Amigoland: A Novel [Hardcover]

Oscar Casares (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2009

In a small town on the Mexican border live two brothers, Don Fidencio and Don Celestino. Stubborn and independent, they now must face the facts: they are old, and they have let a family argument stand between them for too long. Don Celestino's good-natured housekeeper encourages him to make amends--while he still can. They secretly liberate Don Fidencio from his nursing home and travel into Mexico to solve the mystery at the heart of their dispute: the family legend of their grandfather's kidnapping. As the unlikely trio travels, the brothers learn it's never too late for a new beginning.

With winsome prose and heartfelt humor, Oscar Casares's debut novel of family lost and found radiates with generosity and grace and confirms the arrival of a uniquely talented new writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Casares expands the clean, tender prose of his debut collection, Brownsville, into a winning novel. In an American town just north of the Mexican border, the estranged Rosales brothers are equally ambivalent and inwardly volatile. Don Fidencio is snappish, sickly and endearing: he refuses to admit his own incontinence, smokes cigarettes against his nurses' wishes and identifies people, often cruelly, by their physical appearances (such as The Gringo With The Ugly Finger). Meanwhile, his widower brother, Celestino, a diabetic, feels adrift toward the edge of a flat world. He's slowly drawn out, thanks to his Mexican cleaning woman, Socorro, who travels from the other side every day, wishing that the geographical and social borders between them could be gently... swept aside. The mysterious reason for the brothers' estrangement forces the three characters to push back from one another outwardly while returning, internally, to their own weaknesses, and their distinct voices pick up the thread of narration so easily that, from even mundane details, it's plain to see how love, borders, death—and most of all, willful ignorance—are part of everyday reawakenings. With Casares's blessing, you can laugh at them all. (Aug.)
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Review

"A winning novel...It's plain to see how love, borders, death-and most of all, willful ignorance-are part of everyday reawakenings. With Casares' blessing, you can laugh at them all." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

"Oscar Casares' AMIGOLAND, his first novel and a follow-up to his much-acclaimed book of short stories, Brownsville, is a liberating journey full of warmth and color....The group's impromptu trip to Mexico feels like a refreshing, rejuvenating trip for the reader as well as the characters. And the ending? Bittersweet, unexpected and undeniably precious. All told, AMIGOLAND is full of new friends and makes for perfect summer reading." (Bookpage )

"Knowing, touching and true." (Kirkus (starred review) )

"By turns hilarious and heart-breaking, this story of two feisty, aging brothers and their bumpy road trip to the past is a delightful romp. Think "Sunshine Boys" go south of the border, but funnier, much funnier, and infinitely more poignant." (Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban and A Handbook to Luck )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 357 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (August 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316159697
• ISBN-13: 978-0316159692
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Hispanic

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wish I could agree, November 9, 2009

By 

frank c. "Frank in beantown" (boston, ma.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amigoland: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book started out strongly for me, as it is extremely well written, and I had very high hopes for it. However, as it went along, I found myself not really caring about what happened to the characters. It got a bit tedious and repetitive, and I did not see much humor in it either. I did finish it, and the ending made a bit of sense, but by that point I was too weary to really care.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not For Me, January 9, 2010

By 

Frank (Dallas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amigoland: A Novel (Hardcover)

Was this not what I expected. I was excited to read it since the writer has had more push than any I've seen come out. Amigoland appears to be ambitious and tries hard to be cute, for example, via use of clever character name gimmicks, which are tiresome, and virtuous via its concern for the elderly, which seems naive and overconfident both, which comes out touching like a TV commercial. I'm sorry but honestly the book is a bore and a chore to read. Casare's seems an example of the safe and comfortable "Hispanic" that some want more of instead of the less assimilated Chicano writers. Not for me, a disappointment.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN AFFECTING STORY, TOUCHING AND TRUE, September 21, 2009

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amigoland: A Novel (Hardcover)

While some have called this novel hilarious, it is not. It is better described as touching, wise, and absolutely wonderful. However, there are indeed comic moments to be found in this story of two brothers who have long been estranged. Ninety-one year-old Don Fidencio and his brother, Don Celestino, younger by two decades, are all that remain of eight brothers and four sisters.

When Fidencio thinks of his younger brother he realizes that they haven't spoken in years and wonders why. He doesn't even know whether or not Celestino is alive, thinking, "That the youngest was alive would make sense, he supposed, but what good reason could there be for the oldest to be alive and for the rest of his brothers and sisters to be gone?"

Don Fidencio is the reluctant resident of a Brownsville nursing home, Amigoland. Relegated there by his daughter, Amalia, and her husband known to us only as The Son Of A Bxxxx, Fidencio suffers from many of the indiginities visited upon the elderly - incontinence, insomnia, and forgetfulness. Wishing to have nothing to do with his fellow residents he has not bothered to remember their names - referring to the women as The Turtles and others by such sobriquets as The Gringo With The Ugly Finger or The One With The Worried Face. He's dosed with a variety of pills, and keeps his worldly possessions in four shoe boxes.

Don Celestino, on the other hand, is a retired barber, widowed, and engaged in a relationship with his housekeeper, Socorro, a widow in her forties who lives across the border in Matamoros. She's a kind woman who wants more than a weekly physical relationship with Celestino, she wants to know more about him. Upon learning that he has a brother she encourages Celestino to find him.

Once reunited the brothers disagree on much, primarily a story Fidencio claims to be true - that their grandfather, Papa Grande, witnessed the killing of his family and was kidnaped by Indians. In order to determine the truth this unlikely threesome sets off on a journey to Linares to find Papa Grande's 's home. El Rancho Capote.

Celestino considers the story a figment of Fidencio's wandering mind, and goes only at Socorro's behest. It's a 4-day trip during which each learns a great deal as does the reader. We're reminded of the importance of family, dignity, acceptance, love, and hope.

Casares is a magnificent writer with an eye for telling detail and an obvious respect for the characters he has created. We await more from him.

- Gail Cooke