Night of the Radishes

Annie Rush's mother just died and on her deathbed asked her daughter to find her brother. Carrying lots of emotional baggage, including the childhood accidental death of her twin sister and the suicide of her father, she goes to a small town in Mexico. There she discovers much about herself, life, her brother, and carving radishes. It was a good read!

Sandra Benitez continues to evolve as a writer, and has certainly avoided the trap of writing the same book over and over. This novel begins in the American midwest, and with a much more conventional feel then her previous works. But it then move into Mexico, and starts to pick up the latin magic of her earlier books. The story also becomes deeper and more nuanced, and thereby more compelling. Always marvelously written, by the end the story is a compelling mixture of midwestern solidity, psychological insight, and Mexican mysticism. It combines the very American dissection of a family gone bad with the overlay of latin magic revealing the facts. This helps to maintain the uncertainty about the outcome and the sense of discovery much longer than a more conventional American novel would have. This was not the Benitez work I liked the best, but it is an enjoyable read.

This is the story of Annie Hart Rush, who, as the book opens, is caring for her mother, who is dying of emphysema. When she dies it will be the latest in a series of devastating losses--first, her twin sister's death in a terrible accident--then her father's suicide. Then her brother Hub runs away from home, not to be heard from for twenty years. Oppressed with guilt and anger, Annie seems to function, but is slowing sinking into unshakable depression.Annie's mother extracts a deathbed promise, that Annie will try to find the long-lost brother. And as she begins to do so, she will learn much about her family history and herself. Her search will lead not only to her missing brother, and to a new family in Mexico, but to a new understanding of her past, to forgiveness and redemption.Author Sandra Benitez writes in graceful, lucid prose. Her characters are believable. The story is engaging, uplifting, and powerful. The cultural mix is intriguing too-- Mexico and Minnesota are both charmingly portrayed. If you are looking for a warm and fuzzy book, this is it. Be sure to have your handkerchief ready. The book is not perfect--maybe a little too sentimental, maybe a little too much psychology too glibly presented. Still, it works, and I enjoyed it. I recommend Night of the Radishes highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.