University Libraries

Tereza Szeghi will lead a discussion of Ana Castillo's The Guardians and address how the book seeks to intervene to achieve the human rights of Chicana/os and Mexicana/os (documented and undocumented).

Join the discussion at 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Roesch Library Room 205.

A limited number of free books are available. Please complete the online request form. By accepting a free book, you will commit to attending the discussion. For more information please contact Katy Kelly.

Review of The Guardians: “I don’t think they could come up with a horror movie worse than the situation we got going on en la frontera,” muses Milton, a man who has seen it all and now, in old age, is nearly blind. Milton is one of four transfixing voices telling the grim story of life along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Castillo writes fiction and poetry of earthy sensuality, wry social commentary, and lyrical spiritualism that confront the cruel injustices accorded women and Mexicans in America, legal and otherwise. In this tightly coiled and powerful tale, Regina, a virgin-widow in her fifties living in rural New Mexico, cares for her unusually disciplined teenage nephew, Gabo, who believes he’s destined for the priesthood. Gabo’s father often crosses the border to visit, but this time something has gone wrong, and given the gruesome fate of Gabo’s mother, there is cause for alarm. As Gabo intensifies his prayers and penance, Regina, a teacher’s aide unaware of her allure, asks Miguel, a chivalrous activist history teacher, for help, and he, in turn, enlists his covertly resourceful grandfather, Milton. At once shatteringly realistic and dramatically mystical, Castillo’s incandescent novel of suffering and love traces life’s movement toward the light even in the bleakest of places. —Donna Seaman, Booklist