Customer Reviews

Loving Pedro Infante

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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.

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

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.

Life in Cabritoville, USA had me rolling! I truly enjoyed reading the antics of La Tere and La Wirms. Being a Chicana and being raised in Texas I can relate to many of the characters having known and lived with them. The obsession with Pedro Infante and his life shows the HIGH drama of the Mexican culture and all our complicated lives. La Tere was searching for her Pedro Infante sadly, she in some way found him in Lucio. Lucio is the dogs of dogs and she just keeps giving it all to him! Her character is vibrant and "Puro Mejicana". How many of us have known or even been La Tere at some point in our lives. I would have liked to have seen more of Ubaldo and his dissappearance leaves you wondering. This is the first Denise chavez writings I have read and it has me searching for more.

In love with Lucio, a married man who can't or won't love her back, Teresina "La Tere" Ávila, a thirty-something teacher's aide and secretary of the Pedro Infante Fan Club #256 in dusty Cabritoville, NM, escapes into the world of Infante. So she tells it in Denise Chavez's Loving Pedro Infante, a witty and insightful look at the difference between fantasy and reality.

As she unravels her story, Tere parallels her mental ponderings about Infante to her own foolish love for Lucio. It happens that Epoca de Oro Mexican movie star Infante, who has captured many a Chicana(o)'s and Mejicana(o)'s heart, has captured hers. The same as Lucio has. She and her best friend Irma even celebrate weekend Pedro-a-thons, drowning themselves in the ever enticing embrace of those black and white moving, talking, singing images.

She chastises those who don't already know Infante, wishing them to a destiny involving dry corn husks and a vat of soggy fideos. Though there's no need to panic. Tere teaches even the knowing Mejicano a thing or two by saturating her narrative with Pedro Infante trivia.

Mastering the art of pochismos in conjunction with the elusive "desde", she speaks in a language comfortable even if unfamiliar. She weaves through the intricacies of her turmoiled affair with these two men with the same detail and ease as she would a description of the burnt popcorn strewn aisles of the noisy El Colon Theater during an Infante feature with her best friend Irma. Y sin pelos en la lengua, she presents the very unromantic aspects of romance, such as forgetting to shave and misplacing a diaphragm in the moldy shower stall of a seedy motel. Such is the process of outlining that which separates real and illusionary love.

But this not merely an ill-fated love story, it is equally a story of family, friendship and community. Tere's mother and Irma provide constant strength and support. When Tere's good friend Ubaldo disappears and a search party gathers, it becomes clear that-- though an outcast-- her community will also be there for her.

Ultimately, this book is a liberating Chicana account of personal growth, powered by an unconventional heroine. Tere ventures where others won't: creating or simply uncovering a truer face for womanhood.

Between the covers of Loving Pedro Infante is some really great writing that, unfortunately, didn't go far enough to be a satisfying read. While I loved the relationship between Tere and Irma, and enjoyed their Pedro-a-thons tremendously, I failed to understand Tere's attraction to her married lover, Lucio. In trying to reflect the story against the larger-than-life image of Pedro Infante, I can see that Chavez was probably trying to say that there are no Pedros in real life. Yet, this run-of-the-mill, boring Lucio became Tere's obsession, and stagnated her as well as the story.
Quisas estoy una romantica, como Cinderella stories y mas, pero I think that if you are going to introduce the world of make-believe (movie stars) into the mix, you've got to tell a story that has a romance hot enough to fill the big screen. What helps to hold the book together are the textures of Cabritoville, the loathed and loved nowhere town, that Denise Chavez has carefully woven. I remember feeling the same let-down at the end of Last of the Menu Girls, so maybe it is just that I want to send Chavez's characters on a journey larger than they are meant to travel.

I loved this book. Tere Avila was one of those girls that you wanted to slap and say "Get real, girl." I've been in Tere's shoes and know how hard it is to be in love with someone you just can't have. I got too deep into this book that I put T.V aside and even had a dream last night that I met Tere's love, Lucio. I strongly recommend this book.
There are similarities in Chavez and Sandra Cisnero's writing style so if you like Woman Hollaring Creek then you are going to like this one

Another one of Denise Chavez's good books, Loving Pedro Infante intertwines romanticism with contemporary fiction. Pedro Infante, a popular Mexican actor during the forties and the fifties, is a hearthrob for Teresina Avila, her best friend Irma, and her fan club members. He is a symbol of machismo. His passion is women and women are drawn to his charms and looks. His death has made him legendary.
Teresina, or Tere, is a teacher's aide involved with a self-centered married man Lucio Valadez. Lucio promises her the sun and the moon which are never delivered to her. He cheats on her as well as his wife. Irma and Ubaldo, another friend of hers, tell her that she needs to do away with him. But she clings on to hope that she will have him and they'll be a family along with Lucio's daughter Andrea. Unfortunately, a series of events will force Tere to confront the reality of her life and self.
Chavez is not afraid to express the lives of Mexican women and their descendants or does she sugarcoat on homosexuality and sexual child abuse of Ubaldo Miranda. The description of a town gives the reader an idea of what it is like to be a part of a small community that clings to its old customs despite the occuring changes.
This is a good read which took me a week to read. Highly recommended.

I love the writing of Denise Chavez and wonder why her books aren't as widely recognized as those of other major Chicana writers. She has a unique voice. Loving Pedro Infante is hilarious (the specifically Chicana focus)and I frequently laughed out loud as I read the book -- both times. A Pedro Infante fan myself, I thought the author's use of the plots of his movies to convey the feelings of the characters was ingenious and moving. The story also conveys a touching and frustrating desperation about "that man thing" which transcends ethnicity.

The only good thing about this book is the writer's idea to use the name Pedro Infante to exploit it for the umpteenth time, and therefore find the right vehicle to lure readers into buying it. This book is not about Pedro Infante. The only reference about him is that he died in a plane crash, and that he was a famous singer, and a great actor with lots of films under his belt--duh! Every Mexican, and average fanatic of great film-making knows that.
The writer makes a few attempts to spice it up, and throws in some of Pedro's movie titles which the characters from the story apparently watched every now and then, but mostly Pedro's name is smartly used just to keep the reader from falling asleep.
It took me months to read it in its entirety, and the only reason I kept going back to it was the hope to maybe read something more realistic about Pedro Infante. However, more than anything this book tells the boring story of a woman who uses the excuse of feeling unloved so she can sleep with every possible man in a small Texas town, and later complain that no one takes her seriously.

It's too bad the writer picked a Mexican woman as her main character to tell this cheap tale since sleeping with married men applies in all nationalities. It also erroneously suggests that all or most Mexican women are ugly, easy, careless drinkers and compulsive eaters; a false proclamation. I got this book as a gift from a beautiful and successful Mexican woman because I am a fan of Pedro Infante's work. But I would not waste my time and money.
If it's cheap stories what you are looking for, tune in to Jerry Springer or one of the many cheap shows that plague TV nowadays.