Gabriela and The Widow

by Jack Remick

A story of chaos, revenge, death, sex and love. The Widow, 92 years old, lives in a house filled with photos, coins, and jewels. She hires Gabriela, a 19-year-old Mixteca from Mexico to help capture her fading memories. Gabriela seeks revenge for the destruction of her village. The Widow craves balance for the betrayals in her life. In the end, the Widow gives Gabriela the secret of immortality.

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2013

About the author

Novelist, poet.
Author of--
Valley Boy, Second Edition
No Century for Apologies: Short listed for the Hoffer Grand Prize 2023
Citadel, the novel
Blood
The California Quartet:
The Deification--Book One
Valley Boy--Book Two (first Edition)
The Book of Changes--Book Three
Trio of Lost Souls--Book Four
Gabriela and The Widow (Winner "Best Women's Fiction" Orangeberry Virtual Book Expo; Montaigne Medal Finalist; Book of the Year Award Finalist)
co-author of The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery (with Robert J. Ray)
Satori-poems by Jack Remick
Doubles in a Game of Chance--a novel about a bureaucratic nightmare and a lost protagonist on a thankless quest.
Man Alone--The Dark Book
Songs of Sadness Joy and Despair for the Anthropocene--a pen in one hand, a razor in the other (Long poems and Josie Delgado)

Reviews

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author: Jack Remick
Gabriella and the Widow:

Take a stack of papers or note cards and throw them up it the air and let them fall to the ground. As they gently fall to the surface of the ground, each card or paper a different color and filled in with various colored pens the stories held within the small folds of each paper or line of each card relates a portion of someone’s life that they will never forget. Creating order out of chaos. Creating the events of your life by recording them on slips of paper, cards and then placing important facts on each one yet in no particular sequence or order. Gabriela lost everything when her mother died. No one to care for her, help or guide her in any direction or show her the right path to follow. Life journey brings each one of us joy, sorrow, love and many struggles. Gabriela was alone and as she hoped for someone to show her the way all she receives were stake, and instructions as to where and how to bury her mother. Gabriela needed to decide her own way and where life would take her but instead she becomes lost in her thoughts and finally winds up in the service of a woman we shall call La Patrona. To survive she had to do endure the pain, the shame and the unkindness of many. Living in a village without anyone to protect her, she had some type of status as a servant to this woman called La Patrona. Nothing more than a maid that had to clean up after her and more, Gabriela remained until she could no longer deal with what she had in store for her. Listening to the conversation between this grotesque woman and another she realizes she was nothing more than property about to be sold. But, Gabriela is young and naïve and does not realize that she may leave one horrible situation only to find herself in another. Going to Oaxaca she loves the lights, cars, buses and the scenery but does she love what she is asked to do? Working for Nando and expecting to have his sons, she finds herself selling articles made of toads, bags that carry an awful smell and toad purses that cause her to get sick. It is here that she meets a woman named Mignonne and her companion who comment about her illness and hope that she is not contagious. Gabriela only wanted to look above her station and she prided herself in wanting something special for herself. Going to the shoe vendor she vied for Nikes to replace her sandals. Hoping that she would be able to finally afford running shoes she ecstatic when about the purchase. When her owner sees what she has bought his reaction is violent, abusive and she winds up beaten on the street. But, with the help of the shoe vendor she finds her way to another place hoping she will find acceptance and maybe even love.

Livia is the niece of the shoe salesman that befriends her but she remains in this position to clean rooms for a short time. Entering a room she finds two women asleep and one that requires she remains. Explaining what she has in mind and why she should come work for her once again Gabriela needs to make a choice. Liah and Mignonne were the two who saw her get sick from the toad purses and the two women who took her under their wing and wanted her to live and work for them. But, things were not what they seem and the author and narrator allows the reader to know that they had another purpose in mind for Gabriela. Once again she was asked to leave but this time for a different reason as Liah wanted her to care for her 92-year-old mother and this is where our story takes a different turn and really begins. People bond in many different ways as Gabriela meets La Viuda a feisty older woman with a definite mission in life to create a timeline of the events of her life in a list. But, just how she does is will amaze the reader as she creates cards, pieces of paper and writes down certain facts, dates, adding specific photos, one specific event, place, object and letter within the paper. Each day the routine is almost the same and the chores created within the framework that the older woman set up. No variations just following the rules and adhering to the schedule. Yet, Gabriela, although not well versed in English, understands Spanish and sees the chaos in what she has been asked to do, realizes early on that this older woman is someone that is unique, special and even in her own way properly the best possible person to help her find her path in life.

