Cottonwood Saints

By Gene Guerin

Book Overview

Spanning the twentieth century, Cottonwood Saints chronicles the lives of a New Mexico woman and her son, Michael. Margarita Juana Galvan was born in a lumber camp in 1913 and is brought up like a little princess in her grandparents' hacienda. In contrast, Margarita's adult life is spent in depression-ridden Las Vegas, New Mexico. Told through Michael, Margarita's story embodies the challenges faced by an intelligent, independent-minded girl maturing in a man's world. Margarita and her family's lives intersect with the prominent events of the century: the influenza pandemic of 1918, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the Great Depression, and World War II. Based on the life of Guerin's mother, Cottonwood Saints connects the lives of the poorest citizens of New Mexico to the local power structure. The story ends after Michael, who became a priest, must leave his order in disgrace, and with the burial of Margarita in 1991.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826337244
• ISBN13: 9780826337245
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

New Mexico as it really was and is for settler families

'Intimacy and familiarity' is the sense I experienced throughout my reading of COTTONWOOD SAINTS. Intimate and familiar because it seemed as though Guerin knew my Spanish-Mexican family experience in describing his in this novel; my family migrated from northern New Mexico to southern Colorado in the mid-1800s. The characters and episodes are so wonderfully described that the reader feels as though s/he is there -- interacting with the characters and experiencing the events. I heard that Guerin described his novel as "90% fiction and 100% fact." The story reads just like that! The chapters read easily and beautifully into a wonderfully woven story. In 2004, I completed a doctoral dissertation on the phenomenology of "The Lived Experience of Nortenas de Nuevo Mejico: Finding Voice and Claiming Identity." Had Guerin's novel been published when I was doing my literature chapter, this marvelous novel would have been included in my bibliography because Guerin's mother is so descriptive of my research findings regarding the 'nortena de nuevo mejico.'

Cottonwood Saints Strong Like Cottonwood Trees

"Cottonwood Saints" by Gene Guerin came about when the author asked his mother to write her memoirs about growing up in northern New Mexico during the early part of the 20th Century. He found her recollections so compelling, he turned them into a novel. "Cottonwood Saints" begins with the birth of this mother, whom he calls Margarita Juana, then follows her growing up, marrying, having children of her own, and dying. Sometimes books based on family history end up a personal narrative with meaning for the authors, but few others. Gene Guerin avoids this trap by focusing his story on universal issues. His mother copes with things everyone faces. She just happens to do it in a unique part of the Southwestern United States. At the same time, Gene Guerin offers a vivid picture of life on one of the last American frontiers, describing in vivid detail the rutted roads over which Margarita Juana and her father drive to bring loads of lumber into town, trips to an Indian Pueblo to visit friends, and the arduous process of washing clothes and preserving food in a time beforfe electricity and refrigeration. Labor is back breaking both in the barn and in the house. Tempers flare. Parents slap. Children learn to obey, and help do chores without argument. When someone gets sick, people cope as best they can. On-the-job safety doesn't exist. The wise woman, or curandara, brings herbs and teas to the rescue. The doctor comes as a last resort, often when it's too late. .Strong personalities, not all of them likeable, fill "Cottonwood Saints." Margaritia's mother, Tama, is about as nasty as they come. Margarita's husband, Miguel redefines bland and meek. Nash, Margarita's Indian nanny, is a woman anyone could love, as are Margaritia's doting aunts and uncles. The reader sympathizes with Margarita's feelings of abandonment when these kindly people die. Bit by bit, Margaritia learns to cope with her life, and make what she can of it, just as everyone does. Her varying degress of success and failure make her an everyday hero, and keep the reader turning the pages of "Cottonwood Saints." Author Guerin tells Margaritia's over-arching story in the first person, the voice of Michael, her son. But he also has the knack of stepping into the third person to relate portions of the novel that happened before Michael was born. The technique gives "Cottonwood Saints" a wonderful flow. The reader can smell the chili roasting, and see an old family hacienda crumbling. By the end of the book, Guerin has summed up the triumphs, failures, glories, and horrors of a woman's life. It happens to be Margarita Juana's, but it could be anybody's. New Mexico's frontier families were tough. But so is human nature, or their descendants wouldn't be around to write qbout their ancestors.

Couldn't put it down! A wonderful read!

"Cottonwood Saints" is a wonderful book, full of vivid characters and descriptions. The narrative transcends geography and time - it is a universal story of mothers and sons, love and loss, and dreams deferred. I read this book in two sittings. I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end. This is by far one of the best new fiction books on the market.

Cottonwood Saints - A Frank Tribute to Mom

The author seems to have closed his eyes and remembered in fascinating detail how his mother recalled her childhood. He then projects this experience into describing her adulthood which the mother probably never directly revealed to the author but could not remain hidden since he had the early matrix. The childhood years are likely factual; the adulthood years are conjectural, including her reaction to her author- son's "defection" from the priesthood, the loss of two other sons and finally her fading into the fog of Alzheimer's disease. The story is lovingly told and laid at the mother's feet as a tribute with a note saying, "Mom, I understand and thank you." It is the author's first novel but I predict not his last.