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10th out of 43 books
—
9 voters
Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders
It's the summer of 1998 and for five years over a hundred mangled and desecrated bodies have been found dumped on the Chihuahua desert outside of Juarez, Mexico, just across the river from El Paso, Texas. The perpetrators of the ever-rising number of violent deaths target poor young women, terrifying inhabitants of both sides of the border. El Paso native Ivon Villa has re...more
Hardcover, 346 pages
Published
March 31st 2005
by Arte Publico Press
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Finally deciding to become a parent, Ivon (whose last name escapes me) returns home to El Paso to adopt a child. However, once there, circumstances change as the unborn baby and its mother are murdered. Soon, Ivon finds herself embroiled in the midst of a mystery that may reach all the way to the top of the Mexican government.
Wow, talk about dramatic and multi-layered. Every chapter it seemed like some new twist and depth was discovered. At times, it seemed like a little much - I mean, there are...more
Wow, talk about dramatic and multi-layered. Every chapter it seemed like some new twist and depth was discovered. At times, it seemed like a little much - I mean, there are...more
Desert Blood is an incredible page turner! From the time I first picked it up, I wasn't able to put it down unless there was some that I absolutely had to do at that moment.
Alicia Gaspar De Alba weaves a horrifying, yet compelling fictional story around her research on the Juarez femicides, which is where women on the U.S./Mexico border are raped, tortured, mutilated, and murdered. The mystery and silence around these deaths are shocking and within her story, she moves the reader to consider di...more
Alicia Gaspar De Alba weaves a horrifying, yet compelling fictional story around her research on the Juarez femicides, which is where women on the U.S./Mexico border are raped, tortured, mutilated, and murdered. The mystery and silence around these deaths are shocking and within her story, she moves the reader to consider di...more
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Professor Gaspar de Alba is one heck of a writer! This is a fast read. I am appalled at the governments of Estados Unidos y Mexico regarding their apparent lack of concern that so many young, sometimes very young, women are missing, found mutilated and dead. This isn't happening only on our borders - it happens in the countries of Africa, Thailand, Vietnam... women and children exploited for the sick perversions of man. Truly Hell has reign of this planet called Earth.
I am honored to have met A...more
I am honored to have met A...more
Really well written mystery set on the Texas-Mexico border! Ivon is a powerful, flawed protagonist and every Spanglish term, every nuance of Ivon's house reminded me of my childhood in Laredo. I wasn't a lesbian while in Laredo (the first time) but the energy, both good and bad, came through each page. Gaspar de Alba sets the plight of the maquiladoras along the border cities to a suspenseful and startling work. An important read for women, Latinos, and law enforcement everhywhere.
Jun 10, 2010
Blanca Gaspar de Alba
added it
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Blanca by:
The author
I read this book in 48 hours and I loved it because it was an easy read and since I live in El Paso, Texas I could easily relate to the story. Furthermore, I used to go to Juarez on a daily basis and the way the author depicted life on the border is pretty accurate. In summary, even if you've never been to the border you will still enjoy this book...
Since I am from el paso, I could envision the streets and scenery mentioned in the book. The more you read, the more twists and turns the book has. I enjoyed the drama it offered. It's sad knowing that these events are True. And not every story of these murdered women end happy. but the book gave me hope that one day these women will not have died in vain.
My reaction to this novel was one of complete disbelief and horror. It's fast-paced, and is a part detective, part true crime novel. While it is seriously disturbing that it is based on true events, it's even worse that it took a grad level class for me to even know that the femicide in Juarez was happening (19 years AFTER it started!!) I highly recommend this book to anyone with any sort of social consciousness.
Mar 08, 2010
HaywardPublicLibrary
is currently reading it
Recommended to HaywardPublicLibrary by:
Heidi Ontiveros, librarian and book group leader
Shelves:
mystery-novels-by-women-book-group
April 2010 selection of the Mystery Novels by Women Book Discussion Group at the Hayward Public Library.
Desert Blood
is being read in conjunction with the East Bay Big Read of
Bless Me, Ultima
by Rudolfo Anaya. Join the discussion of Desert Blood on Tuesday, April 6, 2010, at 6:30 pm.
