Product Description

Focusing on the relationship between two fiercely independent women--Teresa, a writer, and Alicia, an artist--this epistolary novel was written as a tribute to Julio Cortázar's Hopscotch and examines Latina forms of love, gender conflict, and female friendship. Ana Castillo's groundbreaking first novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters, received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation and is widely studied as a feminist text on the nature of self-conflict.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #330330 in Books
• Published on: 1992-04-17
• Released on: 1992-03-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
"A wonderful, wonderful book." --Maxine Hong Kingston

"Like a disciplined athlete, Castillo makes even the most difficult moves look easy." --San Francisco Chronicle -- Review

The table of contents gives three options as to the order in which the forty letters in this epistolary novel may be read: one for the conformist, one for the cynic, and one for the quixotic. With each option a different and powerful story emerges; a book group could have a fascinating discussion about this book if each person chooses her own option. The letters are written by an Indian/Mexican woman from Chicago to her Anglo friend. The two meet in Mexico when they are twenty years old and over the next ten years correspond, visit, and travel together. Through these letters, the stories of their lives emerge: with and without jobs, with and without husbands or boyfriends. These are stories of opposites: one is an artist who is always sketching and can't stand alcohol or cigarettes, the other a poet who likes to smoke and drink with the company at hand. One is distant and stand-offish, her world coming alive when she dances, the other a believer in spirits and intangible forces. Each letter can be a story in itself; each letter delivers to the reader the power of a woman's words of relationship and life: "We needled, stabbed, manipulated, cut, and through it all we loved, driven to see the other improved in her own reflection." -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Holly Smith

Review
"A wonderful, wonderful book." --Maxine Hong Kingston

"Like a disciplined athlete, Castillo makes even the most difficult moves look easy." --San Francisco Chronicle

From the Publisher
The first novel by the noted Chicana poet, this is an epistolary novel in the tradition of Cortozor's Hopscotch. It focuses on the friendship between two strong and fiercely independent Hispanic women and examines Mexican and Hispanic forms of love and gender conflict and the role thal female friendships play within it.

Customer Reviews

Anyone can relate
Have you ever felt disenfranchised either because you are a person of color, a woman, an outsider? Like you did not fit in but forced you way in anyway? Like the way you choose was a bit dangerous but still you loved it? Castillo captures those feelings and the ones we have when we share those wonderful crazy moments with someone of the same sex. Camaraderie and sisterhood is a theme that is woven into every word she writes. I recommend this book for entertainment and if it is required for a class then just consider yourself lucky.

Simply the Best of Ana Castillo
I've read this book about 4 times in the course of 4 years. Every time, I'm even more facinated with it. A combination of emotions and vision all packed up in her letters. AC is the true definition of a literary artist!!

Castillo's Best Work
This is by far the best work that Ana Castillo has published. The letters are moving and passionate. A must for any Chicanas or feminists