From Publishers Weekly
Limon's previous works, including The Day of the Moon and Song of the Hummingbird, have been called both "artful" and "soapy." Her latest work is characterized by some of the same strengths and shortcomings, but its engrossing plot slowly wins the reader's sympathy and any overwrought passages are forgotten. Set in the dense Mexican jungle and the barrios of Los Angeles, the novel tells of the obstacles people must face to overcome their history and heritage. Though it revolves around classic themes of forbidden love, loss, isolation and the search for the self, the setting imbues freshness. Limon uses the Mayan myth of reincarnation to lay the groundwork for her ultimate point that we are given opportunities to reclaim our lives. If anyone needs to recoup a life, it is Adriana Mora. A Mexican-American photojournalist plagued by memories of her tragic childhood and by frightening dreams of loss, Adriana is drawn to Chiapas, Mexico, by an interest in Mayan civilization. From the pain of her past to her eventual involvement with a group of Zapatistas and her intimate relationship with one of its leaders, Adriana's bittersweet tale is told in passionate testimonial style. Despite its intensity, however, her sentiments seem calculated, and it is the personal histories of two other characters, Juana Galv n and Orlando Flores, that redeem the tale. As heroes of the Chiapas insurgency, they embody the suffering of centuries of indigenous peoples, but they invite sympathy on a personal level, too. In her absorbing, politically engaged work, Limon restores dignity and identity to the inhabitants of a violent land, sketching tangled landscapes where faces are constantly erased and swept into anonymity.
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Book Description
Against the charred tapestry of the Zapatista guerilla uprising of January 1994, personal histories intersect in the newest novel by Graciela Limón. Weaving the theads of Lacandón myth and history with the events culminating in the guerilla uprising, Limón creates a rich fabric that restores an identity of those rendered invisible, or whose faces were erased, by years of oppression.
Adriana Mora, a Latina photojournalist born and raised in Los Angeles, haunted by childhood memories of her parents' death, abuse and displacement, journeys south to Chiapas, Mexico, in search of images to record on film. Mora's path crosses that of Chan K'in, the aged Lacandón shaman and interpreter of his people's mysticism. His stories recount the heroism of indigenous peoples of the past and offers possible keys to the resolution of the nightmares that plague her.
In this village, Adriana meets Juana Galvez, a woman whose own heroism mirrors that of the women that Chan K'in describes. Adriana is immediately attracted to the small indigenous woman and her cause, so she follows Juana into the mountains where she is drawn into the tumultuous events of 1994 and the stories of the insurgents who fight for freedom.
Erased Faces portrays forbidden love set against the backdrop of a complicated war. Limón expertly drafts images of the racism, exploitation, and class division that plague the region and the lenghts that the impoverished indigenous people take to break the yoke of universal opression that rests heavy on their shoulders.
From the Publisher
A spellbinding novel that humanizes the shadowy struggle playing out in the jungles of Mexico.
About the Author
GRACIELA LIMÓN is the critically-acclaimed and award-winning author of four novels: The Day of the Moon (1999), Song of a Hummingbird (1996), The Memories of Ana Calderón (1994), and In Search of Bernabé (1993). In Search of Bernabé, translated and published in Spanish as En Busca de Bernabé in 1997, is the recipient of an Americann Book Award, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times' Art Sydenburg First Novel Award and was named a "Notable Book of the Year" by The New York Times Book Review. Limón is Professor Emeritus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where she served as a professor of U.S. Latina/o Literature and Chair of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies.
