So Far from God: A NovelThe beloved feminist classic of Chicano literature that "could be the offspring of a union between One Hundred Years of Solitude and General Hospital: a sassy, magical, melodramatic love child who won’t sit down—and the reader can hope—will never shut up…As readable as a teen-aged sister’s secret diary—and as impossible to resist" (Barbara Kingsolver, Los Angeles Times Book Review). In Tome, a small, seemingly sleepy New Mexico hamlet, Sofia and her four fated daughters reveal a world of marvels where the comic and horrific, past and present, real and fantastic coexist and collide. Over two crowded decades, Sofia tries to hold things together following the disappearance of her husband, Domingo, he of the Clark Gable mustache and the uncontrollable gambling habit. Adventurous Esperanza, Chicana campus radical turned television news reporter, travels farthest from home only to be reeled back in spirit. Beautiful Caridad, a nurse who dulls the pain of being jilted with nightly bouts of alcohol and anonymous sex finally finds love again—and a sharp drop off a tall cliff. Practical Fe, dutiful bank worker who wishes more than anything for stability, upon being dumped by her fiancé, lets out a year-long primal scream. And mysterious La Loca, dies (maybe?) and is resurrected at age three, leaving her both attuned to higher spiritual frequencies and allergic to human touch. Exuberant and powerful, funny and profound, So Far from God is “a hymn to the endurance of women, both physical and spiritual” (Washington Post Book World). |
Contents
| 13 | |
| 15 | |
| 19 | |
Both Phenomena Questioned by the Doubting Tomases of Tome | 43 |
3 On the Subject of Doña Felicias Remedios Which in and of Themselves Are Worthless without Unwavering Faith and a Brief Sampling of Commo... | 59 |
4 Of the Further Telling of Our Clairvoyant Caridad Who After Being Afflicted with the Pangs of Love Disappears and Upon Discovery Is Hencefort... | 72 |
On Francisco el Penitentes First Becoming a Santero and Thereby Sealing His Fate | 94 |
6 The Renewed Courtship of Locas Mom and Dad and How in 49 Sofia Got Swept Off Her Feet by Domingos Clark Gable Mustache Despite Her Fa... | 103 |
9 Sofia Who Would Never Again Let Her Husband Have the Last Word Announces to the Amazement of Her Familia and Vecinos Her Decision to R... | 130 |
10 Wherein Sofia Discovers La Locas Playmate by the Acequia Has an Uncanny Resemblance to the Legendary Llorona the Ectoplasmic Return of S... | 150 |
11 The Marriage of Sofias Faithful Daughter to her Cousin Casimiro Descendant of Sheepherders and Promising Accountant Who by all Accounts W... | 170 |
12 Of the Hideous Crime of Francisco el Penitente and His Pathetic Calls Heard Throughout the Countryside as His Body Dangled from a Piñon like ... | 190 |
13 The Final Farewell of Don Domingo sin a Big mitote and an Encounter with un Doctor Invisible or Better Known in These Parts as a Psychic Surg... | 213 |
14 Doña Felicia Calls in the Troops Who Herein Reveal a Handful of Their Own Tried and Proven Remedios and Some Mixed Medical Advice Is Of... | 230 |
15 La Loca Santa Returns to the World via Albuquerque Before Her Transcendental Departure and a Few Random Political Remarks from the Highly... | 238 |
16 Sofia Founds and Becomes la First Presidenta of the LatertoBecome WorldRenowned Organization MOMAS and a Rumor Regarding the Inevitab... | 246 |
7 Caridad Reluctantly Returns Home to Assume a Life as What Folks in Fanta Se Call a Channeler | 114 |
8 What Appears to Be a Deviation of Our Story but Wherein with Some Patience the Reader Will Discover That There Is Always More Than the Eye ... | 120 |
Back Cover | 253 |