The House of Broken Angels

Big Angel de la Cruz is dying. However, he has two things to take care of over the next few days before he goes. First, he must avoid being late to his mother’s funeral. Second, he needs to join his extended family and many friends in celebrating his own 70th birthday party. That is the basic plot of The House of Broken Angels, Luis Alberto Urrea’s deeply affecting meditation on, among other things, the joys and foibles of family life, the challenges of being caught between two cultures, and the impact that one man can have on those around him.

The novel traces Big Angel’s story from his youth in La Paz, Mexico under the domineering presence of his father Don Antonio to his exile from the family that eventually takes him to Tijuana and San Diego, California. Along the way, we meet many of the important people in his life, including his beloved wife Perla, their siblings, their children, and their seemingly countless nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. Big Angel’s journey is often hard and heartbreaking, but one that is filled with considerable joy as well. Urrea’s storytelling is heartfelt and beautiful, at once elegiac and humorous in roughly equal measures, with a fair amount of Spanglish thrown in for authentic measure.

As he reveals at the outset in a letter to the reader, this is a deeply personal account for the author, whose alter ego appears in the character of Little Angel, the younger brother who has spent much of his adult life trying to escape the family’s influence. The two brothers share a decidedly complicated history—they have the same father but different mothers, and both are conflicted about various aspects of their Mexican-American heritage. While much of the narrative development in The House of Broken Angels is devoted to explaining and resolving their relationship, that is not the essence of the novel. Urrea set out to make this a story about “la familia” and he has succeeded admirably in doing just that. These are characters who will stay with me for a while.

This is a sweeping family epic that is deeply personal, and passionately told. Big Angel is the patriarch of his multi generational Mexican and Mexican-American family who are getting together for two days. The first day is for his mother's funeral, and the next is for his birthday, the birthday that he knows will be his last because he is dying of cancer.
The author uses multiple points of view to tell everyone's stories, with numerous flash backs, that I never felt lost in. All these characters really come to life and this was a story I didn't want to end.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great story that easily crosses cultural lines and can be felt and relatable to anyone.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc available through netgalley.

In a most rare occurrence in my ebook reading days, I did not check once how far I had read in this book. I just kept reading about Big Angel's family, his proudest moments, and his worst regrets. Luis Alberto Urrea's new novel The House of Broken Angels tells the history of a Mexican-American family and how they are brought together for one weekend to celebrate the patriarch Big Angel's last birthday and his mother's funeral.

Urrea writes of the past, present, and possible future of each cousin, sister, and uncle. The characters struggle with the that eternal question of what makes a person successful and of value to each other. And because Big Angel is terminally ill, he spends most of his days contemplating his value to his family. One of his friends encourages him to keep a journal of all the things he will miss. His list includes the mundane, everyday things of life, but also the special intangibles that make family and life so precious.

The House of Broken Angels is special book about the American Experience. I'll be thinking about it and recommending it to people for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Company, and Mr. Urrea for the advanced copy to review.

Big Angel doesn't have much time. Cancer is eating away at him as he buries his mother and prepares for his own death.

An eye-opening look at life on the border of two very different cultures. A passionate story of family, life, love and loss and the regret of things done, as well as not done in one's life. Told from several viewpoints, it was easy to follow and so well written I didn't want it to end. I wanted to know more about this Mexican-American family and what would become of each and every one of them.

This should be a must read for 2018! NetGalley/Little,Brown&Co. March 06,2018

Like most of the author's works, this is a look at an inter-generational and multi-ethnic family, rent asunder yet still held together by a strong central force. The tension this dynamic engenders makes for an intense and compelling reading experience, drawing the reader into the lives and preoccupations of distinct and distinctive family members from young to old. The writing is excellent and shows off Urrea's facility with style and tone.

Big Angel de la Cruz will be dead soon.

Bone cancer will take his life. But before he dies, the powerful, near-mythic patriarch of the family has called everyone together for one final blow-out birthday party. Before the party arrives though, Angel's mother, Mama América dies, leading to one long family-filled, ceremonial weekend. Funeral one day, party the next.

Family members from all walks gather in San Diego to celebrate the lives of Big Angel and Mama América. They'll retell their legendary family stories, reveal each other's secrets, and offer their respect to Big Angel like a Mexican-American Godfather. The de la Cruzes are a big clan, brothers, sisters, kids, and grand kids, all complex and real.

Through flashbacks and remembrances, The House of Broken Angels tracks the de la Cruze story from his Big Angel's youth in La Paz, Mexico under the chaotic influence of his father Don Antonio, to his arrival in California as a hard working man, determined to build a better life for himself and his family. Along the way, we meet that family and learn their stories as well. His beloved wife Perla, mourning her husband before he passes; Minnie, the daughter destined to take Big Angel's place a head of the family; La Gloriosa, the aging beauty; Lalo, the veteran son considering the worst in a lifetime of bad decisions. Prominent among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, Little Angel, who shares a father with his siblings but, because of his separate upbringing, is unsure of his place within the family.

