Category: Fictional Faves

A book reviewing category highlighting books being written about and marketed to Latinas

Movie Review: Desierto

Posted on by Amada Acosta Addair in Fictional Faves, Film Fest

“Desierto” is a horror/action movie starring my favorite Mexican actor, Gael Garcia Bernal. It also features Jeffrey Dean Morgan as antagonist/bad guy/monster. Garcia Bernal plays a man trying to get back to his son who is living in California. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays a man embittered by conservative rhetoric on immigration who sees himself as the person protecting the US-Mexico border.

The movie features a small group of people crossing the border. The coyotes (slang name given to human traffickers) who are paid to transport these people have a problem with the vehicle. They force their people to walk through the desert (i.e. Desierto) and that is when the real horror begins.

The movie focuses on the action of Morgan hunting migrants. The anxiety of whether or not Garcia Bernal will die carries the movie quite well. Despite the lack of dialogue, the movie is quite good and extremely horrifying. The scariest part of the story is the mind of Morgan. The rhetoric that demonizes immigrants serves to infect the minds of people who listen to it. Overall, I recommend the movie.

Do you like horror movies featuring real life monsters (i.e. murderers) or invented monsters?

“Rosemary Does Time*”

Posted on by Amada Acosta Addair in Fictional Faves, Mama, Men, Write here, write now

Rosemary stepped onto the fourth floor of the courthouse. “Domestics & Civil,” a sign on the wall read. She looked around. A security guard stood near courtroom three. A man sat at a bench looking angry. People eyeballed one another. Didn’t look so civil. 

Rosemary spotted her attorney with another client. A hand-guided suggestion to sit near courtroom four, was the physical communication her attorney gave. Rosemary followed suit.

Thirty minutes, she noted on her diamond-encrusted Tag Hauer. She had come too early. That was just like Rosemary. So fucking eager. That had always been her weakness. The reason she had landed in the big house in the first place. Seven minutes in heaven? Seventeen years in hell.

“At least he was a good provider.” She heard a voice inside her say. She knew that voice. It was mother’s voice saying the thing Rosemary had once heard grandmother say to her mother.

When Rosemary realized that she was pregnant, Ronald was in his fifth year of college. He barely had enough credits to be considered a first semester junior. But, his parents owned the largest insurance company in the State. Ronald got a Director of Marketing title and a nice office. Rosemary got the M-R-S title and a white, two-story house.

Rosemary extended her left hand to look at the engagement ring. She still hadn’t taken off the two-carat diamond. It was a fine piece of jewelry. And it, along with a home filled with objects had pacified her during the marriage. Ronald was good at gifts; bad at surprises.

Like the time he surprised her during a party at their house. She went downstairs to get more paper products and found him fucking one of her friends in the storage room. 

Like the time he surprised her with an STD.

Liked the time he surprised her son with a fast car. Like the times he allowed her son to have a “drink with dad.” Like the times he taught her son to drive drunk. Like the time…

STOP!

She breathed in through her nose. Held her breath for a five count. Exhaled through her mouth.  

She would not grieve Charles. Not like this. Not. Like. This.  

She would grieve Charles by thinking of all the good times they shared together. The bike rides along Linear Trail. Sunday dinners with family and friends. The road trips Ronald planned for them.

Yes, she would even remember Ronald’s role in the good times. After all, he was part of the good times that she had with her son. A double-edged sword of happy memories and sad thoughts. She could see herself getting addicted to the pain.

“Adoption Day!” A family near courtroom three cheered. A pretty brunette started talking into a phone. “This is our Facebook live event.” 

Rosemary looked at the floor. Adoption day. Maybe she should have considered an adoption day. If she had Charles would still be…

No! She stopped herself. She would never have given Charles up. He was a beautiful baby. He was the perfect baby, her baby. She closed her eyes and saw his beautiful face. Dark bushy eyebrows, jet black hair, and full lips; those had been her gifts to him. Love of music and dancing. Zest for life. He had gained all the best of her Puerto Rican heritage.

