Lazos de sangre /Blood Ties (Spanish Edition)

This collection of six short novellas by celebrated Puerto Rican author Ferré revolves around the extended family of Rose Monroig Arizmendi and reveals much about gender, race, and class in Puerto Rican culture, Boricua identity, and the island's singular relationship with the mainland. The first half of the novellas deals with the Arizmendi family: "Irene's Betrayal" acquaints the reader with the clan and the island setting and foreshadows much of what is to come; "Angela's Flight" relates the story of a beauty married to an unfaithful mama's boy; and in "Julia's Glooms," Rose's family becomes embroiled in the island's political struggles. In the second half, treating the Monroigs, Marta, "La patagona," studies in New York and discovers the advantages of being an athlete with large feet, and Cata comes to terms with her lover's marriage after overindulging in "Champagne in the Chicken Coop." The final story, "Tiger by the Tail," which occupies the final 100 pages, is an unexpected tale of intrigue. The casual reader will delight in the loves and losses, and the more analytical reader will be engrossed by the broader themes. Ferré's stature in letters mandates this as an essential purchase for academic and public libraries and bookstores serving Puerto Rican populations or with strong women's literature collections.—Carolyn Kost, Stevenson Sch. Lib., Pebble Beach, CA