"Gathering air feels not unlike sipping it from a straw. Which is to say sometimes the hardest part about surviving is remembering to breathe."

Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer by Jamie Figueroa was January's pick for #ReadPuertoRican book club. This was a unique story about a sister trying to get her brother to agree to keep living after their mother has died and she is haunted by the secrets of their family. The story takes place over the course of a weekend through flashbacks and brilliant speculative writing. This is a ghost story unlike any I've read before.

The atmospheric and poetic writing were perfect for the slow reveal of events. The sense of dread never left while reading. I felt in the pit of stomach that something terrible was coming but I couldn't step away from the page. The way Figueroa kept peeling away layer after layer until the heart of the story lay bare was captivating. This one left me with my heart aching and a face full of tears at the magnitude of grief that these pages contained.

Where this novel excelled was in the exploration of deep themes. The white gaze is dissected throughout the majority of the novel. The characters are Indigenous performers and Figueroa sheds light on the racism of tourism and the pervasiveness of the white gaze. It makes me reflect on the question of who gets to tell their stories and who deems these stories valid? She explores the idea of family, community and mutual aid as vital to survival to Indigenous groups. She also reminds us that unresolved trauma isn't living and that we can't force someone else to want to stay alive either. Sometimes, we have to sever the ties to toxic relationships in order to heal and stop revisiting with the ghosts of the past. The theme of silence is prevalent in the ways that it complicates and destroys mother-daughter relationships. What seems like protection can result in competition . In addition, guilt can become the avenue that shapes futures.

Overall, this was a stunning debut and a unique reading experience. I'm anxiously awaiting more from Figueroa, a boricua voice to keep your eye on. If speculative fiction and literary prose is your jam, this is a must read. ( )

I'm not sure what to think about this one. It seems to be a commentary on colonizing and being colonized, about defining oneself in relation to others then having to redefine oneself in their absence, about surviving but being changed by our experiences and then figuring out how to go about life in the wake of those changes. I'm not sure I quite get the novel, but I like the tone and imagery and the experience of it. ( )

Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer is a wild read: full of magical realism and disparate parts that a reader has to trust will come together by the end. And the reader is rewarded. The story of the four title characters—brother; sister; mother, now dead but still a presence in the family home; explorer, long vanished; a transsexual angel; the shadow of a stillborn baby; a devoted policeman; a collective of elderly women, the Grandmothers of All; and whole herds of oblivious tourists—becomes immensely engaging as the novel progresses and the reader sees what's at stake for each character.

If you like original, rich fiction with a risk-taking style, you won't want to miss this title. There's nothing else out there like it.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own. ( )

Half-siblings, Rufina, age 28 and Rafa, age 30, share their grief at their mothers death, but its worse for Rafa. He wants to end his life. Rufina makes a deal with him. If they can make enough money in their high desert town in the southwest entertaining tourists, Rafe has to promise to keep living and go look for what will make him happy. There are plenty of ghosts and memories to keep them company, including memories of their mother’s boyfriend, Explorer. There are lots of do-gooders wanting to help them, but all the good-hearted people do is slow down their goal of earning enough money in a week. The characters at times leaped off the page, but what I enjoyed the most was the comments about the gringo tourists who seemingly patronize the local Latinos. Figueroa’s deeply moving debut novel already has me looking forward to her next book. ( )