A Santo in the Image of Cristobal Garcia
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The gentle-hearted Flavio Montoya returns,
now as the aged scion of his family, still tending
his sister Ramona’s fields and wondering how all
of his family could have died before him. When
the mountains surrounding Guadalupe erupt in
flames, the history of the village seems to be set
loose in the smoke. The dead arrive and the silent
speak. When Flavio is accused of starting the fire
that quickly threatens to consume the village, the
disaster becomes one more mystery that he must
fold into his own memory, though he cannot quite
understand any of it.
A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García is a
beautiful, funny, even epic tale of how all history is
finally personal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Relying heavily on flashback, Collignon's final installment in his Guadalupe Trilogy (The Journal of Antonio Montoya; Perdido) takes place as a mysterious fire envelops the narrator's fictional New Mexico village. As a genre, magical realism strives to create a world in which strong emotions are physically manifested, as though the line between the subjective self and the objective universe has been unaccountably blurred. As Flavio Montoya is held under suspicion of having started the fire, the narrative explores his memories of his deceased wife and sister and his childhood growing up in Guadalupe. In Laura Esquivel fashion, special attention is paid to the descriptions of meal ingredients and preparation, fostering a sensuousness that belies some of the darker aspects of the tale. Ghosts appear, describing the hour of their deaths (and, cartoonishly, looking as they did when found deceased); a friend who has been silent for years due to a stroke suddenly speaks, implicating Flavio; a horrific witch is said to roam the village byways. Collignon also plumbs the deeply melancholy history of the town itself, beginning with the arrival, life and death of Crist bal Garc a, the town's founder. Perhaps the happiest moment of the book Flavio's discovery of letters written to him by his deceased wife, meant to be read after her passing is also tinged with sadness. Though it situates itself squarely in a tired genre, Collignon's book is not without merit. Dreamlike and melancholy, it is a worthy read, if slow-paced and often painfully though not tritely sentimental. Author tour.