Caring for her, creating her meager meals and listening to her, you hear the many sides of La Viuda, the suffering, the pain and the reminder that she is old and the secrets that she unfolds as she feels a closeness to this young girl who many think is unfeminine. Relating to her the life she came from, the war that in the jungle and the loss of those she cared for you can see the changes within her as this older woman takes the role of mother to her and she her daughter. But, there is much more before all is said and done as Gabriella tries to make sense of the cards and papers to help create what La Viuda wants The List.

La Viuda, The Widow lives within a world that she created for herself filled with jewels, coins, old pictures and a sable coat. As we get to know her upfront and personal we learn that her major goal before leaving this earth is to record and relate her memories and life on paper, which is why Gabriela’s help was enlisted. Nineteen-years of age, from Mexico or Mixteca, Gabriela is stronger than her years and a survivor. How would a 19 year old today have lived through a massacre and dangerous journey to El Norte? One young immigrant whose life would take on a different meaning as she meets this older woman living in the desert from a different era and culture. How can this young naïve girl understand herself, being a woman and yet live with men. As we read Chapter 19 and Gabriela stacks more cards and later enters more on the List, we learn about the flowers, their meanings and why she draws them. Love is hard to define as the Widow explains the precious items she received from someone dear to her and their meanings. Explaining the coins, the blue flower and the hateful pieces of coins she shares a card and explains that what needs to be added should wait until the story is told. A small red box filled with treasures or jewels as La Viuda relates the feelings of the heart, coupling with a man and the meanings of the stones in relation to each special moment she endured. Sealed her fate. A blood stone that would forever decide her destiny but Gabriela does not really understand as she states that choices her made yet she is told they were not. She reads the List and it contains only what this woman can recall. How can she have been chosen and what about those that came before her? Why was she THE ONE? The meaning of the blood stone and their bond fully described and explained on page 85 as the red ring was now hers. The story added in detail to the list titled El Senor.

Gabriella and La Viuda become one and the same as Gabriella begins to relive the experiences of the older woman in both her visions and her dreams. The power of the jewels that are shown to her and the mere touch or feel of one necklace holds secrets that are revealed when Gabriela is instructed to put them on. The coins and what lies beneath the metal covering or veneer takes them both back in time and in history relating past loves, events and struggles that brought them to a specific point in the present. Blending both history and research about ancient Greece, other cultures and time periods author Jack Remick tests the ands of time, the strength of two women isolated in the desert creating a legacy so precious and so fragile but eternal.

Faces in the mirror might deceit us all, as the distortions are many and the exaggerations great when viewing and image from different angles. Life is a deception, we all endure pain, degradation at times but the unbreakable bond between these two women will endure. Two women caught up in their own final journeys in different ways in order to find a new path in life.

An ending that is so powerful, a young girl whose revenge on those who took her innocence emerging in a more powerful light with an inner strength that no one can take away. A widow whose boundless energy spans decades and many life times and whose final words, her List is her legacy and will remain forever.

Walking down that same road where will life take Gabriela next and what will happen to those who felled her in the past? A story about survival, hope, trust, love and a bound stronger and more valuable than all the treasures that money can buy. What is next for Gabriela only she can decide and where will life take her? Gabriela/La Viuda: one in the same forever?

Fran Lewis: reviewer

[Arleen Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not long ago I heard a story on NPR about the effects of e-readers on the world of reading. People are reading more, particularly young people. The commentator suggested the increase could be due to anonymity: when you're on an electronic device, people might not know you're reading. Could be the kid on the bus next to you isn't just listening to rap or playing a game. He might be reading Great Expectations without fear of being labeled a nerd - or whatever it is kids call each other these days.

