Foto de l'autor

Laura Del Fuego

Autor/a de Maravilla

2 obres 11 Membres 1 crítiques

Sobre l'autor

Inclou el nom: Laura Del Fuego

Obres de Laura Del Fuego

Maravilla (1989) 8 exemplars
Carmen Garcia Was Here 'c/s' (2003) 3 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

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Membres

Ressenyes

This is a coming of age novel about a young Chicana living her teen years in the Maraville housing development in East LA during the early and mid-60s. The book was published in 1989 by a small publishing house called Floricanto Press from Encino, CA. I bought the book pretty much on a whim, and because it was by a woman writer and a small independent publisher, a few months back in a lovely bookstore in Santa Cruz, CA.

The story is told in first person through the eyes of Consuelo Contreres, known as Cece. We see her home life, with caring but imperfect parents and siblings both older and younger. All and all, it seems like a normal family, happily (for the reader) not over-dramatized, but on the other hand trouble enough for a teenager to handle. But mostly what we see of Cece's is her social life. First, as a young teenager, it's the other girls she hangs out with. Then as she moves into her later teens, her friendships solidify and boys enter the picture. What we get for a while is a seemingly endless parade of cruising, parties, drinking binges and worries about who was dancing, or out cruising in their car, with whom. High school exists on the peripheries. Thoughts of the future are mostly absent. At first I took this for a weakness, but as time, and the narrative, went on, I began to think this was meant to represent the issues of the societal constraints that the culture inflicts on this relatively poor community of color. Things get more serious as Cece's story moves along, she grows into her sexuality, and the people around her start dabbling in, and sometimes succumbing to, harder drugs. The police become more of a presence. Watts explodes. And Cece begins struggling to break away from the continuing patterns of futility.

There is some good writing in this book, both of Cece's thought patterns and, occasionally of the outside, natural world. For example:

A light, balmy breeze swayed the palm trees, scattering dead leaves along the road as we drove into the cemetery in a solemn procession of Chevies and Fords, past the mausoleum with Middle Eastern design attesting to grander days, and the hundreds of gravesites on the circular road. I had always enjoyed going to Calvary. I loved the bright flowers scattered over rolling, green manicured hils and the od fashioned tombstones standing dramatically upright and defiant. Even the park wasn't as beautiful. There were never flowers growing in the park. But in the cemetery, any day of the week, you'd drive by and see a whole spectrum of color splashed across the landscape--red, white and pink carnations, purple and yellow daisies, golden marigolds, white calla lilies, sweet peas, geraniums, poppies. In contrast, the rest of the city seemed decayed and dirty.

The most recent information about Del Fuego I could find online came from a 2008 post from the San Francisco Writers' Union:

"Laura del Fuego, a California Arts Council Fellowship recipient for Literature and past featured poet in the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, has won several awards for fiction, and is the author of Carmen Garcia Was Here C/S (which describes growing up Chicana) and Maravilla, (a story of coming of age in East L.A.). Del Fuego's poetry, essays and stories have been widely published in journals and anthologies. She is also a screenwriter and an editor for Sonoma County Women's Voices."

She has two books listed on LibraryThing.

Though parts of the novel dragged, overall I think it was well worth reading.
… (més)
½
 
Marcat
rocketjk | Apr 3, 2020 |

Estadístiques

Obres
2
Membres
11
Popularitat
#857,862
Valoració
½ 3.5
Ressenyes
1
ISBN
3