Another book club book! And another book that feels like it's in conversation with other stories I've consumed recently - The Raven Tower and Hadestown. This story of mythmaking and gods and the underworld takes place in Jazz Age Mexico, and focuses on the journey a young woman named Casiopea takes with Hun-Kame, a Mayan god of death, in order to free him from his brother's bindings. She is coerced into helping him when she opens the trunk her terrible grandfather kept locked in his bedroom and discovers his bones inside.
It's a story that is incredibly readable and that flows, even while exploring a cultural tradition and foundational myths that I knew very little of going into the story. I kept finding parallels to polytheistic traditions I have more familiarity with, but it also feels incredibly grounded in the specific time and place of the story. It made me want to learn more about both pre- and post-colonial Mexican history, but the book holds up on its own, even without a deeper knowledge. I really enjoyed both the POV of Casiopea and the authorial voice.
Grade: B
It's a story that is incredibly readable and that flows, even while exploring a cultural tradition and foundational myths that I knew very little of going into the story. I kept finding parallels to polytheistic traditions I have more familiarity with, but it also feels incredibly grounded in the specific time and place of the story. It made me want to learn more about both pre- and post-colonial Mexican history, but the book holds up on its own, even without a deeper knowledge. I really enjoyed both the POV of Casiopea and the authorial voice.
Grade: B
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