#luis jaramillo

[rubypomegranates]

“Family stories teach us how to live. Family secrets teach us to kill parts of ourselves.”

Luis Jaramillo “The Witches of El Paso”

[rubypomegranates]

“When you’re young, you’re blind to what you’re capable of. It’s only when you’re older that you can look back and see how you could have used what you had to make the impossible happen.”

Luis Jaramillo “The Witches of El Paso”

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The Witches of El Paso: A Novel

By Luis Jaramillo.

[kammartinez]

Luis Jaramillo on Creating a Multigenerational Speculative Story of the Borderlands

I highlighted Luis Jaramillo’s first book, the short story collection The Doctor’s Wife—a gathering of 91 ultra-short chapters, some as brie

[laluminosidad]

I definitely forgot about this blog but I'm going to try to use it again. I just finished The Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo, which I was initially so excited for because a book... influencer? On Instagram teased it a lot in several of her posts. And I'm always enthused to read more books by Latine authors! But this book ended up being a bit of a let down.

There are two POV characters, Marta, whose story takes place in the modern times and is the niece of the second POV character, Nena, whose story begins in the 1940s (or so) and through magic she ends up in the later 1700s. Nena had a better developed character arc of being unsatisfied in her life, asking for something more, for a change, etc etc. And when it happens, she ends up in the 1700s, separated from her family, and trying to understand the magic -- La Vista -- that she has. I really do like that La Vista is an uncontrollable force. It moves through the user and pays very little mind to what people who can use it really want. Nena ends up with a lot of grief and rage against the gift for various reasons, but comes to understand that her life was always meant to be shaped the way it was.

So, naturally, Marta has a kind of parallel experience. Unsatisfied in her marriage, unchallenged in her job. It's hinted that she thinks about these changes, about her life's mundanity, but it doesn't pan out into much. There could have been something interesting in letting go of her need of control, in feeling inspired for a change, but her character actualization ends feeling unfinished and unsatisfying.

Also the book ends in the middle of one of her legal cases?! We never get to find out how that ends!!

Overall, 3.25/5 stars.

[disasterbiwriter]

I finished The Witches of El Paso last night and I can think of little that makes me crazier than when an otherwise perfect piece of literature leaves one sliver of plot underdeveloped.

[kamreadsandrecs]

Luis Jaramillo on Creating a Multigenerational Speculative Story of the Borderlands

I highlighted Luis Jaramillo’s first book, the short story collection The Doctor’s Wife—a gathering of 91 ultra-short chapters, some as brie

[akiraofthefour]

'I will too marry a black man if I want to!' Petrea yells at the conclusion of a debate with her father, loud enough for everyone else in the Golden Temple Chinese Restaurant to hear. The Doctor's Wife and her husband have always tried to encourage civic engagement and interest in the political questions of the day, so in one way you could say they are to blame.

Luis Jaramillo, The Doctor’s Wife