It has been awhile since I have read a book that read like a symphony, entering the mind in a complete and beautiful form, causing an emotional, physical and spiritual uplifting engagement. I was completely immersed in this book; it is the kind of book that a reader experiences with all senses. I wouldn't exactly call it a religious experience, but it is certainly great literature. Not only that, but it is written with a great sense of humor, humility and a love of the human being in all his frailty, pride, goodness, badness and ridiculousness.
Teresita Urrea is the illegitimate 1/2 breed child of Tomas Urrea the landowner and a young Indian girl, Cayetana Chavez. Her father doesn't even know of her existence until she is 6 years of age. She is born in a shack on her father's ranch, left by her mother as an infant and raised in abuse by her aunt who eventually dumps her into the pigpen after a brutal beating and threatens her not to die. From this humble beginning she eventually becomes an accepted and loved daughter of her father's house, and a saint to whom people travel for miles to ask for a healing. Being a saint has its downsides, for both Teresita and the family. All of Mexico is in the throes of the misery caused by the Mexican destruction of the Indian people and culture, the Indian which is mixed in with the Spanish or eliminated if it is too resistant or proud or makes claims on the land.
Mexico has never been a place that I have liked, but this book opened my heart to Mexico in a way that my limited experiences with Mexico never has before. I felt a love for Santa Teresita, her people, her land, her life. Thank you Luis Alberto Urrea for a phenomenal book, a wonderful reading experience, a chance to understand some of Mexican history, religion and the grace of an amazing woman named Teresita.
Luis Urrea is right, the past is with us, right here, right now.