Los Santos de Agua Mansa, California [Still Water Saints]

Escrito por Alex Espinoza

Narrado por Cony Madera

Los Santos de Agua Mansa, California (Still Water Saints) chronicles a momentous year in the life of Agua Mansa, a largely Latino town beyond the fringes of Los Angeles. It is home to the Botánica Oshún, where people come seeking charms, herbs, candles, and, above all, the guidance of the shop’s owner, Perla Portillo. Perla has served the community for years, advising people on all manner of crises, large and small. Among her customers are Juan, a businessman coming to terms with the death of his father; Nancy, a schoolteacher caught between the demands of her new husband and her parents; Shawn, an addict looking for peace; and Rosa, a teenager trying to lose weight and find herself. But when a customer with a troubled, mysterious past arrives, Perla must confront her unfulfilled hopes and doubts about her place in a rapidly changing world.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Blackstone Publishing
• Traductor: Liliana Valenzuela
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 1 oct 2007
• ISBN: 9781481582841

Alex Espinoza

Alex Espinoza was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and raised in suburban Los Angeles. He is the author of the novels Still Water Saints and The Five Acts of Diego León, as well as a book of nonfiction, Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime. Alex teaches at UC-Riverside where he serves as the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair of Creative Writing.

Comentarios para Los Santos de Agua Mansa, California [Still Water Saints]

[bookconcierge · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Espinoza’s debut is an imaginative look at one year in the lives of the residents of Agua Mansa, California. Perla Portillo, the proprietress of the Botanica Oshun, is at the center of the story, because it is to her that the other characters come for advice, assistance, charms, herbs, cures and candles. The remedies she dispenses are given with love, understanding and hope. Perla, however, is just human and her efforts will not cure every ailment or trouble.

There is something about this book which reminds me of The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The common problems of the residents who seek help are rather universal. They might have been confiding in a priest or a hairdresser, but in both these books they arrive at a storefront where unconventional “cures for what ails you” are dispensed by a somewhat mysterious owner. The chief difference is that MoS has a much more fantastical back story, and clear magical elements, while Perla is a very human woman who has taken on this work as a way to fulfill her need to be useful and a way to find a family.

Because the focus of the novel is Perla, all the other characters play supporting roles, and some are quite minor. As may be expected in this kind of ensemble piece, the reader is left without any clear answers as to what happens to these various characters. If you are a reader who needs a clear-cut ending to the story, this will not be the book for you. I enjoyed it, and would read another book by Espinoza.