From Publishers Weekly
In December 1531, an Aztec Indian named Juan Diego climbed a hill in Mexico that had long been home to a shrine to the Aztec mother goddess. There, Diego encountered the radiant apparition of a beautiful young woman. Hanut, a photographer and author (I Wish You Love: Conversations with Marlene Dietrich), recounts how this woman, who introduced herself by a name later interpreted as "Guadalupe," dispatched Diego to the Spanish bishop to command that a shrine to her be built on the site of her appearance. Hanut interweaves the fantastic story of the Lady of Guadalupe with a piquant, deliciously iconoclastic account of his own pilgrimage to contemporary Mexico City. Wading through armies of rosary- and candle-sellers, nasty nuns and believers of every stripe to behold the image of Guadalupe that miraculously appeared on Diego's "tilma," or serape, Hanut captures the way this mysterious divine force overflows every container and impediment, from the Catholic church to the commercialization that grows up around her image. What makes Hanut's account special is his unsparing honesty and his refusal to gloss over inconvenient details like Mexican poverty or the sinuous brew of witchcraft and prayer that this goddess of the Americas evokes. Over the course of his journey, Hanut reveals with profound insight how loving and seeking the divine with abandon can be coupled with the dignity of true discernment. His faith is tempered by his keen eye for human pretense and manipulation, and many readers will be served by his example.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Writer and photographer Hanut (I Wish You Love: Conversations with Marlene Dietrich) paints a vivid picture of his pilgrimage to the site of the 16th-century Marian visitation in what is now Mexico City. He interweaves the story of his pilgrimage with a description of the events surrounding the apparition, based on the Nahuatl text. This many-layered book contains Hanut's reflections on subjects from early Aztec-Spaniard contact to Frida Kahlo to the folk magic practice of brujeria. A skillful observer, Hanut brings to life the characters he meets; his tone falls somewhere between skeptic and true believer. He devotes much of the book to considerations of the Tilma, the cloth relic that belonged to Juan Diego (the man to whom the Virgin Mary appeared) and was purportedly imprinted by her with an image of herself. There are many miracle stories associated with the relic, and scientific study has not been able to conclusively determine its origin. Recommended for public libraries. Stephen Joseph, Butler Cty. Community Coll., PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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