Still Water Saints: A Novel [Hardcover]

Alex Espinoza (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2007

“As perfect as the beads of a rosary.”
–Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

“Fresh, magical, beautiful, evocative” says Lisa See, about this wonderful first novel by Alex Espinoza. Still Water Saints chronicles a momentous year in the life of Agua Mansa, a largely Latino town beyond the fringes of Los Angeles and home to the Botánica Oshún, where people come seeking charms, herbs, and candles. Above all, they seek the guidance of Perla Portillo, the shop’s owner. Perla has served the community for years, arming her clients with the tools to overcome all manner of crises, large and small. There is Juan, a man coming to terms with the death of his father; Nancy, a recently married schoolteacher; Shawn, an addict looking for peace in his chaotic life; and Rosa, a teenager trying to lose weight and find herself. But when a customer with a troubled and mysterious past arrives, Perla struggles to help and must confront both her unfulfilled hopes and doubts about her place in a rapidly changing world.

Imaginative, inspiring, lyrical, and beautifully written, Still Water Saints evokes the unpredictability of life and the resilience of the spirit through the journeys of the people of Agua Mansa, and especially of the one woman at the center of it all. Theirs are stories of faith and betrayal, love and loss, the bonds of family and community, and the constancy of change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perla Portillo, 72, owns the unofficial spiritual center of the Southern California Agua Mansa community: at Botánica Oshún, she doles out relics, potions and sage advice to clients coping with death, wrestling with transsexual identity and seeking refuge from sexual predation. In telling their stories, Espinoza skillfully weaves together the alternating narrative viewpoints of Perla and her customers. Poignantly rendered are Azúcar, a transgendered dancer who is given an unexpected chance at motherhood while mourning the loss of a friend, and Rodrigo Zamora, a Michoacán teen illegal recovering from a traumatic crossing. Encroaching violence in the community shakes Perla's confidence in the talismanic power of her wares and words. The significance of her constant presence amid the changing situation is clear to many of her returning customers, but Perla must redefine her position within the community in order to find strength to change along with the world. The parade of affliction can get wearisome, and Espinoza, making his debut, doesn't quite bring Perla all the way into focus. But he handles the proceedings with a steady, well-rounded reportage that suits the story. (Feb. 6)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Espinoza vividly brings a small Southern California town to vibrant life in his magical debut centering on Perla, the proprietor of the town's botanica, and the customers who come to her for help. Armed with statues of Buddha and Vishnu, Kachinas, Santos, candles and soaps, herbs and teas, Perla has a cure for everything from diaper rash to kidney stones. Espinoza sends an intriguing melange of townsfolk to her door, including Rosa, an overweight cashier, and Juan, who has been "quiet and sulky" with his girlfriend ever since his father's death, and whose mother grieves not for him but for Elvis. But 15-year-old Rodrigo is Perla's biggest worry. While in Tijuana, he was coerced into joining a group of young males abused by pedophiles, and now, after escaping, he fears for his life. Espinoza is a refreshing new writer. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400065399
• ISBN-13: 978-1400065394
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic New Voice!, May 20, 2007

By 

Richard Carbajal "Richard Pimentel Carbajal" (Henderson, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Still Water Saints: A Novel (Hardcover)

Gripping. A tantalizing view into a world I knew nothing about. Alex Espinoza made me see the world differently. A welcomed new literal author to a world filled with commercialism. I want to go back to Agua Mansa. I wanted to stay but there was no more. I spoke to the author; he's humble and grateful about filling my world with awe. His answer, "Thank you so much for the kind words regarding my book; it is a big compliment when people react the way you do."

This novel's not for the faint of heart; it is filled with elements that may shock you, but the way Alex raps the characters in a mantra of words you swear they are real folks, everyday people you knew nothing about, peppered with delightful insights into quirky lives not everyone's privileged to see.

The Botánica Oshún's a place I want to visit. Teaming with worldly and unworldly oddities. The connection to the unworldly is always around us but we do not see it. Most of us walk this Earth in a fog, neglecting to fan the watery veil to see beyond. If I was a believer before, this cements my pathetic insight to something beyond biological--we've all experienced the warnings, the déjà vu, the "oh had I done it this way," the thought of someone close and the phone rings and it's them on the other end. Confess, we've all been touched by the supernatural and we were all dismissive, calling it `weird'. I was half way through, went to the market and then bought a candle. I lit it. It stayed lit until I finished the book.

Every chapter took me into a different direction--a different life with a different viewpoint. He (Alex) switches from third person to first with such ease that it threw me the first few chapters. Then I understood why he did it. His motives were to make the reader become the character; to feel, taste, hear, smell the things that character did. I understood for the first time --if only briefly--what it was like to be a woman, a man, a junky, a girl, a transgender, a boy lost in a world desperate to get out of only to find there were more traps ahead. These traps that ensnare without conjecture, that thrive on repeatedly drowning those who are pure of heart and those who are not. I felt like a slave, yet I also felt like an artist, a caregiver, a thief, a prostitute, a mere mortal denied the right to know more about the spiritual: A believer that could see but was blind to his/her surroundings. I dare not say more for fear a curse may fall upon me. I better go buy another candle.

Thanks Alex for the ride. I'm waiting for your next novel. And if you find it in your heart to go back to Agua Mansa, take me with you. Please.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, December 6, 2007

By 

S. lew (Fresno, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Still Water Saints: A Novel (Hardcover)

I am lucky enough to attend the university where Alex Espinoza now teaches. I have not been lucky enough to attend one of his classes, yet, but was lucky enough to have him visit my current English class. He is as fascinating in person as his words are on the pages of his novel. Still Water Saints is a moving novel full of characters that readers will find some connection with. This is a must read.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 13, 2007

By 

Edith Correa (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Still Water Saints: A Novel (Hardcover)

I picked this book up while on a trip to Santa Barbara. When I saw the cover and the title it drew me in. I then read the authors bio and I discovered that he was from La Puente. La Puente is my city a place like Agua Mansa with characters and people from all paths of life that often are missing from literature. I was pleasantly surprise to see these characters brought to life through their everyday mishaps and ritualistic ways by Alex Espinoza. This book is a must read. The author does a great job of taking the reader through a roller coaster of emotions through the spiritual and challenging world of its characters.