This weekend I finished The Hummingbird’s Daughter, by Luis Alberto Urrea. This book is juicy, at almost 500 pages, and I love that the author admits how long it took him to research and write and fictionalize a piece of family lore. It’s a longer read than I usually attempt, or than I usually have time for (blame the world), but totally worth every second.
The Hummingbird’s Daughter is a historical fiction that dabbles in the sublime. It’s not that the author is particularly verbose in his metaphors (like Atwood), but he writes in a practical matter about impractical things, making the impossible seem real in a magical realism all his own. It’s like Urrea has taken a family shopping list from two hundred years ago and transformed it into a mystical creature. That breaths fire. And purrs.
The fantasy/mystical elements of this work weave expertly with the historical notes, the small details on plants and climate and life on the frontier in Mexico at the dawn of the 20th century, and it’s a fascinating look at the US from an entirely non-American perspective, too. Growing up in Texas and having spent many of my holidays on the border or in Mexico, it is a transformative experience. It’s aspiration and inspiring. Highly recommend picking up a copy if you’ve not come across this book before!