My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Soul Enchilada
by
David Macinnis Gill (Goodreads Author)
Girl meets boy at a car wash.
"Dog," she says.
"Dude," he says.
And probably this would have been a sweet teen romance. . . .
If Beals hadn't been sitting next to her in the car.
If Beals hadn't been a supernatural repo man looking to repossess her car.
And to possess her.
David Macinnis Gill delivers the whole enchilada. With a side of soul.
Library Binding, 356 pages
Published
April 1st 2009
by Harper Teen
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
927)
3.5 stars.
(original review from October 2009 with a few edits)
Soul Enchilada is about Eunice "Bug" Smoot, an eighteen-year-old El Pasoan girl who is struggling to pay her rent and keep a steady job. It seems like things can't get any worse when her landlord pins an eviction notice on her door, but it turns out that Bug's grandfather sold his soul to the Devil in order to buy a car and skipped out on the contract before paying up. Now the devil is out to get Bug,...more
(original review from October 2009 with a few edits)
Soul Enchilada is about Eunice "Bug" Smoot, an eighteen-year-old El Pasoan girl who is struggling to pay her rent and keep a steady job. It seems like things can't get any worse when her landlord pins an eviction notice on her door, but it turns out that Bug's grandfather sold his soul to the Devil in order to buy a car and skipped out on the contract before paying up. Now the devil is out to get Bug,...more
view all 5 comments
Bug Smoot, a mixed race El Pasoan, never knew her African American/White daddy and saw her Latina mother die in a fire. After that she lived with her Cadillac loving grandfather who died before she finished high school. Now Bug uses her inheritance, a vintage Cadillac, to deliver pizzas until the day she comes out of her apartment to discover the Caddy covered in eggy slime. Taking it to the car wash, where she meets hunky Pesto, she is shocked when creepy Mr. Beals appears in the seat next to h...more
I finished the book this weekend and it has everything I love in a book: A kick-ass heroine with an edge and a biting
sense of humor, a bit of the supernatural, basketball, a phenomenal car, a great cultural setting, romance, interesting evil characters, and a few scenes that make me tear up.
Bug's grandpa sold his soul to the devil in order to buy a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz and then died and skipped out on the contract without turning over the car or his soul. The devil's repo man...more
sense of humor, a bit of the supernatural, basketball, a phenomenal car, a great cultural setting, romance, interesting evil characters, and a few scenes that make me tear up.
Bug's grandpa sold his soul to the devil in order to buy a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz and then died and skipped out on the contract without turning over the car or his soul. The devil's repo man...more
When Eunice "Bug" Smoot is threatened with eviction, loses her job and has her last pay check bounce, she doesn't think life could get any worse. Then it does. Not only is there a demon repossesing her prized 1958 Cadillac Biarritz, but she learns that her deceased grandfather, Papa C, sold his soul to the devil for that car! Then the situation goes beyond worse as she learns that Papa C traded HER soul as well. Many people would just give up but Bug is made of stronger stuff and ...more
i was so engrossed in soul enchilada by david gill, that i very nearly missed my train stop while whizzing through the english countryside. this book was a surprise to me in a fantastic way on all counts. i loved the characters gill created, he pegged bug's voice so well, i'd suspect him of being a sassy teenaged girl if i didn't know any better. she's smart, she's funny, she's fearless. and you have to be, if you've got the devil chasing after your soul.
the book has it all, fantasti...more
the book has it all, fantasti...more
Best book I've read in a really long time! This BOOK NEEDS TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE!!!!!!!!!
David Macinnis Gill is purely brilliant in his debut novel. From the first pages, you can't help but fall in love with Bug Smoot. She's feisty, independent, and just found out her dearly departed grandfather sold his soul to Old Scratch and used her soul as collateral. Only problem is Papa C skipped out on his part of the agreement, leaving Bug holding the bill. Soul Enchilada is packed full of wit, charm, and demon-fighting-soul-betting fun.
Good fun...spanish flavored demon action, cocky heroine, a bit of romance. Worked for me!
This book is FRIGGIN GREAT! A hilarious, paranormal riot! When a Demon comes to collect the soul (and car) of a feisty girl named Bug, he gets a lot more than he bargained for. She and her friend Pesto, who is way more than he seems, take on the whole underworld to reclaim what is hers.
If you are a fan of Christopher Moore, I recommend this one!
If you are a fan of Christopher Moore, I recommend this one!
This book is tremendous fun. Bug is such a feisty heroine! I love the Faustian storyline, the setting, and the fresh storyline. Extremely entertaining.
Lots of good humor about the consequences of making a deal with the devil. Set in El Paso.
