My Father Was a Toltec: And Selected Poems : 1973 1988 [Hardcover]

Ana Castillo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

If fire and spirit could make interesting poems, then this collection would be very good indeed. Instead, we have mostly polemical poetry; as Castillo herself says, "my new speech is echoes/with the tongue that sounds/of tumbling wooden blocks." Castillo, who has also written three novels and four other collections of poetry (all published by small press publishers; some of the poems are republished here), writes in both English and Spanish (untranslated) about gritty urban subjects: welfare, suicide, street violence, affairs. The English poems lack music; for example, "Everywhere i go/i am asked my origin/as if i bore antennae/or the eye/of the Cyclops." Sometimes Castillo's grammar is at fault-e.g., "there's an empty chair past Egberto with bad breath"-but mostly these poems avoid reaching for mystery, as in these lines: "These days are getting shorter./The nights kept getting longer./ The kitchen clock starts ticking/louder." What Castillo does best is detail two cultures both clashing and commingling, but these poems only leave the reader wanting more mystery, more song. Not recommended.
Doris Lynch, Bloomington P.L., Ind.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 158 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st edition (February 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393037185
• ISBN-13: 978-0393037180
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,275,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry That Will Live On, March 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: My Father Was a Toltec: And Selected Poems : 1973 1988 (Hardcover)

To begin with, I will announce that this wonderful collection is coming back out in print. This came to my attention in my panic to get copies for a class I am teaching on Women of Color poets. These are the poems of an original voice. If anyone with a sense of the struggle of Mexicans in this country reads this book and remained unmoved I would wonder if they had a soul. Much more powerful, is the powerful message of a woman whose voice was previously unheard. Castillo's internal assonance, her skill as a poet to make the most difficult moves look easy on the page is among her assets as a poet out of this generation of activists. The fact that Castillo's later success with her novels "seemed so easy" is actually an indication of how she perseveres. I will continue to use this collection until retirement and then I will pass it on to my grandchildren--to remember that it wasn't easy at all.

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry That Will Live On, March 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: My Father Was a Toltec: And Selected Poems : 1973 1988 (Hardcover)

To begin with, I will announce that this wonderful collection is coming back out in print. This came to my attention in my panic to get copies for a class I am teaching on Women of Color poets. These are the poems of an original voice. If anyone with a sense of the struggle of Mexicans in this country reads this book and remained unmoved I would wonder if they had a soul. Much more powerful, is the powerful message of a woman whose voice was previously unheard. Castillo's internal assonance, her skill as a poet to make the most difficult moves look easy on the page is among her assets as a poet out of this generation of activists. The fact that Castillo's later success with her novels "seemed so easy" is actually an indication of how she perseveres. I will continue to use this collection until retirement and then I will pass it on to my grnadchildren--to remember it wasn't easy at all.

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Daughters of Toltecs Everywhere, March 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: My Father Was a Toltec: And Selected Poems : 1973 1988 (Hardcover)

Since the time this book of poems first came out in 1988 it has spoken to me. I am not the daughter of a Toltec but of an Ottoman Yet, I related. I discovered the book in a bookstore in Berkeley in the eighties. While I felt so far from home, I connected with the poems that spoke of a daughter's yearning for her father's power in such a modest way, in such modest ways. I found the copy I brought back with me the other day which I thought I had lost. I will pass it on to my daughter.