A review by book_concierge
Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

5.0

Lupita is the oldest of eight children, and just beginning high school. Born in Mexico, she and her parents immigrated to Texas when she was a six years old and have lived in Eagle Pass ever since. They are a close-knit family and Lupe does all she can as the oldest to help her mother care for the younger children. Like all teens she has to find her individual voice amid the cacophony of siblings, friends and relatives, and juggle the expectations of her parents, grandparents and teachers against her own passions and fears. When her mother is diagnosed with uterine cancer the illness will forever change the family relationships. Struggling to find her own path to adulthood, and taking on more responsibility as her mother’s illness progresses, Lupita finds solace in writing poetry.

This is a semi-autobiographical novel, written entirely in verse. Presented as a journal, the story follows Lupita as she deals with high school classes, friends and teachers who don’t understand, and her desperate desire to support her mother and help her siblings as they all deal with the devastating news of Mami’s cancer.

Garcia McCall says so much with so few words! Her poetry is evocative and restrained, powerful and tender, vivid and elusive, full of sadness and joy, but mostly full of love. One quote:
Waiting for la Muerte to take Mami
is like being bound,
lying face up on the sacrificial altar
of the god Huitzilopochtli
pleading with the Aztec priest,
asking him to be kind
while he rips out my heart.