And, he had gained some of the worst features of her heritage… Reckless, daring, and her father’s machista attitude. Those had been the other attributes he had gained from her side.

No. Ronald was a machista and he wasn’t Latino. “I’m the man, sweetheart.” He said when she requested he consult with her before making family decisions. It did not matter that her father was a machista and Latino. Ronald was a machista and white. Ethnicity didn’t matter to male dominance.

She looked around for Ronald. Of course, he wasn’t going to show up. He had never shown up for the marriage. Why would he show up for its end?

Rosemary thought about her time moving forward. She had been a child, a freshman in college, when she married at 19. She became a mother at 20. Now at 37, she was going to be single and childless. She had never learned who she was. Now, she was losing everything that she had ever been. 

Rosemary stood up. She did not need to be thinking like this. Not like this. She inhaled through her nose. She went to the nearest restroom. The lighting was horrible but at least there was a full-length mirror. Rosemary stood before it, examining her navy pants and matching jacket. She was going for professional and strong. A crisp white button-down shirt and her favorite scarf, the one she bought in Paris, completed her outfit of choice to commemorate the end of her past. 

She brushed her hands through the dark slanted bob. She had cut off over sixteen inches of hair last night. She applied a plum colored gloss on her lips. Rosemary was ready to get regain her freedom. She would do great things with it. And, she would never take her life, herself, for granted. 

Rosemary’s first order of business; take a road trip with her sister. She had never taken advantage of the liberal paid time off she received while working at her in-law’s insurance company. She had, for example, never gone on a girls’ trip. She would do that now.

Rosemary returned to the hall and found her attorney ready to go into the courtroom. They stood at one of the tables and waited for the judge to appear. “Answer the questions,” her lawyer said. Confirm the agreement.

“All rise.” 

Rosemary watched the judge sit on his bench. He was serious looking in his black robe. His black-framed glasses contrasted sharply with his white hair. He motioned her to the witness stand. 

Rosemary raised her right hand. “I do.” She responded when asked about telling the truth. But could she? Could she tell the truth about her relationship? Did she herself even know what the truth was? She knew what her mother had said, “you do the crime; you pay the time.” 

What had been her crime anyway? Giving her virginity up to a frat boy who did not believe in condoms. No. She would not beat herself up about that. No more. Rosemary knew it was time; time for her to get out. She would call it… early release for good behavior.

“I filed.” She looked at the judge’s face. She wondered if he was a parent. “Incompatibility.” She responded to her lawyer’s question. 

She took a breath and braced herself for the question that was about to come. “Yes. But he died. There are no other children under the age of majority. No other children period.”

The judge looked down at his hands. He was a parent. She recognized the discomfort he felt. It was the discomfort every parent now felt around her. 

“Yes, the agreement is fair, just, and equitable.” She responded. 

Rosemary had been surprised by that. She expected Ronald’s family to rally around him. Especially after Charles’s funeral where she had been poisoned by grief; “he’s dead and it’s on you.” She blamed Ronald; threw it in his face. 

“Thank you, your honor.” Rosemary said after the judge wished her luck. 

Out in the hallway, Rosemary thanked her lawyer and walked away. Her seventeen-year sentence commuted. Ready for a freedom she had not wanted, she walked out the courtroom a childless mother and an ex-wife. But, she walked out a woman ready to be focused on herself. Rosemary’s time was now her own.

*A story about love… or at least the end of it. Welcome to my blog. Today, I am excited to share a short story I wrote a few years ago. Copyright 2018 by Amada Acosta Addair (Gabriela Amada Vega Acosta.)

Book Review: The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria

Posted on by Amada Acosta Addair in Book Club Babes, Fictional Faves

If you enjoy the fast pace of a short story or are a fan of science fiction, I have the book for you. The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria by Carlos Hernandez.

This twelve story collection was a very different read for me. I am not a huge fan of sci-fi. But, I found the stories in this book to be fun, funny, and fundamentally interesting. You can read each in less than one hour. But, I do encourage you to give yourself one hour for each one. You see, after each story I found myself pondering the messages that lay beneath the surface of the story.