Big Angel’s story is often hard and heartbreaking, depicting the realistic hardships that come along with immigration and class status in America. But the de la Cruzes overcome through a focus on resilience, love, and family.

"What was your favorite part?" she said.
"Of the party?"
"No, Flaco. Of our life."
He responded immediately. "Everything."
She thought about it. "Even the bad?"
"There were no bad times," he said. "As long as you were there."

It sounds like a sad story, I guess. But Luis Alberto Urrea's writing adds a funny, manic, and poetic quality to the family that's hard to feel sad about.

Luis Alberto Urrea's newest novel tells the heartbreaking story of a family, divided by generations and borders. The culture of Mexico is vividly displayed by Big Angel and his memories of how life began in Mexico. This new novel will resonate with all those interested in the exact experiences of immigrants and the sacrifices they suffered to get a life that they wanted.

So much love for this book. Urrea writes about family like no one else. It's funny, it's sad, it speaks truth. Along with The Water Museum, this is up there with my favorite Urrea books.

"The entire history of his family, the world itself, the solar system and galaxy, swirled around him now in weird silence, and he felt blood dribbled down inside his body and the clock, the clock, chipped away at his existence."

Big Angel (Miguel Angel De La Cruz) has invited his family to his home in San Diego to celebrate his last birthday. His Mother passes away a few days before his birthday, so the family has her funeral one day and his birthday party the next. Two very different farewells for this dynamic family who gather together in celebration of life, to say goodbye, and to tell their favorite family stories and bare their souls.

"Big Angel stood in the shadows of the living room, buffeted by stories of the past, things he remembered and thing he had learned. Or maybe thing he had dreamed. He could no longer tell the difference. The stories flew in like wind through an open window and whirled around him. He could feel them almost pull him off his feet. They seemed to come by their own volition, leaping over years, ignoring the decades. Big Angel found himself in a time storm."

The writing in this book was quite beautiful. This book is sweet, it's funny, it's sad, it's dramatic and gives us a glimpse into the lives of this first generation Mexican-American family living across but near the border. The family is full of interesting characters and has interesting family dynamics (which family doesn't?). Through their interactions and conversations, the reader learns their personalities, thoughts, emotions and fears. Big Angel and his brother, Little Angle have great conversations full of sarcasm and wit which they use to sugarcoat their pain and love for each other.

“I know you hated me for leaving. I know you thought I looked down on all of you. Well, maybe I did. All my life I thought of you. All my life I thought I had to escape to survive. Maybe even to escape you. And now you are leaving me, and I can’t imagine the world without you. I always thought I didn’t really have the father I wanted. And all this time it was you. To be here now, to see what you have made, humbles me. The good parts and the bad. It doesn’t matter. I thought I was going to save the world, and here you were all along, changing the world day by day, minute by minute.”

Like most family gatherings, there is laughter, tears, music, food, dancing, and people. There are some Spanish words through in here which make the book feel more authentic. Even if you do not speak Spanish, I think most of the words are self-explanatory due to the English which is said both before and after the word. Initially I gave this book 4 stars but moved it up to 4.5 due to the writing being so wonderful. The beginning of this book started off with a bang and then the Author does a step back and takes us back in time to when Big Angel met his wife. This was a little bit of a rough transition for me for many reasons: I wanted to keep the present-day story going because I was enjoying it so much and because it interrupted the flow of the story. I liken this to when you are walking behind someone and they suddenly stop fast for no reason and you almost run into them. This is what the transition felt like to me. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was my first book by Urrea and I am certain I will be reading more of his books in the future.

Thank you to Little Brown and Company and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Luis Urrea has joined the ranks of great American writers with his new novel, The House of Broken Angels. (Think John Steinbeck here--a worthy comparison).

Miguel Angel De La Cruz, known as Big Angel, the patriarch of the family, is dying of cancer and wants to celebrate his last birthday with his extensive family, a blowout party...but first they must bury Grandma America who has so obligingly died first.

Urrea writes about the Mexican-American experience with both humor and gravitas but he nails family relationships so perfectly that most of his readers will be able to recognize certain aspects of their own families, no matter what the nationality. The universal experience. No one can hurt us so deeply, rattle ours chains, push our buttons, yet inspire such deep love and loyalty.

"A family inheritance, he thought. Endless drama."

"They didn't ever let anybody have a secret, but they were hiding things from one another every day of their lives."

"These men are driving me insane."

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this wonderful new book. I predict this book will become a classic.

I knew I wanted to read this book the minute I heard about it. A very special thanks to Goodreads friend, Truman. His passion and energy for this book had me jumping with my own excitement.

