The Five Wounds

This was a moving and engrossing read. The book begins with Amadeo, a man in his mid-thirties, who is preparing to a participate in a penitente ritual practiced by some Catholics in New Mexico. In this ritual reenacting Christ’s crucifixion, one man carries a heavy wooden cross to a site where the cross is erected and he is affixed to that cross. The re-enactor is usually tied to the cross, but this man chooses a more radical version, requesting that his fellow worshipers actually use nails through his palms to attach him to the cross.

As he is preparing for this event, his 16-year-old daughter, Angel, who shows up to the house, eight months pregnant. She moves into the house with Amadeo and his mother. The book describes the events of the following year, as Angel attends a program for teenage mothers to learn parenting skills and prepare for taking the GED. The story is full of Angel’s extended family and friends from school, their interactions, and the secrets they keep from each other that leave long-lasting marks in their lives.

It describes the way that decisions can have effects that spiral outwards to impact people in unexpected ways, that a seemingly insignificant personal choice can cause devastation, and how one’s past actions can leave scars that last long into the future.

It is a beautiful vision into the lives of these characters, how they try to support and provide for their family and friends, both monetarily and emotionally, and how their past choices have led to their present experiences.

Although, I knew this before starting the book, I was surprised to remember that this is a debut novel by this author. She did a great job at juggling the points of view of the various characters, and creating a story filled with both tragedy and the small triumphs of everyday life.

Thanks to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for providing me with this advanced reading copy.

We had previously met Amadeo Padilla and his daughter Angel in Kirstin Valdez Quade's remarkable short story collection, Night at the Fiestas. Here she expands that story of a man down on his luck who aims for redemption by portraying Jesus in a local passion play, and discovers redemption over the following year via the appearance of his daughter and the baby she gives birth to. This family history spools out through three main characters, in which all experience a virtual coming of age. Angel who learns the meaning of unexpected love, her father, and Yolanda the family matriarch who decides to keep her diagnosis of terminal brain cancer from the family out of fear that they won't be able to handle it. They all discover the consequences of making unsavory choices, and Quade is such a descriptive writer, that they all come to vivid life.

I'm just going to say that I am so in awe and so very glad to have the pleasure to read this book by Kirstin Valdez Quade. How authentic it is to show the grittiness of life as well as its blessings. its depiction of human fragility and the possibility of redemption. "The Five Wounds" is a book that is expansive in despair yet also in hope. Hope prevails.

Thank you, NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for this ARC for my honest review.

I just reviewed The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade. #TheFiveWounds #NetGalley

In Las Penas, a small town in New Mexico, thirty-three year old Amadeo Padilla has been chosen to play Jesus in a Holy Week reenactment of the crucifixion put on by the Los Hermanos Penitentes. Unemployed, struggling with a drinking addiction, and living with his mother, what Amadeo lacks in ambition he somewhat makes up for with his eagerness to gain attention and impress those around him, though his effort garner various results. While Amadeo is busy building his cross for the upcoming role and practicing his acting faces alone in the shower, Angel, his pregnant teenage daughter, shows up on his doorstep, weeks away from delivery.
In Kirstin Valdez Quade’s shining debut novel, “The Five Wounds,” each character is beautifully developed into someone who is worth cheering for one minute and rolling your eyes at the next. Amadeo is initially annoyed at the distraction his daughter creates from his upcoming redemption, but Angel’s determination and her hilariously direct manner with her formerly not-so-present father forces Amadeo to turn his attention from himself to his growing family. His loving and selfless but ultimately enabling mother, Yolanda, shifts from rushing to Amadeo’s constant aid to silently struggling with her own challenges, while Angel’s recently strained relationship with her own mother has thrust her into her father’s care. Supporting characters are also brought to life masterfully, such as Angel’s young teacher who inspires her student’s overwhelming but somewhat misplaced devotion and Amadeo’s “lonely, loveable curmudgeon” of a great uncle who picks him for the role of Jesus.
Valdez Quade’s writing is often times funny in the face of stressful and depressing situations, successfully drawing on the all-too-familiar feeling of “if I weren’t laughing, I would be crying.” Alongside her sometimes biting humor, her writing is also frequently thoughtful, poetic, sharp-witted, and sweet. While “The Five Wounds” is a lengthier read, the opportunity to get to know and appreciate Amadeo, his family, and all their endearing qualities as well as their anger, frustration, and embarrassment is worth savoring.

A poignant account of a family in New Mexico who live day-to-day, struggling to have a better life. A story of a Latino family that despite their many individual hardships, comes together in support and love. Well-written and enjoyable.