I was about to buy a copy of Jack Remick's Gabriela and the Widow in paperback because I'm old school, because I don't have an e-reader, because I like the feel of paper in my hands. But NPR made me question my bias against e-books, so I downloaded Kindle on my small Acer laptop, bought my first e-book and began to read.

I didn't like slipping into bed with a cold hard laptop. I couldn't float on the magic and mystery of Remick's lyrical prose. I was dog paddling with arrow buttons, unable to scan ahead or flip back to reread with the ease of turning a page. Still, the power of Remick's words kept me at it, pulled me to a computer screen long after my teaching and writing day was over. That screen became a portal and the story took me to the far side of my own life's mirror, a life I once lived and allowed to slip from memory.

“When you go through your reflection you become who you are.”

The Widow reminds us that we must never forget our past, for it is what makes us who we are and who we become.

“You must speak from inside the tears and you must smell the pain on your skin or you will never be whole again.”

Remick writes the tools of the craft into his story: a list of events and a stack of notecards, each labeled with date, place and object. Gabriela and the Widow use these tools to construct the List of the Widow's life and in doing so Gabriela experiences new ways of being, alternatives to the violent patterns that have marked of her young life. Throw nothing of yourself away, the Widow teaches. Save your fingernail clippings, your hair trimmings, your life stories. A lesson on living. A lesson on writing. I see Gabriela with her notecards and her long list as I work the notecards on the storyboard of my current novel.
Gabriela and the Widow is a lyrical treasure that paints a magical mysterious world of two women, so close they inhabit each other's dreams and relive each other's experiences. In doing so the Widow leaves a bit of herself behind when she passes and Gabriela enters womanhood regaining a life tragically interrupted in childhood as an innocent victim of the atrocities of war.

This is a beautiful, horrific, captivating read full of the lights and colors, the smells and music of southern Mexico and central California. The story held me to the screen and that says a lot. I have no doubt some of you will point out that reading off a computer is not the same as using an e-reader. You may even insist that I give Kindle a chance, certain I'll love it once I get used to it. Maybe so, but I'm not ready to make the jump to an e-reader just yet. I still want a signed paperback copy of Jack Remick's Gabriela and the Widow for my library.
www.arleenwilliams.com

[Sdan12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Survival and revenge
You are plunged into this story with the image of Gabriela walking with her mother away from their Mexican village, where they are the only two survivors of a massacre. Gabriela has been brutally raped and is haunted by terrible dreams of her ordeal. There are violent scenes in this book and I was particularly affected by the constant imagery of repulsive jungle toads, which represent all that is inhuman and bestial. “…she caught sight of jungle toads staring at her. They were giants, their gray-green bodies covered with warts, their bellies white as cotton”. Gabriela calls her main violator ‘the toad-faced soldier’. Gabriela’s luck improves when she is employed to look after an elderly widow. The widow takes Gabriela under her wing, as a second daughter, and the book is about the widow’s memories of love and betrayal and Gabriela’s memories of violence and loss. I enjoyed seeing Gabriela transform under the kind attention of the widow and the ending made me cheer!

[Dennis Must · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those rare novels that causes one to "see" in a new way. The reader can't help but perceive his or her life in the luminous daily encounters between Gabriela and The Widow. An exquisite and brilliant work.

[Eleanor Sapia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gabriela and the Widow, masterfully written by award-winning author Jack Remick, is an exquisite read. Remick is a master storyteller, an intuitive man, and a writer of the highest caliber. With Gabriela and The Widow, my first introduction to the author, the author has gained a new fan.

From the day I ordered, Gabriela and the Widow, I was curious as to how the characters of Gabriela and La Viuda, the widow, would come across from a man's perspective. I wondered how the author would write about women’s emotions, their behaviors, longings, and inner turmoil as most of the characters in this book are women of differing ages, backgrounds and life experiences. When my book arrived, I read the back cover and the first chapter, and fell in love with Gabriela. The prose is beautiful and the author's descriptions, such as the passage below, will cause you, perhaps like me, to stop and read the passage again.

