In the first part we meet the narrator Celaya (known as Lala) on her large family's annual summer drive from Chicago to Mexico City to visit her paternal grandparents.
The book is largely about the nature of truth, fiction and "good lies" particularly in the way they relate to the telling of family stories. Another minor frustration is the number of sometimes lengthy footnotes, which appear at the end of the chapters, which means finding them is a little disruptive to the reading flow. For me this did not seriously affect my ability to follow the story or understand the nuances of the Mexican characters. The text, particularly the sections set in Mexico, is liberally sprinkled with Spanish and Mexican dialect words and phrases, and while many are translated or partially explained afterwards, many are not. Those who like to understand every word of a novel will find this a frustrating reading experience if, like me, they have never been taught Spanish. Cisneros is a poet who is not as well known on this side of the Atlantic. I enjoyed this Mexican-American family story rather more than I expected to, so thanks to the 21st Century Literature group for selecting it for a group read. From the winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. Like the cherished rebozo, or shawl, that has been passed down through generations of Reyes women, Caramelo is alive with the vibrations of history, family, and love. Soon, a multigenerational family narrative turns into a whirlwind exploration of storytelling, lies, and life. Struggling to find a voice above the boom of her brothers and to understand her place on this side of the border and that, Lala is a shrewd observer of family life. But when she starts telling the Awful Grandmother's life story, seeking clues to how she got to be so awful, grandmother accuses Lala of exaggerating.
Every year, Ceyala “Lala” Reyes' family-aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, and Lala's six older brothers-packs up three cars and, in a wild ride, drive from Chicago to the Little Grandfather and Awful Grandmother's house in Mexico City for the summer. From the celebrated bestselling author of The House on Mango Street and winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.
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