La Taza Azul [Paperback]

Ricardo Ali Fernandez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2009

La Taza Azul, by Ricardo Ali Fernandez, explores the intricacies of family, mental illness, inner and outer experience, mind control, and the mystery of emotional healing. Through first person reminiscence and overlapping family histories, Fernandez’s insightful and creative storytelling throws a much-needed light on the dark and mysterious world of government mind control and its lasting effects on the minds of innocents. Fernandez’s La Taza Azul comes to grips with with the best and worst of human nature, family dynamics, political conspiracy, and the power of the human spirit to heal gross injustice. Told in a warm and engaging style and with a narrative flare worthy of the best in the genre, La Taza Azul tells a compelling and redemptive tale that reminds us of the transcendent power of hope and healing power of the human spirit.

Product Details

• Paperback: 402 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (March 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439219060
• ISBN-13: 978-1439219065
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,094,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what is real?, April 8, 2011

By 

Jill Snodgrass (Papillion, NE, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: La Taza Azul (Paperback)

In La Taza Azul, Fernandez presents a highly complex cast of characters that steadily form a web of relationships to a subject whose understanding of reality becomes more gray in each successive chapter. The nature of language and its importance in object relations theory becomes exemplified in strong, palpable terms. From simple slips of the tongue noted in psychoanalysis; (saying crotch instead of coach, wail instead of whale) the reader is provided a unique perspective on mental wellness that challenges one's definition of what is real in everyday life. How does one quantify paranoia? What is the likelihood that people you know are in fact who they say they are? Is your knowledge of the people you know, love and trust based only on a memory? And can't your memory be altered? What typifies a conversation with a good friend versus an encounter with a psychotherapist?

What better way to experience the confusion that persists in diagnoseable paranoid schizophrenia than to expose the reader to a bewildering cast of characters who compete for your attention? In fact I wish I had thought of it myself. Without a father of significant influence (a strong "no") curiosity develops in Fernandez as to whether people in his life are "real." Amidst the sharing of experiences based on real relationships with real people this curiosity develops over time in Fernandez as he dialogues with a trusted confidante. In the wake of WWII and McCarthyism, the presence of the controversial MK-Uktra program presents a plausible explanation for paranoia and psychosis. Fernandez presents an intensely real subjective experience of MCPs (mind control programs) that makes everyday experiences seem not unlike a frightening psychedelic trip.

Could the failed reality testing characteristc of paranoia not be based on an organic cause in the brain, but rather based on political, social, cultural and familial influences? It would seem the answer has just as much to do with the development of language itself. And in an environment of post WWII fear, irrational fears (phobias) seem to be just as real as rational fears. La Taza Azul seems to suggest social conditioning in language can be just as legitimate a cause of psychosis in such a way that none of us can ultimately know what is objectively real. In fact, it can't be distinguished at all any more than a definition of mental illness is but a cluster of normal symptoms.

Worldviews are shaped by memories, and memories are maleable like clay. Only later on do we discover how our experience has shaped us one little conclusion after another. Long ago your early experiences shaped who you came to be, beginning (presumably) from the time you developed language, but actually from the time shortly after you were conceived. You learned "not to strut" from one experience, an "unconscious stamp" was imprinted upon you in another, and you learned having "no associations" while appearing to be comfortable actually left blind spots in your awareness and emptiness in many of your relationships.

Prepare to get dizzy. La Taza Azul will leave you asking the right questions.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thunderstom of emotions, August 21, 2009

By 

A. Nunez - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: La Taza Azul (Paperback)

Mr. Fernandez is an aging former social worker who is being interviewed by a former patient. The irony is striking as the patient becomes a pseudo-therapist who helps Mr. Fernandez reconcile with his most painful and deep memories. Mr. Fernandez begins chronicling a life full of psychological trauma from early on in his childhood, memories that are deeply rooted in his mind. Learn how secret government organizations manipulate citizens with impunity. While the story sometimes gets confusing with the "look-alikes" it was well worth reading.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars State-Secrets and the MCP's inner workings, October 11, 2010

By 

Doc Olson - See all my reviews

This review is from: La Taza Azul (Paperback)

For someone to write a book like this they would have had to live the story. The twists and turns, with raw flashbacks, have to be the author reliving his own repressed memories. Further, the depth of psychology in those characters that join the various mind control programs helps the reader understand possible circumstances; whereby, intelligent people might, unwisely turn to torturing others to get what they want. After reading this I question the wisdom of current judicial decisions that pardon the abusive application of the state-secrets privilege doctrine at the expense of social justice, self-determination, and accountability. The author's first hand experiences with manipulative brain washing and state sponsored covert mind control are haunting. But not all is lost as two of the narrative's heroes, Leonardo and Rico show the healing power of healthy human relations. I definitely recommend this book.