Arroyo [Hardcover]

Summer Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001

Blink-and-you-miss-it Los Fuegos, New Mexico, is the setting for this fierce, funny, and heartbreaking debut novel. When Willie Lee Woolston first comes to town, she's hitchhiking through in the back of a pickup. Five years later she returns to find a place to hide out from the ghosts of her past. A blues singer with a buried voice and flame-red hair, Willie Lee is drawn to the hidden music of this dusty mining town, and here her dreams mingle with those of the townspeople--a family that lives in a boxcar; a pair of too-young lovers; a man who summons his brother by playing the accordion; and Chavela, a woman who makes her realize that sometimes love chooses us. When an accident at the mine threatens disaster, they all come together in a night of terrible beauty. Cinematic and lyrical, Arroyo is a deeply moving and ultimately hopeful book by the most distinctive Southwestern voice since Barbara Kingsolver.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Deep and compelling... [Wood's] characters are human, her writing elegant... The prose is spare, oblique, and powerful."
-San Jose Mercury News

"Exquisite... Wood's words will stick with you for quite some time, like a melody you can't get out of your head."
-Detroit Free Press

"In Wood's quiet story, appearances often aren't what they seem. She has the skill and sensitivity to reveal the riches not immediately apparent in a... village most travelers would simply pass by."
-Seattle Times

"[Wood] deftly handles her large cast of characters... with warmth and delicacy."
-Washington Post

About the Author

Summer Wood lives with her family in the mountains of northern New Mexico, where she makes a living designing and building small houses. This is her first novel.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Printing edition (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811830942
• ISBN-13: 978-0811830942
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,393,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lively, moving and true description of NM village life, June 26, 2001

By 

S. Rennie (El Rito, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arroyo (Hardcover)

I, too, live in northern NM, and find that "Arroyo" rings remarkably true. As a retired "Anglo" I don't have access to many Hispanic homes. "Arroyo" has opened many of the doors and windows I drive past in my everyday life.

The story, or rather the novel's intermingled stories draw you in, the main characters kindle your sympathy: they're winning, warm, at times quirky, prickly and even tragic, and informed by a both disconcertingly and disarmingly unamalgamated mixture of old traditions and new education, superstitions and science, passions and pragmatism and always the dogged, poverty-honed, gritted-teeth need to "keep on truckin' " through thick and thin, joys and catastrophes.

The author expects her readers to be alert, her distinctive, at times sparkling style moves the narrative along very briskly. Don't read this book while sleepy or you'll miss many subtleties!

"Arroyo" strikes me as a remarkable and successful feat, especially for an outsider (it bespeaks the author's deep engagement with and espousal of her neighbors) and for a first-time novelist.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Book, October 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Arroyo (Hardcover)

I sadly turned the last page and started over from the beginning ... it is an amazing combination of beautiful writing, compelling characters and an interesting story line -- also a rare gem in that it is a lesbian romance that qualifies as real literature. I haven't been this drawn into a book in a long time.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arroyo, June 28, 2001

By 

S. Dahlquist (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arroyo (Hardcover)

Summer Wood's book, Arroyo, tells a sublimely beautiful tale. The insight Ms. Wood has into humanity is profound; her characters are believable; attention to detail is exraordinary; and the humor that pervades this story is magical. As I read Arroyo, I felt as though my heart was being filled with love.

In my opinion, one of the most important jobs an author has is to bring a satisfactory conclusion to all of the story lines that take place in their book, and Ms. Wood wraps things up perfectly. Upon finishing this story, my eyes filled with tears, and for thirty minutes all I was capable of doing was sit in my chair reflecting on the beauty of what I had just read. It was two weeks before I could even think of reading another book because I wanted to hold onto the feeling Arroyo left me with.

Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this book. You will be hard pressed to find a more uplifting experience, and it is likely that you will walk away from Summer Wood's Arroyo with a new found joy in your heart.