“In the heat that day, the smells of the market rose up thick as mole-a feast of banana and papaya, a banquet of chirimoya and mango-juices flowing in the heat and, on the air, thick scents mingled with the chirp of parrots in cages and the whine of frightened monkeys on chains squatting in cast-off orange peels and pineapple husks, mixing with the brown shells of coconuts. By the fountain that day, the trickle of water lay like a snake skin on the roiling smells and in that cleft, at the corner of the church, Gabriela watched her elegant patrona in her short black dress, a jade necklace gleaming in the light, an elegance that brought happiness to Gabriela’s cheeks because she worked for that fancy woman.”

The story, at times heartbreaking and raw, opens with the nineteen-year-old Mixteca, Gabriela, fleeing the destruction of her Mexican village. Through a series of events, she ends up in Santa Cruz, California and seems to fall into situations because she is naive, unworldly and hopes the next kindness a person shows her, will in some way, save her. While working in Santa Cruz, Gabriela is hired to look after an elderly widow but, in fact it is the widow who decides that the young woman can stay on by testing her integrity and character.

La viuda knows she is losing her memory, and is desperate for a record of her life. Gabriela begins organizing the widow's lists, photographs and the contents of four special boxes that contain, among other things, toenail clippings and hair clippings of her new patrona. Gabriela makes it her mission to solve the puzzles of the widow’s lists, and in the process, discovers she has the strength to deal with the memories of her village’s destruction, and the strength to exact revenge on the people who perpetrated the atrocities.

I admire the seamless transitions of the author from English to Spanish and back again, without missing a beat, and learned a lot about writing from reading Jack Remick's book. I don’t mind confessing that my copy of the book is full of highlighted passages and descriptions and on more than one page, there are my hand-written notes in the margins. At one point, I decided to put down the highlighter and go back to the beginning of the book.

I highly recommend this book. The characters of Gabriela and La Viuda have remained with me since I read the last line and closed the book.

[Danika Dinsmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ONLY reason this review is not a five star review is due to the ending, which for this story weighed heavily for me. See farther down in the text for more explanation on this.

I have been wanting to write this review for a while, because I adore Jack's energy and his wisdom and his work. He is a writer's writer and his skill with language and rhythm are apparent in this work. It's my favourite work of his I've ever read. Heart-wrenching and beautiful, it is so intimate I almost felt like a voyeur. I use it as a modern example of magical realism in my speculative fiction courses.

The most astounding thing to me is that Jack manages to capture so well the thoughts and feelings of a young, naive Mexican girl whose life is tragically interrupted when her village is destroyed, which sets her on a path to discover who she is. Usually protagonists who are such unfalteringly "good" people would not escape my critical judgement. But Jack manages to create a sympathetic character out of such an innocent (which is one of the reasons the ending did not sit well with me).

Riding the tide of tragedy and fate, young Gabriella winds up caring for a cantankerous widow prone to bouts of dementia. Readers know the end will come, the widow is old and her death is inevitable. But before that time she wants to remember is all, to record every bit on notecards, literally preserving pieces of herself and cataloging them. Gabrielle questions nothings, does as the widow requests, and honours her to the end. She breathes her life experiences into Gabriella through story and dream, demands that she become the woman she is meant to be. Dying, La Viuda gives the power of life to the orphan Gabrielle. She becomes mentor, mother, friend, and practically lover - their relationship is that intimate.

SLIGHT SPOILERISH PART BELOW

Others do not seem to have the same issues I have with the ending of the story. If it had ended one chapter earlier I probably would have given it a full five stars. The violent revenge at the end felt like a broken spell. I thought Gabriella had already won. She had risen above her poverty and victimhood. She had been reborn. I thought it would have been more than enough for her to show all the others what she had become, and more powerful for her to spare them and NOT become like them. I prefer my characters to rise above rather than resort to physical revenge. To me, this seemed counter to Gabriella's entire transformation. Perhaps others saw it as a metaphor for her power. It just didn't work for me at all.

Other than that... I loved it!

[Rebecca Graf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that is deep and more than just a story is a book that will stay in head for many years. I think I found such a book in Gabriela and the Widow.

