Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders

by Alicia Gaspar De Alba

Book Overview

Its the summer of 1998 and for five years over a hundred mangled and desecrated bodies have been found dumped in the Chihuahua desert outside of Ju?rez, M?xico, just across the river from El Paso,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1558854460
• ISBN13: 9781558854468
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Arte Publico Press
• Length: 346 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Don't expect an explanation....

I have read several news stories about the high number of women disappearing from Juarez and other border towns along the Rio Grande. It has been going on for decades; sometimes the women are by themselves and sometimes they are killed in groups. I ordered this book with the hope that it had some up to date information on these killings. It did not. While it did focus more heavily on the anguish of the families, it uncovered no new information of who is doing this. Disappointing.

A MUST READ

You won't be able to put this one down, and once you're done reading it, you'll want to help the women of Juarez. A great read, but an even greater source of vital information. Too many people are still unaware of the massive murdering of innocent young women along the U.S.-Mexico border, and Desert Blood sheds light on this horrible situation. I encourage you to read it and to take action informing others of the femicides in Juarez as well!

Good!!!

Now this one was full of so many turns and kept pulling you in deeper, good read.

Horrifying and Wonderful At the Same Time

This book made the hair on my neck stand straight up! But I couldn't stop reading. The fact that it is fiction centered around real events made it even more horrifying and compelling. But even if the Juarez murders had not and were not taking place, this is still an incredible book. It's well written, the story riveting, and the characters (very important to me) are drawn with great reality. The protagonist, Ivon Villa, is a strong but flawed gay woman, fiercely loyal to her family in spite of her mother's hatefulness, and her iron will and determination make her a perfect vehicle for the non-fictional message of this book. BRAVO ALICIA!

A Simple Yet Facinating Read

I initially was going to give this book three stars, but in all fairness, I was hooked and couldn't put it down. The only problem I had with this book was the way it was written. I believe the author had a message to say, theories to give, and details to offer. She then constructed a story AROUND her facts, hoping they'd fit perfectly. The story is too coincidental and unlikely in some areas. The constant Spanish dialogue was sometimes translated in same sentence, which bugged me some. She would of been better off using footnotes, in my opinion. The writing was a bit too simple for me, but I can understand that maybe she wanted to reacher a wider audience. The theories fascinated me though. That was what kept me turning the pages. I usually read a book in a few days, but I stayed up very late to finish this one. And I also felt satisfied when I got to the ending. Not the actual story's ending, but the way the author summed everything up in theory. This fictional book was a vehicle to spread a horrible reality, and I am grateful. ---- Carolyn, 35, Native El Pasoan.

riveting! - it will pull you in and keep you reading 'til the last page

A HUGE fan of Gaspar de Alba's earlier historical fiction, and an ardent admirer of her writing style, I was excited to find that she'd penned a new novel! -- yet, even so, for some inexplicably incomprehensible reason (I wasn't in the mood for gory violence? Mysteries are not my genre of choice?), I picked this book up several times - only to put it back down, before -- finally giving in to a closer look -- and, that was all it took!! Once I got through the first few pages, I couldn't put it down! It's true that the sometimes graphic images crafted by the carefully chosen words of Gaspar de Alba's skilled writing are often hard to stomache (that's how good she is!) -- but then - so, too, must be the very real murders and mutilations that her book fictionalizes. I commend Gaspar de Alba for her effort/s at spreading the word/s .... and .... give her "mil gracias" for the very affable creation of her "tough yet tender," "gender-bending," mapi-to-be, Yvonne-turned-Ivon. ; )