the house of broken angels luis alberto urrea

For one, the de La Cruzes are on “Mexican time.” For a good portion of the party planning and the novel, some family member is late for some important event, much to everyone else’s over-the-top chagrin. But not before he throws one last rousing fiesta with all of his friends and relatives in attendance, just a day after his nearly 100-year-old mother’s funeral.Įxpectedly, shenanigans ensue. At 70 and in a wheelchair, Big Angel’s frail body is riddled with cancer, and he’s on his way out. the stuff of legend.' - San Francisco Chronicle 'An immensely charming and moving tale.' - Boston Globe National Bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist A New York Times Notable Book One of the Best Books of the Year from National Public Radio, American Library Association, San Francisco Chronicle, BookPage, Newsday, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, St.Inspired by the final days of Urrea’s older half-brother Juan, who died in 2016, the narrative circles around Big Angel, the once-imposing patriarch of the sprawling de La Cruz family.

Highly entertaining.' - New York Times Book Review 'Intimate and touching. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life.Īcross two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighborhood, the revelers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party.

In this 'raucous, moving, and necessary' story by a Pulitzer Prize finalist ( San Francisco Chronicle), the De La Cruzes, a family on the Mexican-American border, celebrate two of their most beloved relatives during a joyous and bittersweet weekend.

The house of broken angels luis alberto urrea