A Place Called Milagro de la Paz [Paperback]

Manlio Argueta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

This remarkable novel continues the saga of life among the common people in El Salvador begun with One Day of Life. A Place Called Milagro de la Paz tells the story of the courage and strength of two women, a single mother and her daughter, who have to overcome the trauma of the murder of the mother's older daughter and survive in an atmosphere of bitter poverty and repression. The book is filled, however, with magical, lyric moments of love and hope, especially surrounding the figure of a strange young girl with butterflies in her hair who appears suddenly and adopts the family. The tiny family group bravely preserves traditional values in spite of fear and repression. This new novel is Argueta's most lyrical work to date.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Argueta (Little Red Riding Hood in the Red Light District) is considered El Salvador's greatest living writer, and this latest of his works to be translated into English will add to his reputation: it is a postmodernist tour de force. A disjointed literary puzzle--less so in this translation than in the original--the novel asks much of the reader, but the richly symbolic text offers many rewards. The form is clearly a metaphor for the political condition of El Salvador following the protracted civil war of the 1970s and '80s that left a broken country whose citizens are still trying to restore their former way of life. Likewise, the family of women who live in the shadow of a volcano in the small village of Milagro de la Paz (Miracle of the Peace) are attempting to piece their lives back together after the oldest daughter, Magdalena, is randomly killed by a wandering death squad. The youngest daughter tries to signify continuity by conceiving a child with a handyman in an almost-but-not-quite-immaculate conception. Into the village wanders Lluvia (Rain), an angelic orphan who eats roadside flowers and whose head seems to bear a halo of living butterflies. Under her springlike influence, hope is reborn in the family. To some extent, this novel counters the despair that is so overwhelming in some of Argueta's earlier works, beginning with Un d!a en la vida (One Day of Life), yet the message is ambiguous: is Lluvia actually Magdalena reincarnated? Will the suffering created by human greed be replaced by the violence of the earth itself when the local volcano erupts? Miller's fine translation of this powerful but elusive narrative is accompanied by a short glossary of the Spanish terms. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Picking up in his fifth novel where he left off thematically in One Day of Life (LJ 9/1/83), Argueta, one of El Salvador's most renowned contemporary writers, narrates compassionately and authentically the struggle of marginalized peasants for survival and dignity in a violent, tragic world. Less vitriolic and declamatory than in his earlier works, the simple, subdued lyric prose is a throwback to the author's original poetic avocation. Argueta creates strong heroines in the matriarch Latina and her daughters, Magdalena and Crista. The multiple points of view and temporal disjunction do not detract from the otherwise straightforward narration. The eternal themes of birth, death, love, and life that concern the novel transcend the Central American milieu to encompass a much broader context. Recommended for most collections.
-Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Curbstone Books (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880684683
• ISBN-13: 978-1880684689
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,247,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensitive portrayal of a family under diificult conditions, May 30, 2000

By 

"berenjena" - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Place Called Milagro de la Paz (Paperback)

The book is a very intellectual and sensitive portrayal of a family of three women who must deal with very adverse conditions and who have to make a living with very few means. It is at once serious and yet it allows for human dignity and inner strenght in the characters. A very good look at the strenghts of women in a very unfavorable setting.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Critical Acclaim for Argueta's Fifth Novel, July 13, 2001

By 

Curbstone Press, Jantje Tielken, Editorial As... - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Place Called Milagro de la Paz (Paperback)

Manlio Argueta's most lyrical novel to date, A PLACE CALLED MILAGRO DE LA PAZ continues de saga of life among the common people in El Salvador begun with ONE DAY OF LIFE. Examining the legacy of civil strife in the lives of a Salvadoran family, it tells the story of the courage and strength of a single mother and her daughter, who have to overcome the trauma of the murder of the eldest daughter and survive in an atmosphere of bitter poverty and repression. The book is filled, however, with magical, lyric moments of love and compassion, strangely illuminated by the figure of a young girl with butterflies in her hair who suddenly appears and adopts the family. This astonishing tour-de-force exemplifies the best in magic realism.

The Washington Post called Argueta's A PLACE CALLED MILAGRO DE LA PAZ an "exquisitely crafted novel" and considered it "a veritable hymn to these resilient, uncomplaining women." Critic Beatriz Terrazas wrote in Dallas Morning News: "It takes a master to turn a story of pain and tragedy into a thing of beauty. But then Manlio Argueta is a proven master of words." Philip Herter commented in The St. Petersburg Times that A PLACE CALLED MILAGRO DE LA PAZ "charms like a fairytale but has the moral force of an indictment." Nick Owchar from The Los Angeles Times noted that Argueta's novel "assures us that from the ashes of tragedy, the human spirit will rise like a legendary bird." Other words of praise appeared in Publishers Weekly, Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, World Literature Today, and The British Bulletin of Publications.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Milagro, July 1, 2009

By 

A. Criscuolo (CT -United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Place Called Milagro de la Paz (Paperback)

Salvadoran author Manlio Argueta brings the lives of the common peasants of El Salvador to life in this novel. Probably part of the magical realism genre of literature, it can be confusing to read and follow, if you are new to this type of writing. Not as striking to me as his previous novel, One Day of Life, it is a nice read that takes its time getting to the heart of the matter in the lives of 3 females just after the terrible civil war.