Caramelo
Caramelo, Sandra Cisneros's first novel since her celebratedThe House on Mango  Street, weaves a large yet intricate pattern, much like the decorative  fringe on a rebozo, the traditional Mexican shawl. Through the eyes of young  Celaya, or Lala, the Reyes family saga twists and turns over three generations  of truths, half-truths, and outright lies. And, like Celaya's grandmother's  prizedcaramelo(striped) rebozo, so is "the universe a cloth, and all  humanity interwoven.... Pull one string and the whole thing comes undone." The  Reyes clan, from Awful Grandmother Soledad and her favorite son Inocencio to  Celaya, follow their destinies from Mexico City to the U.S. armed forces, jobs  upholstering furniture, and to Chicago and San Antonio. Celaya gathers and  retells, in over 80 chapters, the stories that reinforce her family's, and  subsequently her own, identity as they travel between the U.S.-Mexican border  and within the United States. Rich with sensory descriptions and animated  conversations and peppered with Mexican cultural and historical details, this  novel can hardly contain itself. Also an acclaimed poet, Cisneros writes  fiercely and thoroughly, and her characters enter and exit the page with  uncommon humanity. Although the book is long--over 400 pages plus a relevant  U.S.-Mexico chronology--in many ways it's not long enough. The world of the  20th-century Mexican family, and of the Reyeses in particular, is as  complicated, timeless, and satisfying as our own family stories.--Emily  Russin