Erased Faces [Paperback]

Graciela Limón (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

Against the charred tapestry of the Zapatista guerilla uprising of January 1994, personal histories intersect in the newest novel by Graciela Limón. Weaving the theads of Lacandón myth and history with the events culminating in the guerilla uprising, Limón creates a rich fabric that restores an identity of those rendered invisible, or whose faces were erased, by years of oppression.

Adriana Mora, a Latina photojournalist born and raised in Los Angeles, haunted by childhood memories of her parents' death, abuse and displacement, journeys south to Chiapas, Mexico, in search of images to record on film. Mora's path crosses that of Chan K'in, the aged Lacandón shaman and interpreter of his people's mysticism. His stories recount the heroism of indigenous peoples of the past and offers possible keys to the resolution of the nightmares that plague her.

In this village, Adriana meets Juana Galvez, a woman whose own heroism mirrors that of the women that Chan K'in describes. Adriana is immediately attracted to the small indigenous woman and her cause, so she follows Juana into the mountains where she is drawn into the tumultuous events of 1994 and the stories of the insurgents who fight for freedom.

Erased Faces portrays forbidden love set against the backdrop of a complicated war. Limón expertly drafts images of the racism, exploitation, and class division that plague the region and the lenghts that the impoverished indigenous people take to break the yoke of universal opression that rests heavy on their shoulders.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Limon's previous works, including The Day of the Moon and Song of the Hummingbird, have been called both "artful" and "soapy." Her latest work is characterized by some of the same strengths and shortcomings, but its engrossing plot slowly wins the reader's sympathy and any overwrought passages are forgotten. Set in the dense Mexican jungle and the barrios of Los Angeles, the novel tells of the obstacles people must face to overcome their history and heritage. Though it revolves around classic themes of forbidden love, loss, isolation and the search for the self, the setting imbues freshness. Limon uses the Mayan myth of reincarnation to lay the groundwork for her ultimate point that we are given opportunities to reclaim our lives. If anyone needs to recoup a life, it is Adriana Mora. A Mexican-American photojournalist plagued by memories of her tragic childhood and by frightening dreams of loss, Adriana is drawn to Chiapas, Mexico, by an interest in Mayan civilization. From the pain of her past to her eventual involvement with a group of Zapatistas and her intimate relationship with one of its leaders, Adriana's bittersweet tale is told in passionate testimonial style. Despite its intensity, however, her sentiments seem calculated, and it is the personal histories of two other characters, Juana Galv n and Orlando Flores, that redeem the tale. As heroes of the Chiapas insurgency, they embody the suffering of centuries of indigenous peoples, but they invite sympathy on a personal level, too. In her absorbing, politically engaged work, Limon restores dignity and identity to the inhabitants of a violent land, sketching tangled landscapes where faces are constantly erased and swept into anonymity.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

A spellbinding novel that humanizes the shadowy struggle playing out in the jungles of Mexico.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558853421
• ISBN-13: 978-1558853423
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars in love and war !, November 30, 2001

By 

toni (maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Erased Faces (Paperback)

Deep in the jungle of Chiapas, Mexico -- Graciela Limon paints for her readers a vibrantly vivid picture of a very real, and until now, mostly faceless world. In her captivating pages, she takes us far beneath the "plush green-black canopy" of mahogany and ceiba trees, to a place where we are surrounded by "the incessant cacophony of the forest" -- where we find ourselves immersed and enmeshed, for 258 pages, in the heart and soul of the Mexican indigenous world. It is a world that human/e civilization has left behind -- where men are brutalized and over-burdened like beasts, and "women toil, breaking their backs, growing old before their time, buried in the mud of ignorance" -- until Limon's Juana, Orlando, and other Zapatista rebels, refusing to accept their fates, scream out: "Ya basta! No more!"

Limon has done it again! = another wonderful job of interweaving the beautiful rainbow threads of a very profound forbidden love into the background tapestry of her story -- that which colorfully develops between the insurgent Juana Galvan and a recruited Chicana photographer, Adriana Mora. Although the two women have lived their lives separated by thousands of miles -- meaningful dreams, visible scars, and inexplicable emotional ties attest to their belief that they have loved one another before.

As Limon writes, "we repeat ourselves," .... a phrase that refers not only to the belief in reincarnation held by the Lacandon people, but also to humanity's insistence, persistence -- and resistance to change -- AND challenge a(n all-too-often racist/classist/sexist/homophobic) "status quo."

In Limon's pages, and outside of them as well!, the struggle for freedom in the (erased) face/s of oppression goes on ....
and crimes of pure hatred ("puro odio") exact a terrifying toll on our/selves and our world.

**********

A masterfully crafted and expertly executed "wake-up call" for a sleeping world -- this is a timely and necessary novel with a very important message -- and in her creation/writing of it, Limon, like her Adriana, has taken on the highly courageous and commendable role of a missionary "of sorts."

..... her best to date!