Into the Beautiful North

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea on audio was a delight, especially with the voice and passion of Susan Ericksen. Nayeli is a young girl working in a taco shop in Tres Camarones, who continues to idolize her father that left her and her mother many years ago. Her home is under attack from bandits and drug dealers, but many residents have been abandoned by other men seeking the opportunities found in America. While watching The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brynner, Nayeli and her friends -- Tacho, Yolo, and Vampi -- decide they are going to make a trek to America to bring back the seven they need to save their town. The audio brings to life the accents, the culture, the beauty of each scene and the playful sparring between these characters and their new surroundings. Ericksen's passion for these characters and this story is clear, illuminating the innocence of Nayeli and her friends and the hardships they face. From the colorful personalities of Nayeli's gay boss, Tacho, to her vampire/Goth girlfriend Vampi and perky and whiny Yolo to the matriarch of the village Nayeli's Aunt Irma, Urrea paints a mosaic of Mexico and the struggles of illegal immigrants and those seeking a better life. Readers will by far enjoy the quirky Atomico a warrior from the dump outside Tijuana the most as he seeks to defend the four from the ills of the world. My husband and I were riveted when the audio rolled us to work every morning. Atomico was my husband's favorite character because he was like a comic book character; "I AM ATOMICO." While the border crossings were the most exciting aspects of the novel for my husband, the end of the novel fell flat; he considered it an open ending as if there were more to come -- that the journey had not ended. Urrea's writing is passionate and tangible, capturing the reader instantly and weaving a tale that envelops them completely. Into the Beautiful North is one of the best novels I've read in 2009, but I plan to read this in hard copy as well.

Urrea is a playful, generous writer who clearly loves life, women, and prose. Although this novel is not as sprawling as The Hummingbird's Daughter, it is a lively and sensory mini-epic about the love of a village in Mexico and the chance of a dream that extends into America--into the beautiful North--and back. Nineteen-year old Nayeli shimmers and sways when she walks. She dreams of better things than working at the taco stand in Tres Camarones, the remote village of her birth in Sinaloa. Her father traded his family for a job in the US, "Los Yunaites," years ago. Over time, the men have been disappearing from the village and migrating to Tijuana or even further into the U.S. And now bandidos are threatening to take over the unguarded town. Nayeli and her friends, as well as her Aunt Irma, who is running for mayor, hatch a plan after watching The Magnificent Seven at the local cinema, The Cine Pedro Infante. With the brio of Yul Brynner (who Irma insists is Mexican) and a determination to repopulate Tres Camaorones with men, they conceive a mission. Nayeli and her friends will find a way to sneak into the US illegally, find seven robust, strapping men, and bring them back to their village. Additionally, Nayeli intends to travel to Illinois, find her father, and convince him to come home. This novel embraces the exuberance of life and the love of Mexico with a witty, irreverent, and lyrically fluid narrative. All the prime characters are three-dimensional, authentic. Nayeli, with the strong brown calves and alluring, inscrutable smile; La Vampira, or Vampi, the only goth girl in Sinaloa; Yolo, the heady intellectual; and their lone male friend, Tacho--taco-master of The Fallen Hand. They are recruited to join Nayeli on her adventure North. The four friends experience dangerous adventure at the boisterous border in Tijuana and the pain and pleasure of growing up and shedding a few provincial feathers while they test their wings. Odd, ripe characters pepper the novel with their salty tongues, and a striking balance of ardor and menace keeps you off-balance and in suspense. Potent, enchanting, and sizzling like a tortilla in the sun; Into the Beautiful North will dance and delight you, seduce and entice you.

In this tale of four friends, one notorious and ugly fence, and two cultures, Luis Urrea puts his tremendous storytelling powers, years of experience, and imagination (always sympathetic) to use to create an unforgettable novel. I fell immediately in love with the characters, the dialogue (a great combination of Spanish, English, Hollywood, and street jargon mixed with references to pop fiction, movies, and music), and the scenery. Urrea's descriptive powers never fail him, whether he is describing the surreal charms of small-town Mexico, the insane majesty of the American west or a trip to the supermarket, where the packages of meat are lined up as neatly as books in a library.

Urrea is a brilliant storyteller. Into the Beautiful North feels like a smooth read because he so masterfully created a piece of literary fiction that is refreshingly accessible. Breathtaking descriptions, lovable and feisty characters, painful topics soothed with humor, a powerful plot--- the novel has everything I appreciate in a book. After hearing Urrea speak at LA Festival of Books, I understand why there is such an optimistic feel to the book's difficult topics. The man has a light about him, an optimistic aura, and his bright spirit comes through in his writing.

Into the Beautiful North is funny and painful. Some of it is hard to read. It's about love of all kinds. Nayeli, the heroine, is a wonderful, feisty young woman. Urrea understands and respects women and it shows. He has great compassion for all of the characters in the book. Three young women decide to find men to repopulate their village Tres Camarones (yes, Three Shrimp), when Nayeli realizes all the men are gone. Four friends set out with great innocence, enthusiasm and determination to do something that may or may not even be possible. Urrea brings the real flavor of a place into being. You feel what it is to be in a small village in Mexico. You feel the heat, and the salt air on your skin. I don't want to give any spoilers here, you need to discover the book for yourselves, but remember the words "I am Atomiko!" It's a road trip book, it's a border book, it's a 'buddy' book. It's about the great beauty and pain of Mexico. And the kindness and compassion of some and the cruelty of others. It's about the good and bad of the US, and about surprising kindness and pointless evil. It's about life. But always, it's about love. All the kinds of love that there are. Oh yes, it's about Yul Brynner. This book would make a wonderful movie, and I'd love to see a sequel. A whole series of books about Nayeli and her friends. I won't tell you what her friends are like, part of the fun is meeting them for the first time.