We kick off the "good" streak with a debut novel, Brando Skyhorse's The Madonnas of Echo Park. I mentioned I liked funky titled books and here, even the author's name plays along as well!
While I have already given away that I liked this book, I will say that it reminded me, mostly favorably, of a few other novels I have read in the fairly recent past. I know that if you haven't read them, the comparisons won't mean much, but I suspect the books all orbit in the same "if you liked this, read this" universe, so if you haven't read them, maybe you plan to or will, but just don't know it yet!
So anyhow.. the coincidental (or magical) intersecting of lives recalled Let The Great World Spin... the authentic ethnic voice and edge was quite reminiscent of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao... and the nostalgia factor of the 1980s and a very particular place (also from a non-white perspective) made me think of Sag Harbor. (For the record, I'd give Great World the edge over Madonnas, but on-par/better than Oscar Wao, and much, much better than Sag Harbor).
But before any of that, Skyhorse brilliantly kicks things off with an author's note, recalling an episode for his youth that inspired, or perhaps more accurately haunted, him into writing this debut novel. The result is not only a love letter (though not often a pretty one) to his home, the ever-evolving and largely Mexican Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park, but an attempt at some personal redemption. If that doesn't do it for you, it is hard not to be wow'd, particularly with the current contentiousness re: immigration, by the novel's opening line: "We slipped into this country like thieves, onto the land that once was ours." From there, we jump in out out of the lives of the Mexican-Americans and American-Mexicans... btw, Skyhorse is of Mexican descent, born and raised in Echo Park, his last name coming from a Native American stepfather.
As for (mild) criticism, and with books/novels of this nature in general, a consistent quality from story to story is pretty much impossible to maintain. I thought many of the stories were truly great, while others were merely "good." As with Great World, a lot also rides on one's tolerance of happenstance, with Skyhorse tending to throw a twist at the end story/chapter. It's a bit of a literary tightrope walk and while I never felt he faltered, there were a few balance checks along the way. Lastly, since you don't have the full (or at least a more complete) picture until the end, this novel certainly would benefit from a re-reading, but who has time for that! But overall, a quite compelling and impressive debut.
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