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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A magical realist road trip, 15 Oct 2000
By A Customer
If all of literature was a fruit salad, "Esperanza's Box of Saints" would be the mango. Tasty, succulent and addictive, Maria Amparo Escandon's novel also happens to be, like its fruity counterpart, extremely good for your health. One could even say it's like a vitamin shot to the soul.The Esperanza of the title is Esperanza Diaz, an irresistable, irrepressible heroine whose quirky outlook on life and fearless willingness to follow her heart can only lead to one thing: adventure. And I do mean adventure! But believe me, this ain't the Boys' Own variety. Tempered with melodrama and salacious gossip, hilarity and mystical coincidence, Esperanza's escapades are more like the Mexican telenovelas (soap operas) to which she so often alludes. Indeed, in this respect, "Esperanza's Box of Saints" brings to mind Isabel Allende's "Eva Luna", another Latin American novel with a soap operatic bent. Although Escandon's book doesn't reach the heights of Allende's, it sure makes for a rollicking read. One cannot help but be charmed by Esperanza and the outrageously implausible chain of events she sets off whilst baking chicken one fateful evening... Starting with the apparition of San Judas Tadeo, patron saint of desperate cases, which materialises in the grime of her oven window to inform her that her recently deceased daughter Blanca (victim of a botched tonsillectomy) may actually still be alive. Convinced that her little darling must have been kidnapped and sold into a child prostitution racket, Esperanza immediately sets out to rescue Blanca by whatever means possible. And if that involves working 'undercover' in the sex industry, fighting off the amorous advances of innumerable aspiring romeos and a spot of hocus-pocus, then so be it! From her comfortably sheltered existence as a modest and god-fearing widow in a tiny Mexican village, Esperanza soon finds her horizons expanding to take in the brothels, bordellos and peep-shows of Tijuana and L.A, as well an endearing cast of prostitutes, pimps, perverts and wrestlers. In the meantime, her devout religious faith assumes a more personal, independent dimension. Confident where she was once naive, resourceful where she was once passive, Esperanza's quest for her missing daughter has become a journey of self-discovery along the way, transforming her into a new woman. "Esperanza's Box of Saints" is a magical realist road trip, and an absolute blast to read. Despite the plot's almost fairytale-like quality, which can occasionally seem a bit simplistic, the author's writing style is exuberant and poetic. Her playful use of point-of-view, switching between traditional third-person narrative, various first-person perspectives, letters and diary entries, is particularly effective. Notable also is the overwhelmingly optimistic tone of the novel. It made me smile. It gave me hope. Why, for awhile there, it even had me believing in a rosy, romantic future where things do work out for the best, and dreams can come true...
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