latest read

When the Ground Turns in its Sleep by Sylvia Sellers-Garcia.

While being very different from my typical read, I really liked this book set in Guatemala in a couple of remote villages. The main character Nitido goes to Guatemala after the death of his father and the book is basically a long letter to his father. In this letter, the son explains how he is mistaken for a priest and thus become privy to the village secrets and tries piecing together the life his parents had before emigrating to the US. Along the way he discovers the truth behind why no one will enter his house (the annex to the church), why the church secretary is so secretive about her life, and many other things.

The writing style of the author is pretty lyrical and very descriptive:
The news of Santo's unforeseen arrival swept through Rio Roto like a current of cold air over a pond, freezing the mud from the edges inward, molding the soft center into a fixed brittle suspension.

One of my favorite passages was Nitido explaining how you can never escape from the past, no matter how hard you try:
You may have been attempting to set aside the burden of past time. You've moved away from Guatemala, stopped speaking of it, allowed the stone to roll away and rest. But you must have realized that such efforts were futile. The stones cannot be left behind; they fill your pockets, their added weight affecting slightly the manner of each new step.

Overall, the message of the book is basically redemption. With truth, time, communication, acceptance and love, even the most horrible of situations can be over come-- triumphed over, really and life goes on.