The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse

This book is another one I chose because it was on several best of 2010 lists, and has possibilities as a reading group choice.  Echo Park is an area of Los Angeles where many people from Mexico and native born Americans of Mexican ancestry lived.  Skyhorse, of Mexican ancestry himself, tells the interlocking stories of different Echo Park natives.  Their individual stories of mistreatment, poverty, hopes, dreams, tragedies and happiness combine to create a whole picture of Echo Park society.

A key event in the history of Echo Park was the razing of the Chavez Ravine neighborhood to build Dodger Stadium.  This affected everyone living there at the time and since.  People moved into the surrounding area, but those displaced did not forget their original homes, no matter how humble.

I had difficulty following the relationships between the people.  Each person speaks in the first person, and they jump right in with no explanation of who they are.  It's an effective way to give voice to the storytellers, but I had to go back a few times to pinpoint who was whose mother, grandmother, husband, wife, daughter.

This book fulfills the need to experience other people's reality through fiction -- see previous post.