Young Adult literature that leads students to classic texts and that incorporates classical allusions into the narrative appeal to me. "Soul Enchilada" follows the Faustian archetype and draws from classical Greek mythology, as well as modern lore to create Bug's, the protagonist's, world.
The plot centers on Bug, a high school dropout, who is among the disenfranchised in El Paso, Texas. Bug delivers pizza in her the classic Cadillac her deceased Papa C willed to her, while ...more
The plot centers on Bug, a high school dropout, who is among the disenfranchised in El Paso, Texas. Bug delivers pizza in her the classic Cadillac her deceased Papa C willed to her, while ...more
This is one of those books that screams to you from the title and the cover. The full title is "Soul Enchilada: The Devil is in the Details" with little pitchforks and a neat demon font and flames. Hard to resist (I know, I'm an odd woman). Thankfully, the contents did not let me down- this is a unique piece of urban fantasy fiction without a lot of the nastier grit that sometimes comes with the genre.
Eunice "Bug" Smoot is down on her luck. She can't pay the rent on...more
Eunice "Bug" Smoot is down on her luck. She can't pay the rent on...more
I was really excited to read this novel and thought the premise was awesome, but it failed to draw me in and I ended up not even finishing it. Bug is a down on her luck girl living in El Paso who discover that her car (and her soul) are about to be repossessed by a demon. Enter some supernatural characters, including a demon fighter that Bug just happens to know, and Bug's ready to not go down without a fight.
The writing felt really choppy. Bug narrated the book much the way she s...more
The writing felt really choppy. Bug narrated the book much the way she s...more
All Bug wants to do is earn enough money to pay the rent and be left alone, but that's not happening. Bug is suddenly hounded by "Mr. Beels" (Beezelbub), a demon who's trying to repossess her beloved 1958 Cadillac, inherited from her grandpa, and if she can't come up with her grandfather's soul before the deadline, her soul will belong to the demon. Bug is a great character, of mixed race--her mamacita was Hispanic and died when Bug was 6, and her African-American soldier father took o...more
Humorous and imaginative, Soul Enchilada follows Eunice “Bug” Smoot on an adventure to save her soul. Bug is forced to struggle with poverty on her own after all the family she has in her life, her mother Mita, Auntie Pearl, and her grandfather Papa C, have passed away. All that she is left with is a vintage Cadillac cherished by Papa C and left to her upon his death two years earlier. Little does she know that Papa C sold the only thing of value he had to obtain that Cadillac: his soul. Unbekno...more
I *think* I liked this. Bug was a likable enough character, and Pesto was fairly well-developed. The supernatural elements were interesting but I wish they would have been more developed. I feel like interesting parts were mentioned but then never fully explored. The biggest issue though was that the ending was insanely predictable. You could tell exactly what was going to happen in the big climax by the end of the fifth chapter - basketball, Papa and Mita, Pesto, incantation, everything. There ...more
A YA version of Faust, set in El Paso, dude. This girl with the nickname Bug is trying to get by delivering pizzas, and the only real asset she has is this vintage Cadillac her dead grandfather left her.
But one day she looks out to see that it's been egged, and there's a demon sitting in it, who tells her he has come to repossess the car, and her soul, which was collateral on the loan her grandfather made.
Yes, it had potential, but it didn't convince me - the characters...more
But one day she looks out to see that it's been egged, and there's a demon sitting in it, who tells her he has come to repossess the car, and her soul, which was collateral on the loan her grandfather made.
Yes, it had potential, but it didn't convince me - the characters...more
I’ve read so many positive reviews on this book that I was looking forward to reading it. It has an very creative story line with Bug trying to keep her car and her soul from going to the devil. She’s a stereotypical hot tempered Latina who has little tolerance for people who try to shortcut things by making deals with the devil but she never manages to realize how much of her own soul she gives away with her attitude. She’s so beat down by life that it’s easy to sympathize with her although sh...more
Ughhhhhh
I was so ready to be done with this book. I listened to the audio book and every time the narrator spoke in Bug's voice I wanted to smack something. The character of Bug drove me bonkers. She was arrogant and loud, which was probably how her character was supposed to be.
Bug is a girl of mixed race - Hispanic and African American - who doesn't do well with people and loves playing basketball. Her mother died when she was young in a fire. She lived with her grandfather, Papa C...more
I was so ready to be done with this book. I listened to the audio book and every time the narrator spoke in Bug's voice I wanted to smack something. The character of Bug drove me bonkers. She was arrogant and loud, which was probably how her character was supposed to be.
