Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co. and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more



or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co. on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License [Paperback]

Maria Amparo Escandon
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

List Price: $13.95
Price: $11.81 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.14 (15%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Tuesday, May 28? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Paperback $11.81  
Summer Reading
Summer Reading
Browse the best books of summer including blockbusters, beach reads, and editors' picks in our Summer Reading Store.

Book Description

April 19, 2005
Serving a sentence in a prison in Mexico, Libertad González finds a clever way to pass the time with the weekly Library Club, reading to her fellow inmates from whatever books she can find in the prison’s meager supply. The story that emerges, though, has nothing to do with the words printed on the pages. She tells of a former literature professor and fugitive of the Mexican government who reinvents himself as a trucker in the United States. There he falls in love with a wild woman with whom he shares his truck and his life—that is until Joaquín González unexpectedly finds himself alone on the road with a baby girl and González & Daughter Trucking Co. is born. Joaquín and his daughter make the cab of an 18-wheeler their home, sharing everything—adventures, books, truck-stop chow, and memories of the girl’s mother—until one day the girl grows into a woman, and a chance encounter with one man causes her to rebel against another.

With her stories, Libertad enthralls a group of female prisoners every bit as eccentric as the tales she tells. In González and Daughter Trucking Co., bestselling author María Amparo Escandón seamlessly blends together these elements into one compelling and unexpected conclusion that will have you cheering for Libertad and filled with joy.

Frequently Bought Together

Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel with Literary License + Across a Hundred Mountains: A Novel
Price for both: $24.02

Buy the selected items together
  • Across a Hundred Mountains: A Novel $12.21


Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

From the author of Esperanza's Box of Saints (1999) comes this semi-surreal tale of Libertad Gonzalez, imprisoned in the Mexicali Penal Institute for Women. The jail has a decidedly looser environment than its name implies--one of the wealthier inmates has transformed the yard into a beachfront--and model prisoner Libertad decides to start a book club. No matter what book she chooses to read aloud from, though, she always has the same story to tell. In telenovela fashion, complete with cliff-hanging chapter endings, she tells her increasingly large audience a story about a former literature professor and fugitive from the Mexican government who becomes a truck driver in the U.S and his loving but controlling relationship with his daughter. Libertad's audience grows hooked on the story line (much like Escandon's will), chiming in with heated opinions on the twists and turns of the plot. It soon becomes apparent that the story is Libertad's own, and it has become her way of making sense of her life and her crime. This highly readable novel is a paean both to storytelling and to freedom. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“A warm and ingenious novel that delights from start to finish.” —Alexander Payne, Screenwriter and Director of Sideways

“1,001 nights in a Mexicali women’s prison...González and Daughter Trucking Co. is about our compulsion to make events into stories and stories into bridges of understanding.” —John Sayles, Screenwriter and Director

“Escandón has delivered us yet another work of art. . . A whimsical, humorous, and passionate mystery that explores the love and hurt of a father and daughter on the run.” —Jorge Ramos, News Anchor for Univision and Bestselling Author

“An ingenious retelling of Scheherazade’s odyssey—but on wheels.” —Ilan Stavans, author of Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language

Product Details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway; First Edition edition (April 19, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400097355
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400097357
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,731 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
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Not surprised May 2, 2005
Format:Paperback
If you read this novel with the same passion that Maria Amparo Escandon wrote it, you will be amazed and delighted with every page. Her narrative is extraordinary and the story is simply unpredectible, sweet and ingenius. I loved her first novel "Esperanza's Box of Saints" but I truly belive that this new novel is going to be even bigger, a best seller, and like the first one, it's going to be translated into many lenguages. When the heroine of the novel, Libertad, reads to her fellow prisioners you will find your self feeling as if you were right there, in their shoes, asking for more; in every mile that she travels on the truck you will be seating in the back seat listening to her conversations with her dad. You will discover your self being part of the story and you are going to love every page!!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly realized fantasy September 26, 2005
Format:Paperback
I expected something of a magical realism novel, but this book surprised me with its very down-to-earth dual tales of a women's prison that was a refuge and the constantly moving truck that was in its way a prison.

