. Celaya gathers and retells, in over 80 chapters, the stories that reinforce her family's, and subsequently her own, identity as they travel between the U.S.-Mexican border and within the United States. Rich with sensory descriptions and animated conversations and peppered with Mexican cultural and historical details, this novel can hardly contain itself. Also an acclaimed poet, Cisneros writes fiercely and thoroughly, and her characters enter and exit the page with uncommon humanity. Although the book is long--over 400 pages plus a relevant U.S.-Mexico chronology--in many ways it's not long enough. The world of the 20th-century Mexican family, and of the Reyeses in particular, is as complicated, timeless, and satisfying as our own family stories. --Emily Russin

beautiful!:
This is one of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time. It is all about family and weaving together and clashing of two cultures. You will love it.

The MBC Abbreviated Review:
For us, the San Antonians, the book was nostalgic and chewy, full of life, delicious, and bitter-sweet. So was the same for many other Mexican-Americans who live in Texas. The book presented an honest reflections, life and souls of an important slice of American population; and more importantly, peoples of our own town. The voice, the blocks of words full of local idiom, and Mexican proverbs were exhilarating. The plot was a story of the awful grandmother but more so mini tales of individual characters who appeared in the novel. The group agreed that the book was a great and pleasant read; here are some delightful passages: Sweet sweeter, colors brighter, the bitter more bitter. Tin sugar spoon and how surprised the hand feels because it's so light. If you leave your father's house without a husband you are worse than a dog. Only people you love drive you to hate. The book also reflects upon the transformation of the city and appearance of a new milieu.

Spanish Literature related-English version:
Very interesting book if you are looking for Mexican-American diversity. It reads like a 'reality show' on TV; coming of age of an adolescent Mexican-American living in Chicago. If you live it, as a bicultural person, you would be bored...otherwise it is inciteful. This was a homework assignment for a university course, otherwise I would not have chosen it.

Life, Love, and Familia on Both Sides of the Border:
Caramelo is a lovely story set over four generations of a Spanish (maybe), then Mexican, then Mexican-American family. It's an intriguing, expansive novel that tackles family relationships, love, and human nature.There's not much trivial or frivilous in this story. Despite this, I didn't find "Caramelo" repressively serious. I was struck by how closely Mexico and America's history and culture are woven together. It gives one a sense of how arbitrary borders are. There's some Spanish interspersed in the text, which apparently has bothered some readers. I didn't mind it, but then I understood most of it. I think without it,the story wouldn't be true to the Mexican-American culture it portrays. Though I feel "Caramelo" lacks some of the emotional depth that one gets from novels like "One Hundred Years of Solitude" or "Las Maravillas", I recommend it.

Completely satisfied:
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