For example, in Hernandez’s short story, “Fantaisie Impromptu No. 4 in C#min, Op. 66” you find a journalist interviewing the wife of a piano virtuoso. The two protagonists, a journalist and the wife of a dead concert pianist, of the story are discussing the famous pianist’s soul, which the wife believes to be contained within a piano. The question, if technology could capture the souls of people, would the soul ever get respite? I thought about this after I spoke to my spouse about how the entertainment industry is using holographic imagery to perpetuate the careers of people like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Michael Jackson. This enables them to continue to reap profits from these dead musicians. And, this story actually made me wonder about the impact to the souls of these still loved artists. Alternately, is it better to be remembered and get no respite than to be forgotten?

All of the stories in this book have an interesting mix of science and faith, reality and magic. It is a good book. And because it is a compilation of short stories, even if you finish a story and do not pick the book back up for a month you will be fine. Your story recollection is not compromised because you go on to a new story. In sum, I highly recommend this book.

Have you read any other works by Carlos Hernandez?

Book Review: They Call Me Guero

Posted on by Amada Acosta Addair in Book Club Babes, Fictional Faves, Poetic License

They Call Me Guero by David Bowles is a great middle grade poetry book.

The book features a Mexican-American, middle-school boy who lives on the Texas-Mexico border. He is called Guero because of his light complexion and “white-looking” appearances. For me, this was particularly poignant as the book’s protagonist reminded me of my very own Guero, the oldest of my brothers who’s corn-colored hair and blueish-green eyes earned him this nickname in our family.

The poems in the book share with the reader Guero’s everyday experiences. The topics and titles in the book are wide-ranging. They include “First Day of Seventh Grade”, “Los Bobbys” (an ode to his squad, three boys named Bobby), “Joanna La Fregona” (a poem about his special girl), and “Father’s Day.”

I found Guero’s story endearing and beautiful. This excellent book showcases the rich culture of the Texas borderlands. It is filled with heart and told from the perspective of a hopeful, young man. If you enjoy books like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Diary of a Wimpy Kid you will love this book.

I highly recommend it and encourage you to consider giving it to a young person this holiday season.

Book Review: Kulti by Mariana Zapata

Posted on by Amada Acosta Addair in Book Club Babes, Fictional Faves

For years, I have been passionate about sharing books and authors focused on Latinx representation. As a reader, I have always loved being able to get lost in a book. Kulti by Marian Zapata met both of these needs.

Kulti is led by protagonist, Sal Casillas, a Latina playing professional soccer in the US. The book’s action begins when her childhood hero/crush, international soccer star Ryan Kulti joins her team to serve as assistant coach. Kulti and Casillas begin a mentoring relationship in which the focus is advancing her soccer skills. Meanwhile, Sal’s tenuous relationships with teammates begin to crumble as rumors circulate about her relationship with Kulti.

In this book, the lead character is a career-focused Latina. That resonated with me because I am a career-focused Latina. And although my career is not the same as the characters, being able to identify a hard-working, career-focused Latin lady in a non-labor job was cool to see.

I thought this was a strong storyline, for “chick” lit. The writing was compelling. You wanted to finish the chapter and start the next one. But the most important aspects of this book for me were its diversity and apolitical message.

The truth is that as a lifelong reader, I have had to make efforts to find books like this one- books featuring protagonists living regular lives. Normally, books featuring Latino protagonists are immigration focused-stories. As an immigrant, I do acknowledge that immigrant stories are important. But, as someone who grew up in this country and feels American it was nice to see a regular American woman who happens to be Latina, living her life.

If I had to give this book any criticism, it would be that the end of the book turns romantic and I wish that this had not happened. I wish that the story had allowed the male and female leads to just remain as friends. Of course, that romantic turn is what puts this story in the “Chick Lit” genre.

Overall, I found this book incredibly satisfying. I thought that the author did a great job of making a likable character and a good storyline. The story kept me hooked until the end. I highly recommend it.