Particularize About Books Caramelo
| Title | : | Caramelo |
| Author | : | Sandra Cisneros |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 441 pages |
| Published | : | September 9th 2003 by Vintage (first published September 24th 2002) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Novels |
Sandra Cisneros
Paperback | Pages: 441 pages Rating: 3.9 | 10080 Users | 809 Reviews
Relation Supposing Books Caramelo
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. 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. Soon, a multigenerational family narrative turns into a whirlwind exploration of storytelling, lies, and life. 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.
Mention Books During Caramelo
| Original Title: | Caramelo |
| ISBN: | 0679742581 (ISBN13: 9780679742586) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Orange Prize Nominee for Fiction Longlist (2003), International Dublin Literary Award Nominee (2004) |
Rating About Books Caramelo
Ratings: 3.9 From 10080 Users | 809 ReviewsWrite-Up About Books Caramelo
Caramelo is a most unusual book. It is part-memoir, part-fiction, part-retelling of The House on Mango Street, and part-dream. Knowing very well what I do of Sandra Cisneros and her generally small body of work, I can never quite tell where the line between Caramelo's main character (Lala Reyes) and Cisneros herself actually is. Several incidents in this novel even mirror Esperanza's tale and those of her poems, muddying even more the line between fact and fiction and more fiction.When I heardI really enjoyed this book. It took me a long time to read it because I would get through a chapter (all chapters are very short) and have to reminisce about my own personal experiences. Cisneros brings to the forefront issues that many Latinas face. Annoyance of metiche family members and crazy tales they tell, but also a deep love for family. She sprinkled in Spanish words I hadnt heard in years, that I grew up with but I just dont hear in Austin. I did realize I am a "Texican"ha ha, Im not
Just what you'd expect from Cisneros--vivid language that leaves you with fragments of flavors, colors, sounds, and sensations. You travel to and from Chicago, Mexico, and San Antonio with the characters and you grow to love them along the way. What I didn't like was the ongoing metafictional conversation between the narrator and the grandmother about memory and facts, and how they are altered for the greater truth of the story. Why do authors writing autobiographical novels feel the need to
I only made it to page 67. As other reviewers have mentioned, this book is probably excellent for people who are fluent in Spanish and English. I missed a lot of the story and underlying meaning due to my nonexistent Spanish skills. Yet again, I wish I had studied Spanish!
I really love Cisneros' narrative technique in this book -- the interplay of fiction and history (complete with footnotes and backstory about the "real" events/people that pepper the novel), the changing viewpoints (Celaya vs. The Awful Grandmother), the jump in time periods (executed so much more creatively than your average flashback), the repetition of themes and words and phrases in a manner that pushes the story forward ("just enough," the girl who can't keep a secret, etc.), the way
Although at times I got a little lost in the different threads involved in this story, overall I loved reading about the Reyes family and their summer visits to the narrator's grandmother's house in Mexico City. The Awful Grandmother, she is called. Why? Eventually, in the middle part of the book, we learn the answers to that question, and I for one had much more sympathy for her after that. Slowly, over the course of the entire book, we see our narrator growing up, learning who she is and who
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