Santeria, Bronx

This is an early title in the corpus of literature regarding the Santeria/Lukumi religion. A fictionalized semi-autobiography, it very accurately describes the Orisha community in its infancy in New York. Luminaries of the New York Santeria community are easily recognizable to anyone familiar with the history of the religion in that area at that time. Gleason has transformed herself into a 14 year-old boy named Raymond, who stumbles into the religious community and finds his whole world changed, as often happens to people who aren't born into the tradition. Raymond's journey into the heart of the religion rings true for many of us who shared the same path. Gleason's writing style often reads like verse, and some people find this very difficult to deal with. She has a tendency to stick you into the middle of a situation and very slowly share tidbits of information until you can figure out what's going on. While this can be difficult as literature, it illustrates very clearly the emotional and mental processes one goes through when one enters a world so totally unfamiliar to one's own. I can think of no other book that so perfectly describes the Cuban/Puerto Rican Orisha community in New York City, as well as elsewhere in the states. Migene Wippler tried to rip this off, as she has everything else, in her book "The Santeria Experience," but that book is the worst kind of inaccurate pandering fiction. Give it to the Goodwill and find this one. You'll be glad you did.