ARA Review by Richard Read of On the Wings of a Hummingbird
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Richard Read
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ARA Review by Richard Read of On the Wings of a Hummingbird
[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, On the Wings of a Hummingbird.]
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REVIEW of On the Wings of a Hummingbird by Susan Mills. Submitted by Richard Read
Petra is a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl living with her grandparents and an older brother, Carlos, in the small Guatemalan village of Los Leches. The story is told by the author in closed-third-person through the eyes of the girl, Petra. More on that issue later. Petra struggles with the limitations of her environment: her family’s poverty, the limited educational opportunities, the insidious and dangerous influence of local organized gangs, the ineffectual and corrupt local police.
The dangers of the local X-14 gang (an affiliate of Ms-13) hits the reader and Petra in the face immediately in the story, via Emilio, a childhood friend of Petra’s. Petra is not aware of Emilio’s ties to the local gang chapter and when he confronts her and her brother as Carlos escorts Petra to school, she views Emilio’s vulgar flirtations as ignorant adolescent machismo. However, as the story progresses, it is revealed that Emilio was complicit in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Justina, the close childhood friend of Petra and Emilio. Pushed by his gang handlers, Emilio continues to harass Petra and eventually, along with two gang buddies, he kidnaps Petra with the intent of initiating her into being a sexual consort for other gang members. You would need to read the story to discover how these traumatic events, the assault and death of Justina, and the kidnapping of Petra, sets the rest of the story in motion.
Petra is aided in her quest for a better life with the help of her brother, with adult connections via her soccer play as a goalie on her village team, with the infusion of Mayan lore from her grandfather in Petra’s quest for insight on life, and eventually with reuniting with her mom who has fled to the United States to escape an abusive husband. The second part of the novel focuses on Petra’s intellectual and emotional growth in her American home and the eventual forgiveness and redemption experienced by the main characters.
The element of magical realism in the novel.
Mills’ narration often slips into magical realism, now popular in much of Latin American fiction. This device adds a poetic and enriching element to the story but I thought the device would have worked better if the story was told in first-person from Petra’s point of view. The closed-third-person, sometimes slipping into third-person, points of view used by the author, in my opinion, did not seem to work efficiently as the means to present the story from the mind of an adolescent Guatemalan girl.
The Mayan myths retold to Petra by her grandfather also add to the story and reveal the universality of religions. The best example being on page 203 where Nanno retells how the Mayan god, Itzama, put together the earthy elements of music and song and gave it to humans to relieve their burden of constant sorrow with the human condition.
In the Author’s Note at the beginning of the novel, Mills states that she is a “white woman, born in the U.S., writing in the voice of an adolescent Guatemalan girl with a Mayan background”. I have to assume that is why much of the narration does not follow normal English/American syntax. Fluid reading of the text is hampered until the reader adjusts to this anomaly.
For example: On page 1, it is written, ‘The stream froze the sweat on Petra’s neck.’ And English/American writer would say, The cool air rising from the stream froze the sweat on Petra’s neck. Had Mills chosen to write the story in first person using Petra as the narrator, this problem would have been acceptable as was Mark Twain’s choice to write Huckleberry Finn via Huck’s point of view and his uneducated midwestern American dialect. When the story slides into the mystical realism sections, those sections would have been more easily acceptable expressed through Petra’s voice and mind.
Despite my reservations regarding the choice of point-of-view and the often unusual phrasings, I found the novel captivating and engrossing. The insight on the United States immigration policies was also appreciated. If 4.5 out of 5 is an acceptable rating for OnLineBookClub, that would be my choice. Otherwise, a rating of 5 out of 5 could be given.
The novel is appropriate for older teens and adults.
Submitted by Richard Read
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View On the Wings of a Hummingbird on Bookshelves
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REVIEW of On the Wings of a Hummingbird by Susan Mills. Submitted by Richard Read
Petra is a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl living with her grandparents and an older brother, Carlos, in the small Guatemalan village of Los Leches. The story is told by the author in closed-third-person through the eyes of the girl, Petra. More on that issue later. Petra struggles with the limitations of her environment: her family’s poverty, the limited educational opportunities, the insidious and dangerous influence of local organized gangs, the ineffectual and corrupt local police.
The dangers of the local X-14 gang (an affiliate of Ms-13) hits the reader and Petra in the face immediately in the story, via Emilio, a childhood friend of Petra’s. Petra is not aware of Emilio’s ties to the local gang chapter and when he confronts her and her brother as Carlos escorts Petra to school, she views Emilio’s vulgar flirtations as ignorant adolescent machismo. However, as the story progresses, it is revealed that Emilio was complicit in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Justina, the close childhood friend of Petra and Emilio. Pushed by his gang handlers, Emilio continues to harass Petra and eventually, along with two gang buddies, he kidnaps Petra with the intent of initiating her into being a sexual consort for other gang members. You would need to read the story to discover how these traumatic events, the assault and death of Justina, and the kidnapping of Petra, sets the rest of the story in motion.
Petra is aided in her quest for a better life with the help of her brother, with adult connections via her soccer play as a goalie on her village team, with the infusion of Mayan lore from her grandfather in Petra’s quest for insight on life, and eventually with reuniting with her mom who has fled to the United States to escape an abusive husband. The second part of the novel focuses on Petra’s intellectual and emotional growth in her American home and the eventual forgiveness and redemption experienced by the main characters.
The element of magical realism in the novel.
Mills’ narration often slips into magical realism, now popular in much of Latin American fiction. This device adds a poetic and enriching element to the story but I thought the device would have worked better if the story was told in first-person from Petra’s point of view. The closed-third-person, sometimes slipping into third-person, points of view used by the author, in my opinion, did not seem to work efficiently as the means to present the story from the mind of an adolescent Guatemalan girl.
The Mayan myths retold to Petra by her grandfather also add to the story and reveal the universality of religions. The best example being on page 203 where Nanno retells how the Mayan god, Itzama, put together the earthy elements of music and song and gave it to humans to relieve their burden of constant sorrow with the human condition.
In the Author’s Note at the beginning of the novel, Mills states that she is a “white woman, born in the U.S., writing in the voice of an adolescent Guatemalan girl with a Mayan background”. I have to assume that is why much of the narration does not follow normal English/American syntax. Fluid reading of the text is hampered until the reader adjusts to this anomaly.
For example: On page 1, it is written, ‘The stream froze the sweat on Petra’s neck.’ And English/American writer would say, The cool air rising from the stream froze the sweat on Petra’s neck. Had Mills chosen to write the story in first person using Petra as the narrator, this problem would have been acceptable as was Mark Twain’s choice to write Huckleberry Finn via Huck’s point of view and his uneducated midwestern American dialect. When the story slides into the mystical realism sections, those sections would have been more easily acceptable expressed through Petra’s voice and mind.
Despite my reservations regarding the choice of point-of-view and the often unusual phrasings, I found the novel captivating and engrossing. The insight on the United States immigration policies was also appreciated. If 4.5 out of 5 is an acceptable rating for OnLineBookClub, that would be my choice. Otherwise, a rating of 5 out of 5 could be given.
The novel is appropriate for older teens and adults.
Submitted by Richard Read
***
View On the Wings of a Hummingbird on Bookshelves
