Luis Alberto Urrea

'Epic . . . Rambunctious . . . Highly entertaining' New York Times 'All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death.' In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life. Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighbourhood, the revellers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank.

The House of Broken Angels

"Brilliant . . . Exceptional . . . The House of Broken Angels hums with joy." --NPR "A big, messy, warmhearted epic . . . Generous to the last breath." --Entertainment Weekly "Filled with intelligence and wickedly funny cultural commentary, the story builds to an electrifying finale." -- People Magazine Book of the Week "Humane and often laugh-out-loud hilarious." --O: The Oprah Magazine From a Pulitzer Prize finalist comes a powerful and unforgettable portrait of one Mexican American family and the American dream "One of the most vivid and engrossing family epics of the last twenty years."--Dave Eggers "All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death." In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies herself, leading to a farewell doubleheader in a single weekend. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life. Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighborhood, the revelers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. The story of the de La Cruzes is the quintessential American story. This indelible portrait of a complex family reminds us of what it means to be the first generation and to live two lives across one border. It takes us into a world we have not known, while reflecting back the hopes and dreams of our own families. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank.

Dana Kraft

I picked this up because I loved Hummingbird’s Daughter and Devil’s Highway, but found myself not caring much about these characters. I married into a family with Mexican roots so a lot of this rang true and I generally liked the Spanglish and inside jokes. I agree with other reviewers that the story got a bit too disjointed and it was a little hard to follow all the characters and their personalities. This is part of what rang true for me as I’ve struggled with that at actual family parties of my in laws. I was more interested in Big Angel’s life than the life and experience of the younger generation, and would have preferred more and longer sections of the book about him and his wife directly.

A few quotes I liked:
“Families came apart and regrouped, she thought. Like water. In this desert, families were the water.”

“Must be nice, Carnal,” he said. “To choose who you are.”

In this "raucous, moving, and necessary" story by a Pulitzer Prize finalist (San Francisco Chronicle), the De La Cruzes, a family on the Mexican-American border, celebrate two of their most beloved relatives during a joyous and bittersweet weekend. "All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death." In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life. Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighborhood, the revelers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank. "Epic . . . Rambunctious . . . Highly entertaining." -- New York Times Book Review"Intimate and touching . . . the stuff of legend." -- San Francisco Chronicle"An immensely charming and moving tale." -- Boston GlobeNational Bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalistA New York Times Notable BookOne of the Best Books of the Year from National Public Radio, American Library Association, San Francisco Chronicle, BookPage, Newsday, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Literary Hub

carlie langbeen

I had to read this for my college World Literature class. The plot was very good and I loved the characters; however, the writing of the story was very hard to follow. No direct explanations for family or events happening, you’re left to figure it out on your own. Great message within a book, but not an author I would read again.

Alisha 

If you enjoy multi generational family sagas, this one won’t disappoint. Tons of characters, laughter, sadness & drama, this book has it all.

Sameer Vasta

My most memorable birthday party was my 20th, for a multitude of reasons I won’t get into here, but since then I’ve been mostly low-key about birthdays. Aging has made me mellow, and instead of celebrating birthdays, I ease into them with quietness. For Big Angel’s 70th birthday, ostensibly his last one, he wants one last party, one last celebration—and to him, I can relate. When you know there will be no more reasons to celebrate, you want your last party to be a big one, a memorable one, not just for yourself, but for everyone you love. This is the setting of Urrea’s novel: it is a novel about a party, but more a novel about celebrating the ones we love, about relishing in their presence, and about knowing that our bonds extend well beyond life and death. It is one of the best novels I have read in a long time; it is a novel that makes me want to party.

Les Reynolds

Initially confusing and erratic, in the end poetic, and poignant. A beautiful slice of humanity.

The House of Broken Angels

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