Ed's Reviews > The Madonnas of Echo Park

While I certainly enjoyed the book on its own merits, I found myself immediately comparing, mostly positively, vs. other novels... the coincidental (or magical) intersecting of lives recalled Let The Great World Spin... the authentic ethnic voice and edge was quite reminiscent of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao... and the nostalgia factor of the 1980s and a very particular place (also from a non-white perspective) made me think of Sag Harbor. While I know that's not terribly helpful if you have not read those books, I'm guessing there is a good chance as all these books do seem to orbit in the same "Customers Who Bought This Also Bought..." universe.

Skyhorse brilliantly kicks things off with an author's note, recalling an episode for his youth that inspired, or perhaps more accurately haunted, him into writing this debut novel. The result is not only a love letter (though not often a pretty one) to his home, the ever-evolving Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park, but an attempt at some personal redemption. If that doesn't do it for you, it is hard not to be wow'd, particularly with the current contentiousness re: immigration, by the novel's opening line ("We slipped into this country like thieves, onto the land that once was ours.") as readers begin this journey of jumping in and out of the lives of the Mexican-Americans and American-Mexicans.

As for (mild) criticism, and with books/novels of this nature in general, a consistent quality from story to story is pretty much impossible to maintain. I thought many of the stories were truly great, while others were "good." As with Let The Great World Spin, a lot also rides on one's tolerance of happenstance, with Skyhorse tending to throw a twist at the end story/chapter. It's a bit of a literary tightrope walk and while I never felt he faltered, there were a few balance checks along the way. Lastly, since you don't have the full (or at least a more complete) picture until the end, this novel certainly would benefit from a re-reading, but who has time for that! But overall, a quite compelling and impressive debut.