Customer Reviews

Prietita and the Ghost Woman / Prietita y la llorona

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"Prietita and the Ghost Woman" is a re-imagined and re-telling of the original story of La Llorona, the Weeping Ghost Woman, widely known in Mexican/Chicana/o folklore. The original Mexican tale involves a young woman weeping over the children she drowned after committing an act of vengeance over her unfaithful husband. The story is usually meant to frighten, especially children. However, Anzaldua recasts La Llorona as an uplifting spiritual guide helping Prietita, the leading protagonist of this story, on a special journey.

One day, Prietita is summoned by her younger sister to seek help after their mother falls ill. Prietita seeks the help of a curandera-a healer, who asks Prietita to seek a rue plant found in "King Ranch," which is surrounded by barbed wire and promises that trespassers will be shot. While proving not only a challenging but also dangerous task, Prietita finds the courage to seek the plant in this dangerous territory in order to save her mother. Through her journey inside the King Ranch, Prietita becomes lost and seeks the help of several animals. After almost losing hope in this frightening territory, La Llorona appears as a glowing light helping Prietita find the rue plant.

The incorporation of animals, guiding spirits, and brave young Chicanitas are common elements making "Prietita and the Ghost Woman" a signature work for Anzaldua, who has used these special elements in her work of fiction and poetry. The writing is simple but filled with specific descriptions of each of the narrative's scene that readers may even imagine the story for themselves without the illustrations.

However, the artwork by Christina Gonzalez is spectacular in that she uses many dark and light colors beside intricate patterns in the portraits unfolding the narrative. The artwork enables the reader to carve out and remember the image of La Llorona and Prietita, who are the memorable characters illustrated in beautiful hues of brown.

Aside from using this book for children, I recommend this book for courses in Children's Literature, Women's Literature, Ethnic Studies and Chicana Studies.

This book bought to support the Halloween collection in Library. It was also two languages.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it lacked the "magic" that most Latin American folktales have. The use of imagery could have been better and the ending left readers hanging. Not the best depiction of the true Llorona.

The good news: it's a feminist version of the La Llorona story. The Bad news: it's BORING!! In order to make it more woman-friendly, the author took all the suspense and horror out of the story. The result is only slightly interesting. But, hey, at least the illustrations are good . . .