Libertad won't reveal her crime to her co-prisoners in the Mexican women's prison in Mexicali. The prison itself is a contrast to U.S. prisons because money talks and thus the prisons are far more free. She begins, however, to open up when she creates a Library Club, where she entertains the inmates, guards and the warden with tales of Mudflap Girl. Her alter ego, orphaned Mudflap Girl is raised by her father in the back of a truck from birth. We watch her grow up and seek her freedom from her increasingly controlling father, paranoid of capture by agents of the Mexican government from offenses occurring many years and many changes of government ago. Meanwhile, Libertad begins to learn that the prison is for her the home and the family she never knew. Mudflap Girl eventually commits the crime that led Libertad to her prison term, and the only way out for everyone is for her new family to right the wrongs that brought her there. Eventually, a happy ending is shared by all.

Escandon's ability to create so many believable, in the terms of a novel like this, characters and so many worthwhile relationships is what made this novel come alive for me. Nothing is wasted, and every character has a place in the universe she creates. The only negative was that I thought the use of CB lingo was a bit over the top. But the characters of the Warden and the three Vietnamese refugee/prisoners and the relationship between Mudflap Girl and Martin more than made up for that. Highly recommended.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A well-rounded education May 22, 2006
By Carter
Format:Paperback
The best thing about this book was the fact that I learned so much about so many different things without even realizing it. Escandon taught me a whole new language, not Spanish, but trucker talk. Her writing flowed beautifully, and it was nice to see someone who didn't comparmentalize others. Just because ladies were in jail did not automatically make them bad people. She managed to show the reader multiple elements of many characters so that it was understood that each person had their strengths and weaknesses just as in life. It was an easy read, but also left me with a lot to chew on. Such fun!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A well crafted story that leaves the reader wanting more
Libertad the protagonists is literally raised in the cab of her Dad's truck after the tragic (can't tell you) departure of her mother. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Michael Schafir
5.0 out of 5 stars Gonzales and daughter trucking co.
Great read. Full of well developed characters. An interesting view of life on the border and the nomadic existence of a man living in fea

r of a government so... Read more
Published 2 months ago by U ROSEMARY ROSIMONE Rosimone t Rosimone
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
This book was a great read! I enjoyed every word of it and it was shipped in a reasonable amount of time and in very good shape!
Published 10 months ago by Jaeebee
5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than "Esperanza's Box Of Saints".
"González & Daughter Trucking Co.", the second novel by bilingual writer María Amparo Escandón is an insightful and whimsical story about storytelling itself. Read more
Published on July 27, 2010 by Hector M. Valenzuela V
4.0 out of 5 stars Good for Book Club
This is a great story about a father/daughter relationship, women and their friends and paranoia. It was not quite a "I can't put it down" page turner, but very entertaining and... Read more
Published on September 12, 2009 by J. A. Kowalewski
5.0 out of 5 stars Kindle Book Addict
I read this book not knowing what to expect and from the first few pages, I was hooked. It was very cleverly written and very unique. I really liked the writing style. Read more
Published on April 9, 2009 by booklover
5.0 out of 5 stars Coming of age in a truck and a prison
Gonzalez & Daughter is a deceptively simple novel that can be read on different levels: it can be a "cute" story of a girl coming of age in a truck and a prison, a poetical alegory... Read more
Published on February 14, 2009 by Pierre Haas
5.0 out of 5 stars Something different
I loved this book. After reading so many biographies, it was refreshing to read a novel that was "novel". I'm looking for her other book, and hope she continues writing. JMTQ
Published on September 29, 2008 by Rose Mary Taquino
5.0 out of 5 stars Keep on truckin'
Any turn you take on this winding road of a story is amazing. Ms.Escandon skillfully navigates her readers through unforgettable characters.
Published on April 7, 2008 by The Gambler
1.0 out of 5 stars Young Adult Fiction With A Heavy Hand
Not a very engaging novel. Written in a tone and voice that might satisfy a Young Adult Reading audience, but hardly a work of mature fiction. Read more
Published on September 22, 2007 by Desertmartin
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category