Retablos
- Author Octavio Solis
- Narrator Octavio Solis
- Publisher Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date 26 March 2019
- Run Time 5 hours and 10 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Biography: general, Ethnic studies, Memoirs.
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What to expect
Seminal moments, rites of passage, crystalline vignettes—a memoir about growing up brown at the US/Mexico border
The tradition of retablo painting dates back to the Spanish Conquest in both Mexico and the US Southwest. Humble ex-votos, retablos are usually painted on repurposed metal, and in one small tableau they tell the story of a crisis and offer thanks for its successful resolution.
In this uniquely framed memoir, playwright Octavio Solis channels his youth in El Paso, Texas. Like traditional retablos, the rituals of childhood and rites of passage are remembered as singular, dramatic events, self-contained episodes with life-changing reverberations.
Living in a home just a mile from the Rio Grande, Octavio is a skinny brown kid on the border, growing up among those who live there, and those passing through on their way north. From the first terrible self-awareness of racism to inspired afternoons playing air trumpet with Herb Alpert, from an innocent game of hide-and-seek to the discovery of a Mexican girl hiding in the cotton fields, Solis reflects on the moments of trauma and transformation that shaped him into a man.
Critics Review
“Tells stories about his childhood and coming of age.”
“An expansive new vision of a troubled America.”
“If retablos are offerings, then Solis’ book is a gift of memory, not always pleasant, but always true.”
“Wonderful and weird flashes of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood in the life of this particular Mexican American boy.”
“Solis shares his memories as a brown person on the border with a keen eye and an agile way with words…[a] timely expression of border culture.”
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