Gabriela finds herself struggling to survive in her native land as war ends just as bloody as it started. She runs from one evil to find herself in the hands of another. Eventually, she makes her way to the states where she becomes the nurse/assistant of a dying widow whose life is many stories that would take years to tell.

It is through the widow's telling of her life that Gabriela matures and discovers other worlds that expand the meaning of her own life.

The characters are very intriguing. They are not perfect. They are not all bad. I do think that the character, the widow, was the one that was the most well-developed. She shifted between her various mental states in a way that had the reader experiencing the same confusion, frustration, and admiration that Gabriela felt. I think every character in the book was interesting with hints of their own stories that could have been told in depth outside of this book. Each one showed they were more than a character helping the two main ones on their literary journey. They all had life.

The story is extremely captivating. You want to keep reading to find out what is next is store for the young girl and what new things she will discover with from the widow. Many times, the reader is taken into a dream world that connects the two characters and reveals much about their past and their future.

Overall, the pace is very slow. This is not an action story or a mystery. It is a drama that is emotional as well as verbal. You will find that you can easily set the book down at the end of each chapter and resume it quickly the next time you dive in. At the same time, you want to keep reading to see what will happen next.

Mr. Remick's style is extremely interesting and had me scratching my head one minute and smiling the next. He mixes history in with psychological explorations of the characters. This is more than a simple story. This is a detailed examination of life.

There are some intense scenes that are not described in ways that are vulgar, but they do come close. Most words and used in a cryptic manner, but the reader would easily be able to understand them though Gabriela might not. There is a lot of Spanish in it, but translations occur throughout the story as Gabriela learns English.

If you like a deep book that will take you more than a day or two to read, I strongly suggest you check this book out. Mr. Remick is a master at writing.

Note: This book was received as part of a tour with no expectation of a positive review.

[Sarah Brillinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a life Gabriela has come from when she arrives at the home of The Widow (La Viuda) and what a life that La Viuda has had in turn.

The story begins primarily on the horrors that Gabriela experiences - watching her parents being killed, her village destroyed and the various turns and chances that lead her to be working for La Viuda.

La Viuda has been searching for the perfect girl, the one she can pass her story on to and who will keep it alive. She finds this in Gabriela. As they begin to bond, even their dreams start coming together and La Viuda expresses what is occurring perfectly:

"We are becoming one. As you fill with life, I empty out. As you grow thick, I grow thin and soon there will be nothing left of me but you."

The spend day after day recording the memories of La Viuda's life and she seems to be the closest thing that Gabriela has had to a mother since her own was killed. La Viuda can be forgetful and borderline cruel but Gabriela is never affected by it. She absorbs the stories as her own under La Viuda's guidance.

"When you have all my memories you will remember it and then you will see how much of a mess they've made - that's how you know you've lived - and how much of a mess you leave. But the List will become your List and you will pass it on to another just like you."

In the end La Viuda's memory is slipping and as Gabriela re-tells La Viuda her own life stories, La Viuda's response is "You have seen so many things," to Gabriela. The stories had officially passed from one woman to the next. Gabriela somewhat reluctantly is forced to forge forward on her own with the knowledge of La Viuda deep inside her.

I was enthralled with this story and the more that is revealed about Gabriela's circumstances, the more I felt empathy for this character. La Viuda was often confusing and strange and also a challenge for Gabriela. The strength Gabriela develops in the end and how she moves forward from where La Viuda left her was surprising but well deserved. She gets her redemption.

I would recommend this story for any fiction lovers who want a good dramatic read.

[Marie Cash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I started reading this book, it was hard to put down. Jack Remick is a hard nut to crack. At one end of the spectrum he writes about life during Kerouac times (the Beat Generation), and on the other end he writes about women – strong women, ravaged women, widows.

From the beginning pages of Gabriela and the Widow, the reader is transported through more than seven decades of the life of an eccentric dowager, witnessed through the eyes of a young woman who becomes her caretaker. We watch from the sidelines as Remick spins his masterful web around the relationship of these two main characters, skillfully injecting imagery shrouded with hues of sexual overtones.

Remick weaves a subtle mysticism into the story through chapters filled with metaphor and symbolism. It is a colorful portrayal of an aged woman who has experienced life to the fullest. The widow is as complex as the old woman in Rudolfo Anaya’s magic tale set in the southwest, Bless Me Ultima.