This book unnerved me an made it hard to sleep at night. So horrific yet so needed to be read. Through a fictionalized account of one missing girl, this story reads like a mystery all the while chronicling the very real horrors happening to women of the US Mexico border towns.
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Recreates El Paso and Ciudad Juarez dead-on. Graphic and true descriptions of the murders--not for the faint of heart...this book lingers long after the end. Anyone unfamiliar with the borderland will learn a ton about the Topsy-Turvy way life goes down on a man-made boundary.
Gaspar De Alba is able to shed light on the ignored human tragedy currently happening in Ciudad-Juarez, Mexico, but an over-reliance on stereotypes and a tendency to bludgeon readers with various themes makes the book somewhat difficult to get through.
Fiction based on the tragic true killings, now numbering in the 100s, of women in Juarez, Mexico. If you're from the area, you'll recognize much from the story's setting.
This book is so easy to read and immediately grasps you from the first page. It was so difficult for me to finish this book! I finished in a week!
Very well done! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it is VERY difficult to read. Not for people with weak stomachs.
i really liked reading this book but the oversimplification of the situation in juarez was a bit unsettling
I had absolutely no idea that these murders were/are still going on in Juarez. It's an interesting read, the writing isn't excellent, but the events are horrific. Be aware, it's a tough read from time to time.
This is a fictionalized account of the Juarez murders (based on actual reports, events, etc). The book is very descriptive in the violence inflicted upon the maquiladoras women workers and I had a problem with the sensationalized retelling of the these violent murders and felt uncomfortable in how i was "consuming" this book. because of the urgency i feel in the seriousness and severity of these murders, i wonder why this book was written in this form... i also find it disturbing that this book...more
Jan 05, 2008
Venessa
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those interested in the Ciudad-Juarez murders
A chilling fictional account of the terrible and still unexplained murders of the hundreds of women living on the Ciudad Juarez, MX border and El Paso, USA; nevertheless filled with enough factual information to make you cry as you cannot stop reading. Brilliant expose of the disgusting crimes the police are unwilling to solve, perhaps because of the part they play? It is my fervent wish that Gaspar de Alba’s book brings to light the systematic slaughtering of hundreds of young women as well, ro...more
Such an incredible book but such a sad story.
so so
The writing needs improvement, needs to be more cleaner, but the story kept me interested and wanting to read more. Very much a suspense thriller and yet it raises awareness about the horrible femicide happening in Juarez, Mexico. Although I think they should change the back cover summary it gives away what happens to Irene in the beginning and I have to say the dread of waiting kind of ruins the experience.
This was a total page turner...I stayed up half the night reading it. I liked the use of Spanish, and that I was familiar with the El Paso landscape. Not so cool was the graphic, nauseating violence. I was split between thinking, "What kind of person comes up with this stuff?!" and thinking that this could be happening to maquiladoras at this minute. Disturbing and scary, and not one I'd want to read again.
So far so good...
I like it!
I like it!
I read this for a class and couldn't put it down. While excellent and empathetic towards its heroine(s), I had a hard time stomaching the violence running throughout.
I felt pretty helpless, too. What exactly can I do about the maquiladoras but avoid buying things made in Mexican sweatshops? Write my senator/congressman?
I felt pretty helpless, too. What exactly can I do about the maquiladoras but avoid buying things made in Mexican sweatshops? Write my senator/congressman?
Nov 10, 2008
Dayna
added it
more novelish than I would have liked. Interesting exploration of gender...while I respect that she was trying to both expose repressive constructs of sexuality along the border, and portray the complexity of the juarez murders I don't know whether she accomplished either...
based on juarez murders...horrifying and shameful...raises all sorts of questions...these murders have not stopped...research suggests that these crimes are not confined to one side of the border as these women work in the nafta-funded maquiladoras...
I think I liked this more than most would because I grew up on the border. I still think that it's amazing that 100's of women were murdered over a period of a couple of years in our own backyard, and no one really talks about it.
Loved this book. Although it's fictional, a lot of what's in here is true. The places, streets, clubs, and being from this city it caught my attention immediately.
Entertaining. People really should be informed of the Juarez murders.
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![Sangre en el desierto: Las muertas de Juarez [Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders] (Paperback)](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348309249s/4484584.jpg)
