Customer Reviews

Highwire Moon

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a riveting novel of a mother and daughter's search for each other through time, distance and dreams. The book describes in heartbreaking detail the lives of undocumented farm workers, foster children, and others on the margins of our society. But the story is balanced by the presence throughout of the moving spiritual rituals that sustain many of its characters. To read Susan Straight's novels is to enter a world unique in American fiction.

WOW! I liked Straight's earlier novel, I Been in Sorrow's Kitchen, so I bought this right away when I saw it on the shelf. It's the story of Serafina, an indigenious Mexican woman, and Elvia, the half-American daughter she was forced to leave behind during an immigration raid. The two spend years searching for each other throught Mexico and Southern California. Straight does a great job of portraying the region's beauty and heartbreak. The characters are so flawed, yet so compelling, and the pacing and suspense makes this hard to put down. Warning, though: really packs an emotional whallop. A must for mothers and Steinbeck-lovers. Why hasn't Oprah picked this yet?

An Indian woman from Mexico travels to the U.S. for work. She meets an American and has a child with him. She is deported and has to leave the child behind. Years later the woman returns and tries to find the child, who is also seeking her.

The conflicts of culture and the struggles of people to make a living and overcome legal restrictions make the story dramatic. Interesting characters of varying backgounds abound. The harsh landscape of the Southwest, beautifully described, is the stage.

The story is suspenseful and remains in the reader's mind. Excellent.

A somewhat unlikely premise forms the basis of this engrossing novel of love, separation, women, strength, survival, and compassion. Serafina, an illegal immigrant, is mistakenly separated from her toddler daughter and sent back to Mexico where she gets trapped caring for her ailing mother. Her daughter treks through the CA welfare system, one foster home to another, and emerges as a pregnant teenager.
The majority of the book parallels Serafina's trek north, across the border once again to search for her child, while Elvia does the same in the opposite direction, searching for her mother.
Frankly, I loved the story and the writing.

Susan Straight delivers a tremendous novel which deals with a wide range of current social issues. Teenage pregnancy, migrant workers, drug abuse, and the foster care system mix in a surprisingly fast paced page-turner. Buy it, read it, enjoy it.

Susan Straight's novels based in her imaginary Rio Seco have provided some of the best portraits and stories of contemporary life on the edge. Her latest novel is no disappointment. I found Highwire Moon to be a compelling, riveting read, especially in terms of her insights into the lives of today's immigrants from Mexico. Read it, and pass it on!

To be fair, the author was poetic with her words. But she got lost in what felt like a moral crusade to preserve life. The reading felt choppy with points of view just popping up for no apparent reason, with chapters hinging on unbelievable details (like a guy having sex with his girlfriend and not noticing she is five months pregnant.), with main characters acting deliberately dumb. It was painful to read. I can tell the author has a gift with words and hope next time she doesn't get lost preaching to the masses.

I probably would not have heard of this book had it not been one of New York's award finalists, the one I am sure they say represents my own culture and upbringing in California and its border. I came into the book a little suspicious. I came away a lot less so, and that was because I didn't think it was either too bad or very good. Though to a certain degree the protagonists were supposed to be an undocumented Mexican woman and her daughter, fathered by a poor Anglo, the novel doesn't try to go too deep inside their head. Rather, the simple plot's most interesting details are about the Anglos the daughter grows up with; otherwise it does not go beyond what's already well-known to everyone except apparently those on the east who must still find the story of crossing the Mexican border fascinating and new. Straight didn't add anything unique to that. I found the sentimental story of the daughter and mother longing to meet up with each other after so many years very romanticized and hard to follow. If you want to read about the border, read Ruben Martinez's new one, which is powerful. If you want to read the best book of fiction published last year, as this one was, but inside a Chicano experience, read Dagoberto Gilb's beautiful "Woodcuts of Women."

Susans Straight's writing is exquisite and the story of Serafina, Elvia, Larry and the others is heartrending. The description of illegal immigration, migrant workers, Searafinas's journery from Mexico back into the US ...... well every bit of it is miraculous. SS is a totally fabulously talented writer. It is the best book I have read in a long long while.

This book is excellent. Susan Straight is an awesome writer. I own all of her novels...this is a great addition to any collection.