Thirteen Senses: A Memoir (Paperback)

~ Victor Villasenor (Author) "WAS IT LOVE?..." (more)
Key Phrases: laughing con carcajadas, thirteen senses, big abrazo, Doña Margarita, Don Victor, Doña Guadalupe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A good story, Victor Villaseñor writes in the opening pages of this sequel to Rain of Gold, can save your life.

Consider, he continues in this memorable portrait of Latino family life, the case of his grandparents, who fled from civil-war-torn Mexico to the United States in 1910. As they traveled north, his father told Villaseñor, "Cannons were blasting. People were screaming and dying. The creeks ran red with blood." But Villaseñor's grandmother's stories about "the stars, the moon, the she-fox" kept the children's minds off the terrors around them, guiding them to their new homeland and shaping family history. That history provides the grist for Villaseñor's exuberantly spinning mill, yielding a sprawling narrative shot through with touches of magical realism and homespun philosophy, and tinged occasionally with regret--as when, for instance, Villaseñor's mother confesses, "I miss your father so much ... but I'm the one who could never bring myself to tell him that I loved him."

But sorrow is rare and humor plentiful as Villaseñor affectionately recounts his relatives' travails and improbable dreams, some of which, like a grandfather's quest for gold in a hidden Mexican canyon, come true. As he writes, Villaseñor underscores the importance of tradition, faith, forgiveness, and, yes, good stories in making life livable, and this good story will please many readers. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Villasenor's admirable family epic, Rain of Gold (Arte Publico, 1991) will be hard-pressed to wade through this massive, workmanlike sequel. The book's humorous opening at the 50th-anniversary renewal of Villasenor's parents' wedding vows, the "bride" refuses to say "obey" as her sister catcalls from the front pew about the groom's unreliability gives way to a series of simplistic feminist diatribes followed by a nasty family squabble. The author then tracks his mother and father, Lupe and Salvador, through the passionate and turbulent first years of their marriage, always shadowed by Salvador's bootlegging and deceit, always redeemed by Lupe's fiery strength, her bottom-line common sense and a hearty helping of sex. Lupe follows Salvador around Mexico on his criminal and other exploits before putting her foot down; the book leaves them at the start of a presumably lawful, relatively calm life in California. Though the author espouses feminist views, his female characters are one-dimensional, axiom-spouting cultural stereotypes: suffering, saintly and bitter. Where the earlier book offered an enjoyable, unreconstructed representation of early 20th-century rural Mexican culture, here that culture has been infected by a feel-good mysticism that even the California setting doesn't excuse. The story meanders through linguistic anachronisms (no man in 1929 would have said "full Latina hips"), mixed metaphors, aimless digressions, countless exclamation marks and warmed-over New Age imagery like "The Father Sun was now gone, and the Mother Moon was coming up, and the Child Earth was cooling." The author's central question about his parents' relationship "Was it love?" brings a neat if superficial unity to the narrative. 8 pages b&w photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (September 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060935677
• ISBN-13: 978-0060935672
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #173,362 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #54 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Hispanic

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INCREDIBLE!!, October 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Thirteen Senses: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Victor Villasenor has done it again. He brings the gift of his family's continuing history once again. We meet up again with Lupe and Salvador on their journey through life together. I can say that this book along with Rain of Gold has touched me like no other. I have finished the book and already miss the characters. I applaude and thank the author for his wonderful gift...

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars frantic and disappointing, January 1, 2002

By	Lisa Dilles "sweet lisa" (santa cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Thirteen Senses: A Memoir (Hardcover)

I really looked forward to reading this book. I had read Rain of Gold in Spanish, and actually I read this one in Spanish too. Mamma mia! I have never read a book with so many exclamation marks. All the bolded phrases about Papito Dios etc became quite annoying as time went on. The story related in this book was also tedious and silly. I'm sure his parents were great- the photos are the best part of the book- but I began skimming about halfway through because I couldn't bear the hysterical and preachy tone anymore. Sorry!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good story can save your life, September 7, 2001

By	Arline Curtiss "treeperson" (Escondido, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thirteen Senses: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Victor Villasenor writes like the very re-incarnation of the Muse itself. A classicist who knows his plot, knows his characters, knows the very stars from which we all come because he writes the truth that is stranger and more mysterious than fiction. His publisher says he writes about his own family. We know better. We know he writes about us, about us as family, about who we want to be and how we settle for who we are. And how, at the very moment of doom, we can and must demand justice from our God in order to get it.

Lupe is the heroine of this fantastic saga of human adventure. You will love Lupe. You will learn what it really means to be a beautiful woman from Lupe. You will learn what it really means to love a man from Lupe. You will learn what it really means to love life from Lupe. You will learn what it means to wake up one morning, as a new bride, and realize you have just made the biggest mistake of your life from Lupe. You will learn what it really means to honor the major commitments of your life from Lupe. You will learn how to be practically and deliciously wicked from Lupe. But most of all you will love Lupe.