[LyndaVee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author introduction states that Jack Remick is a poet as well as a novelist and this is very evident in this story. The language is lyrical and expressive; for example, “she had felt like she was floating through the veil of the heavens with the stars as her only dress.” You are swept away with the story of Gabriela as she develops into a woman whilst working for the mysterious widow of the title. As la Viuda approaches the end of her life, dwindling both physically and mentally, she mentors Gabriela and oversees her metamorphosis from rail-thin teenager, denying her femininity, to a curvaceous woman in charge of her own destiny. As Gabriela helps la Viuda to list her life’s memories she herself has to confront and overcome the images which haunt her. Gabriela has been the victim of a vicious rape and she has watched her entire village slaughtered by soldiers. At the end of the book, Gabriela takes under her wing another lost girl. The story comes full circle.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story of becoming taught me things about being a woman and about how to write better. I deeply enjoyed the touching story of an older woman transferring her life force to a younger one.

There are hundreds of things I could say about the reasons I loved this book—seamless slips from English to Spanish and back, magical realism (especially in relation to mirrors), or how in answer to La Viuda’s aging forgetfulness, Remick creates a shifting repetition that grounds the reader and also builds the narrative. What you need to know is the elegant craft of this book reveals just the right amount of information to engage you, the reader, in telling the story.

For a closer look at a couple of craft elements, check out my full-length book review.

[Victoria Brinius · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me feel a lot of different emotions. At first I was mad at what Gabriela had to witness. Then I felt bad for her when she had no family left. Then I worried that Gabriela was with a lady that had dementia and I had no idea what the old lady would do next. I was also drawn to the old lady and had to read the rest of her story, or at least what she wanted Gabriela to know. This book had a little bit for every one. There was drama, myths, mystical creatures, and loss. If someone told me the ending I would not believe them. The author did a fantastic job of weaving the lives of these two women into one. I am giving this book a 5/5. I was given a copy to review from Orangeberry Book Tours, however all opinions are my own.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the tale of a very young woman who has just lost her mother and doesn’t know what to do next or where to go. The book starts out frightening, and pretty much doesn’t stop being unsettling at all until the very end. However, there are also moments when you think everything in Gaby’s life will be okay, so you can relax a little bit. When she meets a widow, the story starts to take a different turn, and it feels a little more supernatural. I didn’t care for some of the things that happened in the story, mostly due to their graphic nature, as well as the way some of the material was presented, but overall I love a good vengeance tale, so that won me over a little bit. Check out this book if you like to read complicated stories about tragedy, loss, and overcoming the odds.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right from the beginning Gabriela and the Widow is compelling, especially as the story starts suddenly with young Gabriela quickly becoming alone in the world, with nothing left to turn to or rely on. For me, there was something about the overall story and its tone that fascinated me, more than most other books that I have read. Part of this may be that the author does an amazing job at showing, not telling. Because of this, the reader learns so much as the story progresses, particularly as the bond between Gabriela and La Viuda grows and changes, as do the characters themselves. I love the writing style but more than that, I loved the story itself. It is an amazing tale of transformation and the power that friendship and social support, and is worth reading for that reason alone.

[Jack Remick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gabriela and The Widow--Montaigne Medal Finalist,
Eric Hoffer Awards 2014
https://hofferaward.com/Montaigne-Med...

Gabriela and The Widow--Winner "Best Women's Fiction" in the Orangeberry Hall of Fame Virtual Book Expo, 2013.
Gabriela and The Widow Finalist Foreword Review Indie:
https://tinyurl.com/mvfupp88

Dorothy Rice, a novelist living in Sacramento, CA has written a sweet review of Gabriela and The Widow:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3TAB2EZ...

Thanks, Dorothy.

[Darlene Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intrigued by the title and captivated by the sample, I bought the book. Unfortunately, for this reader, it didn't live up to expectations. I think the main reason is that I felt the author was hammering his mysticism, metaphors and symbolism at me, saying the same things over and over again. Not being a fan of that type of story, this did not work for me. It may however, be a great read for others.