Before them, a vast smear of smoke. Not smoke. Birds. Aloft. Suddenly, as one, they turned, vanishing in the air like the louvers of God's own opening window blinds. Appeared. Vanished. Appeared. Swept away to stubbled fields. They clattered to a stop in Topeka. They felt like they had sandpaper in their shorts, old glue in their mouths.
I very much enjoyed The Hummingbird's Daughter by this author. After hearing Urrea discuss this book at a bookstore, I expected to enjoy this one. Unfortunately, I can't say I did.
Urrea is a good storyteller in person. This book, however, is not well written and didn't work at all for me. The story has a great premise--women from a small village in Mexico will travel north to get some men to help them drive out some gangsters. I kept reading it, feeling like I do when watching a bad TV sitcom, just to see how an interesting storyline will pan out. That ended up being a huge disappointment when the story doesn't really come to a conclusion, even with an epilogue.
The characters are not well-developed, the book covers a lot of ground, but none too well, it is overburdened with cliches and stereotypes. If you get a chance to see Urrea in person, go, but don't bother with this book.
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