The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Hummingbird’s Daughter is my favorite novel of 2005. I reviewed the book on Collected Miscellany last summer, and I believe Daniel Olvias blogged about it on La Bloga. In turns majestic, funny, tragic, dense and exciting The Hummingbird’s Daughter pays homage to the great traditions of literature; at the same time, the suspicion lingers that Urrea is having a great deal of fun with this story. Fun is strictly forbidden among today’s writers. This may be a byproduct of the Industrial Revolution or the unintended consequence of post secondary education. Jasper Fforde notwithstanding, literature is a grim business.
Urrea pokes fun at his Sinoloan rancher Don Tomas. Tomas is alarmed by Teresita’s emerging power, secretly pleased as well. Tomas blunders and rages, denies and decries, alienating his wife when he brings her replacement into the house. Events occur on the scale of Exodus and what emerges in the end for Tomas and Teresita is a triumph of human nature at its finest.