Bug is a girl of mixed race - Hispanic and African American - who doesn't do well with people and loves playing basketball. Her mother died when she was young in a fire. She lived with her grandfather, Papa C...more
This novel follows the fortune of "Bug" Smoot, part Hispanic, part African American, all spunk and sass, who dreams of playing basketball and completing high school and college, who refuses any kind of welfare, so fights for independence and survival by delivering pizza in the vintage Cadillac her grandfather left her. Then she discovers that's not all he left her: to buy the car, her grandfather pawned his soul--and her own--to Satan and his minions. And finding out that clause in ...more
I had high hopes for this book. When Bug Smoot discovers that her grandfather had bargained away HER soul so that he could drive a Cadillac, she has no intention of going to Hell. There had to be a way out. Armed with her boyfriend, who happens to work on the side of the angels, she makes the devil meet her on her terms. But Bug is way too stereotypical. She's a Tejana, but doesn't speak Spanish. However, her English grammar is so poor that I'm not sure what language she speaks. She has a chip o...more
My book called Soul is a very good book and some parts of the book is very scarey and heart warming. Its creepy is you really pay attention its about a young girl that was very close with her grandfather. He had passed away and left his car with his grandaughter and now the devil is trying to repo the car from her.
Setting: Young Grandaughter apartment.
Protagonist: The young grandaughter dont no whats going on and its hard for her to get on work on time. The a...more
Setting: Young Grandaughter apartment.
Protagonist: The young grandaughter dont no whats going on and its hard for her to get on work on time. The a...more
Soul Enchilada is a book that I really liked reading! Every page is filled with humor. I recommend this book if you like to read [realistic,] humorous books . It's a great book! (:
Just not for me. I can see how it might have a high level if teen appeal (so says YALSA) but it didn't appeal enough to me.
There is a strong narrative voice and a unique human/demon world/underworld but the plot and storyline lacked coherence and believability. Maybe veriscimilitude is the wrong word for a fantasy novel but you get my drift. How convinient that the love interest happen to be a demon hunter. How nice that his mama was the same neighbor as before and can give Bug a pl...more
There is a strong narrative voice and a unique human/demon world/underworld but the plot and storyline lacked coherence and believability. Maybe veriscimilitude is the wrong word for a fantasy novel but you get my drift. How convinient that the love interest happen to be a demon hunter. How nice that his mama was the same neighbor as before and can give Bug a pl...more
Wasn't as taken with this as I expected to be - I found the heavy, heavy dose of Bug-as-victim a bit tiresome, which is odd, as it should have been a great story of an underprivileged kid from a family who never had as many options as they should have. And Bug was just too slow at learning *not* to do the boasting about how she'd TOTALLY got it nailed -- before disaster hits -- every time. I also found the ending's leaving Papa C's story very unresolved strange. Unless there's the inevitable ...more
In his debut novel, Macinnis creates an appealingly strong and sassy female protagonist. Trying to escape a contract on her soul, Eunice "Bug" Smoot defies devils with her verbal bluster, mad basketball skills, and aggressive driving techniques. A Tejana-African American teen, Bug sprinkles her conversation with Spanish. Soul Enchilada straddles genres, combining fantasy, sporting action, gross-out maggots and mucus, and a bit of romance. The book’s strengths lie in the humorous elemen...more
Who knew that the devil demands collateral on wish fulfilled, sold-soul purchases? At times, Gill's novel--a 2011 Florida Teen Reads pick--seemed like a fantastical game of "Would You Rather." Would you rather live with a "bruja" (witch) or be evicted? Run from the devil or face his minion in a basketball game? Bug Smoot's grandfather sold his soul for his dream car, a classic Cadillac, and used Bug as collateral. Paranormals, demons, seances, psychics and more will delight s...more
Bug and Pesto seem like cool characters. The demon as the repo man was an interesting touch. Bug tries to be tough, but she's got a heart of gold. She tries to make it on her own at 18. her grandpa C left her a Cadilac with an unusual condition for inheritance. Everything is not as it seems here. I like how Bug calls her boyfriend Dog and the boyfriend calls her Dude. This is a young adult novel, but I think the swearing and the subject of Satan might scare the young 'uns. The characters talk ...more
I like the premise of the book more than its execution, but the premise is so awesome it hardly matters.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
David Macinnis Gill is the author of the award-winning novels Black Hole Sun and Soul Enchilada, both from Greenwillow/Harper Collins. His short stories have appeared in several magazines, including The Crescent Review and Writer’s Forum. His critical biography of young adult author Graham Salisbury, Graham Salisbury: Island Boy, was published by Scarecrow Press. He holds a bachelor’s degree in En...more
More about David Macinnis Gill...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
