Loving Pedro Infante [Hardcover]

Denise Chavez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2001

An exuberant novel about a lovelorn woman obsessed with the Mexican film star Pedro Infante.

Teresina ("Tere") vila is a divorced, thirty-something Chicana working "in the hinterlands of life" in Cabritoville, New Mexico, a small dusty town near El Paso, Texas. The love of her life is Lucio, a smooth-talking ne'er-do-well who will never leave his wife and ties Tere's heart in knots with a string of empty promises. Her diversions are few but intense, and center around her best fri, Irma, and her membership in the Pedro Infante Fan Club #256.

"If you're Méjicana or Méjicano and don't know who Pedro Infante is, you should be tied to a hot stove with yucca rope and beaten with sharp dry corn husks as you stand in a vat of soggy fideos."

If you're a gringo, think of him as a Mexican Elvis, a one-time carpenter whose career in song and on screen in such memorable movies as Nosotros los Pobres, Ustedes los Ricos, and Pepe, el Toro, propelled him to the heights of fame until he was killed after a plane he piloted crashed on April 15, 1957.Hilarious and heartring, Loving Pedro Infante is about the fictions we weave to justify loving the wrong mate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ch vez's latest (after Face of an Angel) est  de aquella it's a terrific novel full of abuelita wisdom and raunchy cantina wit. Trapped in Cabritoville, N.Mex., and in love with Lucio, a married man who refuses to commit, 30-something Tere Avila is a teacher's aide by day, a regular at local bar La Tempestad and a 24/7 member of the Pedro Infante Club #256. Mid-century movie star Infante is Elvis Presley and Cary Grant rolled into one. Though a womanizer, Infante's passion for life captured the souls of the Mexican people, and in death he reigns supreme as the ultimate male icon. When they're not at La Tempestad, or eating at Sophia's Mighty Taco, Tere and her best friend, Irma, indulge in weekly Pedro-athons. Matching his movies to their emotional state, the two use the films as an escape but also as a hilarious, poignant vehicle for their desires and anger. The movies highlight Tere's misguided love for Lucio while cleverly exposing the Mexican psyche. Ch vez's voice is at once zany and knowing. She is la gran mitotera a big troublemaker, stirring up rollicking mischief with wacky humor delivered in the lyrical tempo of Chicano slang. The language is bawdy, sometimes downright sucio, but expressive in a way that pure Spanish or English couldn't be. A liberating Chicana coming-of-a-certain-age tale, rooted in a profound love for la gente, the book gives us heroines we didn't know we had and makes us understand that love means embracing flaws our own as well as those of others. (Apr. 15)Forecast: Ch vez, a spirited reader, will embark on a 12-city author tour, with Pedro-athons planned for Chicago and L.A. Sales in the Southwest should be particularly strong, but this rollicking novel could easily be Chavez's biggest yet nationwide.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In a small, dusty Texas-Mexico border town called Cabritoville, thirtysomething Tere Avila is in love with a married man. She also loves Pedro Infante, a 1940-50s era film star whom the author describes as a Mexican Elvis. Tere's life revolves around her membership in Pedro Infante's fan club and her friendship with Irma. According to Irma, "You can learn so much about Mejicano culture, class structure, the relationships between men and women, women and women, men and men, as well as intergenerational patterns of collaterality in Pedro's movies. The movies tell you what Mejicanos embrace and reject in their lives." Through Tere, Chavez explores femininity and cultural identity. While many Chicano language and cultural references abound, Chavez explains the context. Readers familiar with works by Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, and Julia Alvarez will enjoy Chavez's new work. Appropriate for public and academic libraries. Lee McQueen, SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (April 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374194114
• ISBN-13: 978-0374194116
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,677,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the whole enchilada, April 23, 2001

By 

Candace "thepageturner" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loving Pedro Infante (Hardcover)

To continue with the type of imagery that Denise Chavez uses so sassily in "Loving Pedro Infante," this novel is like one of those burritos where the insides are tasty but the tortilla holding it all together is so flimsy that the whole thing falls apart.

Tere Avila is a teacher's aid in Cabritoville, Texas, a place where there's not a lot to do but chow down at Sofia's Mighty Taco, dress up to the teeth and hang out at La Tempestad Lounge with guys you've known all your life, and attend meetings of the Pedro Infante fan club. For those who don't know who Pedro Infante is, he was the star of stars during Mexico's Golden Age of Cinema, an actor whose fine voice, charismatic performances, and tumultuous personal life were ended by a plane crash in the late 1950's. He is adored in Mexico with the kind of following given to Elvis in the US.

"Loving Pedro Infante" gets off to a bright and frisky start with La Tere describing a typical meeting of the fan club and the interpersonal relationships of her hometown. Unfortunately, not much develops from there. There is some broad humor (a drawn-out sequence with a diaphragm reads like something out of 1972) and a few setbacks for Tere, but she is so flippant that nothing seems to run very deep with her.

The novel's appeal will be somewhat limited by the extensive use of Spanglish. Readers who do not know border slang may find it difficult to figure out what is going on in Cabritoville. Still, it is a quick, entertaining read, which I don't imagine is what the author had in mind at all.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars superb character study, April 1, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loving Pedro Infante (Hardcover)

In Cabritoville, New Mexico, Teresina Avila, a thirty-something divorcees, works as an elementary schoolteacher's aide. Her lover, the married father of one, Lucio Valdez promises her the world, but outside of twisting her heart he gives her nothing. Tere's only real friend is Irma Granados. Her real passion is the secretary of the local chapter of the Pedro Infante fan club, a group dedicated to the famous but deceased Mexican actor.

Tere hates her current personal life, but fears loneliness if she dumps the sleazy Lucio and their motel trysts. When Lucio's six-year old daughter catches them petting, he ends their relationship even as she fills up with shame. Only dreams of Pedro, who died in the fifties, give Tere any satisfaction. However, perhaps the return of a lover from her past can help the depressed Tere find joy again, but can he compete with a legend of the silver screen?

LOVING PEDRO INFANTE is a superb character study that provides the audience a close look at individuals living on the border towns between Mexico and the United States. Tere is so very human with her needs, flaws, and passions that readers will believe she is a next door neighbor. Though the plot is thin, readers will find award winning Denise Chavez's novel an insightful and entertaining glimpse at real life.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful writing, but could have been much better, August 1, 2001

By 

Sharon Anderson (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loving Pedro Infante (Hardcover)

I attended an event (prior to publication of the book) in which Chavez read portions of the book aloud, including the scene in which the heroine, Tere, has her first anti-climactic rendevous with her married lover, Lucio. Chavez' reading was so hilarious and touching that I could not wait to get my hands on the book.

Unfortunately, despite Chavez' witty writing, the novel wastes the potential of the characters and setting (Tere, her best friend Irma, the colorful members of the fan club and the dusty little town where they live) by concentrating too much on Tere's hopeless obsession with Lucio. We get pages upon pages of Tere's overwrought longings for the guy, but the book never shows him doing or saying anything to warrant the attraction. He's not half as interesting as some of the minor characters and barely even has any dialogue. Halfway through I felt like exclaiming "Dios Mio" and just giving up. I guess Chavez might have been trying to illustrate how women project depth of character unto shallow men, but after a while it was like a broken record. Also the book jumps around a lot in the timeline without adequately clueing the reader in as to where they are in the narrative, which seemed like sloppy editing to me. Too bad, I initially loved the character of Tere Avila and was waiting for her to do a lot more in this book.