From Booklist
From the author of Esperanza's
Box of Saints (1999) comes this semi-surreal tale of Libertad Gonzalez, imprisoned in the Mexicali Penal Institute for Women. The jail has a decidedly looser environment than its name implies--one of the wealthier inmates has transformed the yard into a beachfront--and model prisoner Libertad decides to start a book club. No matter what book she chooses to read aloud from, though, she always has the same story to tell. In
telenovela fashion, complete with cliff-hanging chapter endings, she tells her increasingly large audience a story about a former literature professor and fugitive from the Mexican government who becomes a truck driver in the U.S and his loving but controlling relationship with his daughter. Libertad's audience grows hooked on the story line (much like Escandon's will), chiming in with heated opinions on the twists and turns of the plot. It soon becomes apparent that the story is Libertad's own, and it has become her way of making sense of her life and her crime. This highly readable novel is a paean both to storytelling and to freedom.
Joanne WilkinsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
“A warm and ingenious novel that delights from start to finish.” —Alexander Payne, Screenwriter and Director of
Sideways“1,001 nights in a Mexicali women’s prison...
González and Daughter Trucking Co. is about our compulsion to make events into stories and stories into bridges of understanding.” —John Sayles, Screenwriter and Director
“Escandón has delivered us yet another work of art. . . A whimsical, humorous, and passionate mystery that explores the love and hurt of a father and daughter on the run.” —Jorge Ramos, News Anchor for Univision and Bestselling Author
“An ingenious retelling of Scheherazade’s odyssey—but on wheels.” —Ilan Stavans, author of
Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language
