The Five Wounds

There's so many good things about this book — the precise, wonderful way it is written, the character development, the narrative arch, the language, and how Spanish and English blend together through it. But, finishing it, I was left with such an overwhelming warm and longing feeling, and that's what I recall best right now. It's one of those stories which is so humane that it just hugs you, makes you cry and laugh, and when it is over, leaves that innocent, almost childish feeling of ‘Oh, I'm gonna miss them'. And it's true — I've fallen deeply for Yolanda, Angel, Amadeo, Connor, and I just wanted to know more and more about them, about Las Penas, the rites of love and salvation and pain in this community of New Mexico. This is why we read, mostly, isn't it?

Beautifully written, moving, and utterly relatable.