Customer Reviews

The Holy Spirit of My Uncle's: Cojones

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

 

 

I actually had the pleasure of meeting this fine author in person... On to the review though ...

This is a delightful (possibly autobiographical?) tale of a mixed White/Latino youth and his struggles and adventures growing up. On sees his failings, and his success, (as well as the amusing and sometimes sad in-betweens...)

I strongly recommend this book to anyone really, pero especialmente a ellos que son mezclado de guero y latino.

I hardly finished reading THE HOLY SPIRIT OF MY UNCLE'S COJONES when my son Max picked it up and almost wouldn't give it back. But I'm glad he's read it, too, because the characters have come alive for both of us so much so that we keep referring to them in our daily lives as certain, especially funny, situations come up. This book is a MUST READ. I was once a student of John Gardner's and this book brings his voice back into my head saying, "Everything in the story has to have something to do with everything ELSE in the story." Maybe I'm not qualified to speak for Gardner, but my heart tells me he would haved loved COJONES and held it up as a best example of GOOD FICTION in his Creative Writing Workshops.

If you don't know what "cojones" means, find a spanish/english dictionary and look it up! The playful title is a good indicator of this novel's tone and it doesn't disappoint. A coming of age novel that isn't burdened with sentimentality, The Holy Spirit of My Uncle's Cojones is a breezy, entertaining read about 16 year old Tony, depressed and in love, who, after a half-hearted suicide attempt, is sent to San Francisco to spend the summer with his pot-smoking, drug dealing, womanizing uncle Jack. The year is 1978. The two of them are soon embroiled in a drug deal gone bad and are on the run for their lives. Uncle Jack isn't exactly a good role model for the impressionable teen but he proves to be exactly the antidote to adolescence that Tony needs. Tony runs the gamut of first experiences that summer, from drugs to sex, but most importantly, under his uncle's influence, he bonds with his Latino culture (he is half Anglo, half Latino) and finds his inner strength.

When the book opens, Tony is a thirty-something adult, an adjunct professor of English who wrote his first novel while in his twenties and is struggling to find his second. He is in a rut, unhappy with both his life as a teacher and his two-timing girlfriend. When he gets a phone call from his mother informing him that Uncle Jack has died, he travels back to San Francisco to attend the funeral and there, reminisces the story of that fateful summer. Reliving those memories is exactly the catalyst the adult Tony needs to once again find that spark in his life, proving that Uncle Jack, even in death, is a force to be reckoned with.

This is a wonderful story about a Hispanic/Appalachian boy who finds, loses, and finds himself again through his relationship to his uncle.

Parts of this book made me laugh out loud, and I learned a good Latino curse as well!

With a hectic schedule and a stack of books I MUST read, this novel was fresh air. I stayed up all night reading, caught a couple of hours of sleep then plowed through one long day before I could get home and finish it. The ending is wild--inspiring and in-character. I have passed it on reluctantly--I want my friends to read this book so we can talk about it--BUT I WANT THE BOOK BACK SO I CAN READ IT AGAIN!
Buy the book.

This was a really funny and touching book. It tells the story of a teenage Hispanic/American preppy kid as he battles personal demons on the way to discovering his heritage and manhood. I laughed and almost cried in parts. I look at the author's picture and bio and wonder how much of this is really fiction.

Great story. Great characters. Hilarity and realistic drama. Very natural writing style. This book was noticeably better than the last Pulitzer Prize winner I read. Except the cover.

This was a really funny and touching book. It tells the story of a teenage Hispanic/American preppy kid as he battles personal demons on the way to discovering his heritage and manhood. I laughed and almost cried in parts. I look at the author's picture and bio and wonder how much of this is really fiction.

This was a really funny and touching book. It tells the story of a teenage Hispanic/American preppy kid as he battles personal demons on the way to discovering his heritage and manhood. I laughed and almost cried in parts. I look at the author's picture and bio and wonder how much of this is really fiction.