The Road from La Cueva [Hardcover]

Sheila Ortego (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Ana Howland is at a crisis point. As a constrained yet passionate woman, she finds few outlets for her desires in her role as mother and wife. She is subsumed by a controlling husband, but is craving her own fulfillment. Her frustrations find outlets through a friendship with an eccentric neighbor and an affair with a man who respects her and nurtures her spirit and independence. Through hardship and grim determination, she learns to look with her own eyes, to feel with her own heart. She discovers a deep well of resilience and compassion, with room for growth and freedom. Her story is one of a leap of faith, away from despair and toward life at its fullest. Despite all odds, she navigates herself, through small but profound changes, into new ways of living, of relating to her friends, her daughter, herself. Sheila Ortego is president of Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Born in New Orleans and of Acadian ancestry, Dr. Ortego received her doctorate in American Studies at the University of New Mexico, and since has taught Southwest Literature, Women's Literature, and Women's Studies at several colleges and universities. Her poetry has been published by the "Santa Fe Literary Review," and she has recently been admitted to the "Live Poets Society" in Santa Fe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Ortego's sharp eye and delicate tread make it a vibrant journey of discovery. The Road from La Cueva is slender, but engaging and entirely memorable.' --January Magazine, April 2008

'The author of this book deserves the best of reviews for this touching, heart melting story that could be of any one of our lives. I would give this a five-star rating because it captured me, educated me and let me see that there are true friends and love out there.' --Front Street Reviews, April 2008

About the Author

Sheila Ortego is president of Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Born in New Orleans and of Acadian ancestry, Dr. Ortego received her doctorate in American Studies at the University of New Mexico, and since has taught Southwest Literature, Women's Literature, and Women's Studies at several colleges and universities. Her poetry has been published by the Santa Fe Literary Review, and she has recently been admitted to the Live Poets Society in Santa Fe.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Sunstone Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865345880
• ISBN-13: 978-0865345881
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,935,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review from Alex Pattakos, March 24, 2008

By 

Sheila Ortego "Sheila Ortego" (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road from La Cueva (Hardcover)

Here's a review from Alex Pattakos, author of Prisoners of Our Thoughts:

The Road from La Cueva"A powerful and passionate story about the defiance of the human spirit! The Road from La Cueva is an existential drama that needs to be read by anyone who has ever questioned the deeper meaning of their life's circumstances. In an engaging and empowering style, Dr. Sheila Ortego takes us on an adventurous road trip through the hills and valleys of the human experience. And she does it with characters with whom we can all resonate on some level! Here's an intimate, authentic account of the struggle within that all of us, as human beings, must face in our everyday lives."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silent scream..., March 21, 2010

By 

Claudia A. Simes "seraphim" (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Road from La Cueva (Paperback)

...this story will make laugh, cry, and finally rejoice at the power of the human spirit. While it is a story as told by Ana Howland, it is not restricted to the lives of women. It will touch a nerve for any person that has, for any number of reasons, surrendered their spirit to another human being. And that person took it without regard for the gifts they held in their hands. The gifts of love and trust. It is about control.

Her journey takes you on a "road" sometimes tended to but, more often muddied and challanging while pulling neighbors, friends, and family along the way. It tells how she loses herself in order to meet with the approval of another only to hit the bottom to find she is no longer the person she wanted to be...living the life she wanted to live. The only way is up and Ana does this without compromising her beliefs by taking control of herself again. This strengthens the relationship with her child, her family, and eventualy her heart. Once she loves herself again she can love another.

Ana shows us that the road to La Cueva, as in life, may be long and tortuous but when you stay true to yourself, you will reach your final destination. This is "Mapquest" for the human spirt!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful journey of change, June 8, 2009

By 

Terri B. (So Cal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road from La Cueva (Paperback)

This beautifully written novel tells the story of one woman's journey of self-discovery. The novel doesn't only contend with Ana Howland's increasing sense of being smothered by a domineering and controlling husband, but also shows her growing realization that she has always lived under the overbearing weight of an oppressive relationship. Neither her authoritarian mother nor her dictatorial husband can accept her as a separate and imperfect person.

The Road from La Cueva is full of metaphor and in the hands of Ortego, the use of this device brings a richness and poetry to a topic that might seem trite in other hands. We are given a deeper glimpse into Ana's struggles through the images of the hostile road from La Cueva, the stubborn clay shaped by the potter, and the Changing Woman Ceremony (sometimes called the Sunrise Ceremony).

The road to and from Ana's home is a very tangible representation of those oppressive relationships in her life. When this dirt road is dry, it is as hard and unyielding as rock ... ready to tear up and break what dares to pass over it. Wet, the road is even worse. It oozes over and sucks everything into it with "a satisfied, brown belch."

The beauty of the imperfect is gorgeously represented through the craft of pottery. As Ana learns this craft from Michael, a co-worker, she notices that one of his creations has an uneven rim.

"He ran his fingers around the rim of the cup. 'See how this isn't even? The Japanese call this shibui, the flaw that makes something beautiful. The shape has to have some room, some freedom.' ... 'Like with people,' he said, and she nodded."

It is this very room and freedom that is lacking in Ana's life. She has allowed the oppressive behaviors of others to weigh down her very being and she knows that it is something only she can change.

One of the most beautiful chapters in the book is the one describing the Changing Woman Ceremony, a Native American ceremony celebrating the change from girlhood to womanhood. Ana already knows that the means to change her life is within reach. It becomes more apparent as she watches the ceremony and recognizes her own internal strength and power as a woman. No longer will she be passively shaped by others. Ana already has the ability to gain command over her weaknesses, to be physically and emotionally strong, and to endure and suffer with dignity. Before the readers' eyes, "[she is shaped] ... into the woman she [is] to become." Her deep compassion and resilience form a strong core around which to emerge.

The Road from La Cueva is an encouraging look at the power we all have to shape our own lives. The passion and beauty of the writing is something that will draw me back to this story repeatedly.