I haven’t started reading the novel yet because i cannot justify buying a second copy of it from the bookstore when i own a copy already at my parents house.  so i will mention that i enjoyed this novel the first time i read it a few years ago.  the book stood out to me in chapters one day while book shopping with one parent or another and i picked it up read the back and bought it.  this is one of the first books that opened me up to chicano literature.  i love the culture and the story and the characters.  from the time i started taking spanish classes in high school, i have enjoyed chicano literature… some of the only literature where i will willingly try just about anything sans gender prejudice.  although i am a firm believer that books are not feminist or non-feminist novels, but novels about PEOPLE, i tend to lean towards female authors/lead characters because i am female – it is just easier to put myself in their position.  i also really enjoy reading about the culture and being put into the middle of it all via strong characters and i feel that many latino/a authors do that better than lots.  i do wish that we could have read some allende or garcia marquez – even though i can see that they may be a little over read – but i find their stories to contain a pivotal element of latino/a literature being magical realism.  maybe this is more of a south american aspect than a mexican-mexican american view.  anyways, i suppose we have seen a little ‘magic’ in some of our readings (like the ‘witch’ in Cisneros’)