As careful an achievement as the patient peeling of an onion, this compulsively readable narrative should delight, and expand, Castillo's audience. An inspired teacher insists that she learn to dance, and, possessed of great duende , or soul, Carmen embraces this impossible dream and becomes a celebrated flamenco dancer. But the journey from gimp to artiste is as difficult emotionally as it is physically, and Castillo has Carmen tell the story of her arduous quest in an astringently frank narrative that is punctuated with sharp social commentary and unsparing musings on the vagaries of love.
Nothing is easy.
Carmen's obstinate and unaffectionate mother gives her as much trouble as her shriveled leg, and her love affairs with the gypsy director of the dance troupe and his sexy godson are complex and volatile. Castillo has almost created an icon, but Carmen's spirit imbues her with full-blooded humanity. Donna Seaman Copyright 1999, American Library Association. Though Latina, Carmen is accepted as a fellow gypsy, which serves to further splinter her identity-doting daughter to a mother whose disappointment is all too palatable, disabled dancer, muse to one man and siren to another. Then both suddenly reappear in her life, with the same old demands and dilemmas.