Customer Reviews

Kissing the Virgin's Mouth: A Novel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is an exquisite novel, full of heat and violent with story. From the first page, the lyrical voice of Magda grabbed me by the throat and did not let go. She is in unforgettable character - rebellious, resourceful, imaginative and eccentric. Donna Gershten plants you squarely in Magda's world and while you make your way through that world you may learn plenty you didn't already know - about the nature of longing and the resilience of the spirit.

I was required to read this book for my Literature class. The first couple of pages were the hardest to get through,(because of the transition from Spanish to English) after that, I couldn't put it down! Donna has a wonderful way of weaving words and bringing the gritty texture of reality into focus. I've bought this book for everyone in my family and am anxiously awaiting her next one. We got to meet with the author and she is an incredible person!

Previous reviews of this book seem to be divided into two camps--those who found this book an window into Mexican culture, and those who found the book, written by an Anglo, to be both presumptuous and pretentious. Now, I don't have a problem with anyone wanting to tackle someone else's culture, but I found the author's continual use of Spanish and worse, her translation of Spanish idioms into English unendurable. I think it doesn't really matter if you speak Spanish or not, either, since I lived in Spain and speak Spanish (though of course some of the Mexican words were unfamiliar to me) The "Do you have long nails, daughter?" phrase finally made me slam the book shut! Someone should have told both the author and the editor that using a foreign language in a narrative is like putting salt in a dish--a little goes a long, long way.

The title of this review makes it sound like another ho-hum feminist story about a deprived or abused woman moving upward into another culture. Yes, there's some of that, but there's so much more to this quite extraordinary fiction debut by Donna Gershten, who won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for her effort.
Guadalupe grew up as a victim of a strong patriarchial culture and learned how to work within that system. Then she manages to use her intelligence and beauty to rise above her origins, she find herself married and moved to the States. There, she's at a loss as to how to fit into her new world. All the old rules no longer seem to apply. This is a cross-cultural tale that deals with the inequities inherent between men and women, between those `with' and those `without' within both societies.

If she had, then maybe Ms. Gershten's novel would have had a more believable appeal. I read Ms. Gershten's biographical notes and wondered from what point of reference did she develop her novel. In reading the novel I realized that Ms. Gershten had done nothing more than to re-interpret what she might have seen while she lived in Mexico. The first obstacle in her narrative is her misused of the Spanish language. She makes the common errors the English speakers make when speaking Spanish, and not the errors of the poor, uneducated Spanish speakers. Then you come across her off hand treatment of the Virgin of Guadalupe. While Magda may be the only exception to the way the millions of Mexicans venerate their patron saint, it was difficult accept the Magda would disrespect Virgin by calling her Lupa If she wanted to use an endearment, she could have used Lupita, but then only Mexicans know this. These are just the basic problems that I found. Limitation of this review prohibits an in-depth criticism of her misinterpretation of the Mexican woman psyche.

Ms. Gershten does write very well. Maybe next time she'll choose to write on a topic she knows something about rather than cater to the current fad of writing latin american fiction.

I love this book because it makes me see the world through the eyes of someone who can't take food on the table and a roof over her head for granted. The choices she makes in life and love are simpler and more complicated than ours because of that. For her to be able to remain grateful for her life both humbles me and touches me deeply.

The Magda of Donna Gershten's Kissing the Virgin's Mouth is someone who has known the harsh beauty and cruel truth of life for women in Mexico, and I believe that Gershten must have done so also. Her characters are vivid and real. The blood that Magda's mother and her tia Chucha offer the baby Jesus blends with the blood of thousands who have gone before her. The language that Gershten uses to describe their offering is authentic, lyrical, and compelling. I trust it, and trust that the author knows Mexican women. A BEAUTIFUL tale, with heart and poetry and a cadence I only hear when I am in Mexico.

I read with interest the impressions that foreigners have on Latin culture. Call me a masochist... Many times i am left with disappointment, and unfortunately this was no exception. I do have a problem when Spanish and English are liberally mixed in narration. People DON'T talk that way. If you are a native Spanish speaker and you are telling a story in English, you may need help with a word here and there, depending on your proficiency. But the language patchwork shown in this book is nowhere near reality. Some of the expressions were so contrived they stank: "When I had nine years" is a literal translation from the Spanish, very different from the "When I was nine years old". A person that has lived in the US, married to an American college professor for years, should know better. This was just a little quirk of the author, a little "cuteness" that may sound lovely to some of her audience, but to me sounded totally forced and contrived.

I am not Mexican, but I have to wonder if Mexican women get a little tired of yet another survival story that involves extreme poverty, sex, abuse, alcohol, violence... I have read so many of these that I suffer from overexposure, and that's when the topic starts losing relevance.

This book was great! I enjoyed the struggle Magda had between the 2 cultures she loved- her Mexican heritage and the American opportunities. It was amazing to read about how she made her way from the gutters (literally) of Mexico to the business woman she became. Her journey changed her and she had a hard time trusting the world around her. Her relationship with her mother and aunt were her cornerstone, and her relationship with her daughter was her life. I wanted to give this to my high school Spanish 2 class to read but decided against it due to the high sexual content. Definitely an R rated book, but seriously worth it!

The book is beautiful from page one. The non-spanish speaking reader may have difficulty with the many Spanish phrases throughout the book. The story is as true to life as if you were living in Mexico today. To this day women are as they are in Gershten's book. A society full of wishing and magic, Mexican women see the world from a window no American home will ever have. The strength of these women is as of warriors, though untrained, they don't give up. I wish the pages would have continued forever.