The House of Broken Angels in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jul 21, 2018 Kate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I had a hard time figuring out how to rate this book. There were some parts that were so overly descriptive that I found myself getting distracted and losing focus on the story. But at the same time, there were some parts where the descriptions were so well done that it really captured the essence of the emotions and the setting. This book is set over two days, which include both a funeral and a birthday party. It is the story of a large Mexican family that had emigrated from Mexico to the US. T ...more

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Oct 18, 2021 Book Concierge rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, sfe, family, mexico, immigrant-experience, latino-literature, concierge, strong-women, library, social-commentary

Digital audiobook performed by the author.
3.5****

A large Mexican-American family plans a get-together for the patriarch’s birthday. He’s dying of cancer and wants to gather everyone around him one more time. But as the big day approaches, Big Angel’s own mother dies (at nearly 100 years of age), so now there will be two celebrations in one weekend. One of the guests is Big Angel’s half-brother, known as Little Angel. As the weekend progresses, the brothers come to grips with how different their ...more

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Apr 20, 2018 Chaitra rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-fiction, dysfunctional-family, humor, grief, family, immigrant-experience

I remember reading The Hummingbird's Daughter so many years ago, and remember liking it, but not the specifics. This is the first Urrea book after Hummingbird that caught my eye, and now I wonder what took me so long to read another book by him. The House of Broken Angels is a Mexican Finnegan's Wake, a farewell blowout for a 70 year old patriarch who doesn't have long to live. It is hilarious. It's poignant also, and there are a few places where it's hard not to shed a tear. Big Angel, the patr ...more

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Jan 13, 2020 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: latinx-chicanx-spanish, fiction, magical-realism, biography-autobiography

There are so many things I loved about this. It may be my favorite of Urrea’s yet, which is saying something. It felt real, even though I’ve never lived as part of a sprawling Mexican-American family. All the characters’ hopes, regrets, dreams, successes and failures were things to rejoice in or cry about with them. It took me a while to get into it. But hang in there - it’s definitely worth it. It's semi-autobiographical, and Urrea explains a bit about that in the Coda. There's also a tiny bit ...more

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Feb 08, 2020 A. S. rated it it was amazing

I received the book from Goodreads Giveaways. That does not affect my opinion of the book.

I loved this novel. The characters are so beautiful, both in their best moments and their worst. The author just gets how immigrant families, large families, and mixed families (as in step-families, not mixed race, though there is that tension in the novel as well) deal with life and one another. The language is beautiful. I got this book a few years ago and regret not reading it sooner.

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