Santora, The Good Daughter

By Resurreccion Cruz

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971235708
• ISBN13: 9780971235700
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Xipactli Publishing
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

This book has it all!

Santora, The Good Daughter, is one of my all-time favorite books. It is impeccably written, sensitive, intense, exciting, subtle, and even humorous. It is a tale of one woman's search for spiritual clarity, identity, and strength of character. Cruz sweeps the reader along in a tidal wave of inner conflict and searching. Her protagonist struggles with religion, spirituality, magic, superstition, lust, sex, romance, family, tradition, commitment, prayer, spells, independence, love, and the fear that she may be "chosen," albeit reluctantly. This book has it all! Cruz strips away the convention of society and religion to reveal hypocrisy, mob mentality, and mundane obsessions. I love the clarity with which Cruz reveals the Latino family values in America: the traditions, the loyalty, the food. This is a wonderful, fun, and very exciting read, and you can take it as lightly or as deeply as you choose, because it runs the gamut. I highly recommend it to anyone involved in the healing arts, spiritual searching, personal magic, and I especially recommend it to Latinas who feel they don't quite "fit in," either in their traditional culture or the mainstream American culture.(Review by Jeanne du Soleil, author of A Guide for Tortured Souls)

Excellent book

This book is a wonderful example of our connections to our indigenismo history. Excellent writing, and carefully edited for misrepresentations of the culture.

Great read, exciting story, fun artwork

This was a magical, sometimes humorous journey as we watch Candela change from a hesitant young woman unsure how to use her powers of healing and sight, into a woman with a clear purpose. Confused and ambivalent about the Catholic Church, Candela nevertheless puts the symbols and spiritual powers of the church to her own uses, which I thought was one of the most fascinating aspects of the story. There is a quasi-reality to some of the experiences Candela has, which serve as an expression of her personal perceptions of life in this, and the other, world. There is also a warm reality in her home life, which Candela struggles to put there with her traditional Mexican cooking, described in sensuous detail. I think these two levels of reality are brought together in the ending, and we can see that Candela will be a strong, independent and loving woman, putting her knowledge and powers to good use.The artwork, front and back cover, as well as the small milagros at the beginning of each chapter, were just great, helping me to visualize the story. The non-traditional milagros are additional ironic comments on the symbols of the Catholic church.

Very Entertaining

This book was very entertaining and packed with an intact story line and sub-stories. Candela's transition from a young, difting lifestyle to a mature, confident woman was very well portrayed using many characters, sub stories, styles and tempos. It can be read for light entertainment or like an onion, layers can be peeled off and discussed in great detail for it's social/religious/cultural content.It is truly a great piece of work and should be of great interest to people looking for high quality novels by latino americans.

A glimpse into someone else's life.

I really enjoyed Santora, The Good daughter for several reasons.It gave me a glimpse into a persons life whose culture, environment and beliefs are very different than mine. I am allways interested in broadening my horizons and I value diveresity. I felt that this book provided insight into spritualism and mexican culture in a format that was very entertaining.It was a good story. I thought the characters where interesting and the events that our hero went through held my interest. I especially liked the battle at the Botanica along with the disco evening with Jesus.The artwork also gave me something to think about as each chapter unfolded.I enjoyed the setting. I am familiar with San Francisco so I like all books that highlight neighborhoods whose streets I have walked upon. I do need to get more courageous about entering the shops and perhaps buying some candles. The book has inspired me to build my own altar.