Ghosts of El Grullo

by Patricia Santana

Having left her much-loved San Diego barrio, Yolanda Sahagún is now living in the university dorms when a series of events--her mother dies and her father sells their home--forces her to re-examine her life. Yolanda visits her parents' hometown of El Grullo, Mexico, struggling to understand the ghosts in her life--her mother, her father, and her seemingly idyllic childhood. She fears losing herself in the disintegration of the family. For Yolanda, her father is her enemy (or so she thinks), and in the course of the novel we see him at his best and worst, and we see Yolanda at her best and worst. This is a story of Yolanda's initiation into womanhood and about her fierce struggle to make sure her family does not dissolve. Family and sexual politics; love, death, and abandonment; the struggle to resolve a personal identity in the context of a shattered, first-generation immigrant American family--these are the hugely painful obstructions Yolanda must surmount or incorporate into her own being as she makes her life's journey.
Ghosts of El Grullo is a sequel to Santana's critically acclaimed and prize-winning Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility.

296 pages, Hardcover

First published March 16, 2008

About the author

Patricia Santana’s first novel, Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility (University of New Mexico Press, 2002), was selected as a Best Books for Young Adults 2003 by the American Library Services Association and is San Diego Magazine’s 2003 Book Award winner in fiction. Her novel is part of the California Readers' Collection 2003. In manuscript form, Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility was the 1999 winner of the University of California Chicano/Latino Literary Contest.

Patricia's second novel, Ghosts of El Grullo (University of New Mexico Press, 2008), is the winner of the Before Columbus American Book Award, the San Diego Book Award in Fiction, and the Premio Aztlán Award which was presented at the National Latino Writers Conference. Both novels have been required reading in colleges and universities. They have also been selected as book club reads by a variety of literacy programs as well as numerous organizations dealing with at-risk students.

Patricia comes from a Mexican immigrant family. She was born and raised in San Diego, and along with her eight siblings and parents, lived in a small home a few miles north of the Mexican border. Patricia received her B.A. in Spanish and English Literature from the University of California, San Diego and her M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. Patricia has been a presenter and keynote speaker at multiple colleges and universities. She is currently working on a new novel.

Reviews

[Marianna Randazzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghosts of El Grullo
Join Yolanda Sahagun in 1973 as she learns about her past, her present and what will eventually shape her future.
Ghosts of El Grullo is the touching and emotionally connecting story of family, its trials and difficulties and yet how necessary and joyful it truly is. As a tender sequel to her first book, Patricia takes us further into the challenging journey towards adulthood that we must all venture on. Her story is a poignant tome, as she relates the immigrant/everyone experience to us in a way that shows us ourselves. She takes us though the odyssey of our coming of age; the difficult father and the under-appreciated mother, the struggle for freedom in a loving, but smothering environment. She is consumed with reaching independence, yet also consumed with the need to keep her family of eight siblings together. I found the book very emotional and enjoyable at the same time. In the end, it is evident that the most powerful of all love is the unconditional love of our parents.
Great book, give us more!

[Julie Failla Earhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

ghosts of el grullo is the follow-up to Patricia Santana’s debut novel, motorcycle ride on the sea of tranquility, which was selected as one of the best fiction books for young adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association.

The time is now 1973. Many things have changed for the Sahagun family. Carolina has married her boyfriend Tom, Ana Maria is still secretly dating Tony, Antonio is married, and Octavio has chosen bachelorhood and lives in a trailer park a few doors down from Chuy. Chuy remains haunted by his tout in Vietnam back in 1969. The narrator, Yolanda (or Yoli for short) is still best friends with Lydia. But now Yoli has been accepted at the University of California---San Diego and is preparing to go live in a dorm.

When Mama dies from cancer and Papa decides to sell the house, Yoli struggles between wanting to keep the family together (she, Ana Maria, Monica and Luz are still living in the family home) and wanting to cut all the ties and live life on her terms. In an effort to understand her mother now that she is gone, Yoli goes to visit her aunts, her mother’s sisters, in El Grullo, Mexico. There she encounters the ghosts of past and present. She learns what her parents were like before they married: Mama an upper-class senorita who fell for her poor Papa.

I struggled to find Yoli’s voice in this second novel. There were times when I could hear the voice and that kept me reading. I had trouble trying to care about what happened in El Grullo; I was much more interested in what was happening in the San Diego suburb of Palm City where the Sahagun home was located.

I Googled Patricia Santana to learn if she had written any more follow-ups or other stand-along novels. I was disappointed to find her website only this book and motorcycle ride on the sea of tranquility. I think she is a wonderful writer.

As much as wanted to love ghosts of el grullo as much as I loved motorcycle ride on the sea of tranquility the first time I read it, I found myself just not caring about Yoli’s search for her past, present, or future. That’s why ghosts of el grullo, receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

[Irene Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this follow up or continuation story, I am Mexican American, grew up in the 1070's so could relate to this story.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a lot of interesting elements to this book - family, memory, loyalty, coming-of-age. At the start of the book, Yoli has just graduated from high school and is on her way, with her mother, to a tea held by the D.A.R. to honor those to whom they have awarded scholarships. Although Yolanda expects her mother to feel completely out of her element - this immigrant Mexican woman with a limited English vocabulary and the mother of nine children - surprises her by sharing a story from her past and charming these DAR women. Yolanda always feels that her mother is a mystery to her - an upper class Mexican woman with many beaux who ended up marrying her emotionally erratic father, a man whose get rich schemes never pan out. Yoli must find her way in the world but also feels a responsibility to help keep her family together. She is also the sensitive one in the family who senses the supernatural spirits haunting the ancestral home of her mother and the two aunts they visit there each summer in El Grullo, Mexico. Overall, I felt this book held much promise but didn't deliver to the extent that I had hoped it would. I felt that the author had many interesting strands of story that were not woven together as well as they could have been. I have read Santana's first book - Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility - and this is somewhat of a sequel although it can stand alone and, in fact, it wasn't until I was about 40 pages into The Ghosts of El Grullo that I remembered one of the characters (Yoli's older emotionally-damaged Vietnam vet brother Chuy) from the previous book.

[Andrew Rothstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deeply reflective story of a disfunctional immigrant family and a daughter's search for understanding it. There are quite a few compelling moments in the book, with a heavy dose of spirituality. I would have rated it higher, but it meanders a bit.

Still a good choice.

[Jeanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our bookclub pick. Nice story of growing up in a dysfunctional family in San Diego.