Publisher Description
We slipped into this country like thieves, onto the land that once was ours.
So begins The Madonnas of Echo Park, the 2011 Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award winning novel by Brando Skyhorse. These words, spoken by an illegal Mexican day laborer, introduce us to the unseen world of Los Angeles, following the men and women who cook the meals, clean the homes, and struggle to lose their ethnic identity in the pursuit of the American dream.
When a dozen or so girls and mothers gather on an Echo Park street corner to act out a scene from a Madonna music video, they find themselves caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting. In the aftermath, Aurora Esperanza grows distant from her mother, Felicia, who as a housekeeper in the Hollywood Hills establishes a unique relationship with a detached housewife.
The Esperanzas' shifting lives connect with those of various members of their neighborhood. A day laborer trolls the streets for work with men half his age and witnesses a murder that pits his morality against his illegal status; a religious hypocrite gets her comeuppance when she meets the Virgin Mary at a bus stop on Sunset Boulevard; a typical bus route turns violent when cultures and egos collide in the night, with devastating results; and Aurora goes on a journey through her gentrified childhood neighborhood in a quest to discover her own history and her place in the land that all Mexican Americans dream of, "the land that belongs to us again."
Like the Academy Award–winning film Crash, The Madonnas of Echo Park follows the intersections of its characters and cultures in Los Angeles. In the footsteps of Junot D├ìaz and Sherman Alexie, Brando Skyhorse in his debut novel gives voice to one neighborhood in Los Angeles with an astonishing— and unforgettable—lyrical power.
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"3 and 1/2 stars. I wanted to love this book and found much to admire, but it fell short of my expectations. There were parts when it wasn't clear what was happening--and not just the moments of magical realism. Calling it a "novel" on the cover is misleading since it's really a "novel in stories." I like short story collections and novels in stories, but it might create an expectation for other readers that it will be something other than it is."
—
Susi (4 out of 5 stars)
About the Narrators
Robert Ramirez came to audiobook narration fresh from his MFA in classical theater. Initially answering a casting call for a narrator who spoke Spanish, Robert has used his Mexican-American background to imbue authentic flavor and dialogue in audio titles. His powerful command of language and rich voice reflect his interest in dialects. Ramirez is the winner of eight AudioFile Earphones Awards.
Scott Brick, an acclaimed voice artist, screenwriter, and actor, has performed on film, television, and radio. He attended UCLA and spent ten years in a traveling Shakespeare company. Passionate about the spoken word, he has narrated a wide variety of audiobooks. winning won more than fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards and several of the prestigious Audie Awards. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and the Voice of Choice for 2016 by Booklist magazine.
Alma Cuervo is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a stage actress and singer who has also performed in film and television. She holds an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama, from which she graduated in 1976 alongside Meryl Streep. She starred in the role of Madame Morrible in the first national tour of Wicked.
Alyssa Bresnahan is a dynamic dancer, actor, and audiobook narrator. She has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, has earned twenty Earphones Awards, and was named one of AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voices. In 2009 she was a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best fiction narration.
Jonathan Davis has been inducted into the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame. A three-time recipient and fourteen-time nominee of the Audie Award, he has earned accolades for his narration from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the American Library Association, Booklist, the Audio Publishers Association, AudioFile magazine, and USA Today. He has narrated a variety of bestsellers and award-winners for top publishing houses. He also narrated over forty titles of the Star Wars franchise for Lucasfilm Ltd./PRH Audio, including several iconic movie tie-ins, has participated with Star Wars Celebration, and has built a significant fan base. His work as a narrator includes films and programming for National Geographic Television, NOVA, PBS, VH1, and Francis Ford Coppola. He grew up in Puerto Rico and speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew.
Tony Chiroldes is
one of New York City’s busiest voice-over performers. He was an original
Broadway cast member of the Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical In the Heights, and has appeared in
other productions such as The Capeman,
Sympathy Jones, Senor Discretion Himself, and more. Tony has voiced
hundreds of English and Spanish commercials and many audiobooks, including The
Dreamer, for which he won an Earphone Award from AudioFile.
Annie Henk is an active bilingual voice-over artist and actress who has worked on several educational projects such as, Voces and ¿Como se Dice?. She has been seen in various productions such as Branches and X & Y Stories in Songs from Coconut Hill Festival. Her film career includes Quejios, which premiered at the Philadelphia International Film Festival and screened internationally at the Inside Out Toronto Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival, the MIX Mexico Film Festival, and the New Festival. She is a member of the Present Tense Theater Project.