“Big Angel, [patriarch of the family], was turning seventy. It felt very old to him. At the same time, it felt far too young. He had not intended to leave the party so soon. I’ve tried to be good, he told his invisible interviewer.”
“His mother had made it to the edge of one hundred. He had thought he’d at least make it that far. In his mind, he was still a kid, yearning for laughter and a good book, adventures, and one more albondigas soup cooked by Perla. He wished he had gone to college. He wished he had seen Paris. He wished he had taken the time for a Caribbean cruise, because he secretly wanted to snorkel, and once he got well he would go do that. He was still planning on going to Seattle. See what kind of life his baby brother had. He suddenly realized he hadn’t even gone to the north side of San Diego, La Jolla, where all the rich gringos went to get suntans and diamonds. He wished he had walked on the beach. Why did he not have sand dollars and shells? A sand dollar suddenly seemed like a very fine thing to have. And he had forgotten to go to Disneyland. He sat back in shock: he had been too busy to even go to the zoo”.

Cancer has hijacked Big Angels body. He wants to celebrate his birthday with his family - extended family - have the type of party people will talk about for years - but his mother died first....a few days before the party-extravaganza. So - the family must first come to the funeral to of Grandma America.

This book sparkles with energy.... so full of life: bigger than life. It’s fresh - it’s funny - it’s heartbreaking. It’s a book about family - complicated and messy relationships - lots of characters -
Lots and lots of wonderful stories and memories .....

It was so easy to slip into sadness one minute - then immediately reflect about something in my own life - then find myself hysterically laughing again.

I’m turning 66 next month - and I kept thinking Big Angel was only 4 years older than me. He missed WALKING! Such a simple daily pleasure we often take for granted.
He was king of his wheel chair - but walking was a memory. This could be any one of us - This is such a HUMAN STORY!
Big Angel missed things we often don’t talk about - sex- even masturbating - restless flirtations with his wife’s sister’s, though he felt repentant about that part.

The children and grandchildren would gather around Big Angel - around his chair -
YEP... he was still king: the Patriarch of the family! That’s got to be a remarkable experience.

Soooo many wonderful moments! This book is CONSTANTLY ENJOYABLE!

....Enjoy the tortillas! Corn - not flour!
....Examine two pet peeves of Big Angel: Mexican Time, and GOLD TEETH
....Stockings and legs are marvelous
....FABULOUS DIALOGUE.....Contemporary voices....awesome Mexican culture....wit & grit.
....Enjoy the family - the celebration- and party like your life depends on it!


Thank you Little Brown and Company - Netgalley - and Luis Alberto Urrea. ( incredible talent)

Excellent book. Lyrical. Haunting and masterfully written.

”Big Angel was late to his own mother’s funeral.

“He tossed in his bed, the sheets catching his feet in a tangle. Sweat ticked his sides as he realized what was happening. The sun was up – it was bright through his eyelids. The burning pink world. Everybody else would be there before him. No. Not this. Not today. He struggled to rise.”
”Every morning since his diagnosis, he had the same thoughts. They were his alarm clock.
How could a man out of time repair all that was broken? And on this morning, as he was awakening to these worries, cursed by the light, cursed in every way by time, betrayed by his exhausted body while his mind raged, he was started to find his father’s ghost sitting beside him on the bed.”

Family gathers for the funeral, and then again for Big Angel’s birthday on the following day. An extended family including Big Angel’s half-brother, Little Angel, a child of his father’s and a different mother, cousins, Aunts, Uncles and all of the newest members.

There is the type of humour you’ll find in family gatherings, the subtle, or not so subtle ways that family has of putting you in your place, of reminding you of where you come from and who you are. Still, all the time there is that bond, that love that is always there, shining through even in those moments of not-so-gentle teasing. The men boasting amongst themselves, but becoming more reflective when alone, and when they are with their women.

Then there is the one that is missing, whose absence is felt more than if he were present. Surely he will not stay away, surely this is a time when he will return to his family, and then, like the parable of the prodigal son, the feast will be a joyous one, an embracing of their differences, as well.

”This is the prize: to realize, at the end, that every minute was worth fighting for with every ounce of blood and fire.”

”So you fill your hours with hubbub. Like now. The house seemed to be bulging elastically like an old cartoon—music and dust flying out through the gaping junctures of the bouncing, jiving walls.
“Big Angel surveyed his domain.”

Sorrow. The sorrow of losing loved ones, the sorrow of facing the end of life. Sorrow, so well balanced in this story by the joys of life, the joys of love. Family. The good, the bad, the ugly, at the end we are still family. Sometimes, things happen and we’d like to change that, CTRL-ALT-DEL people from our lives, but it isn’t that easy with family. America / Americans and becoming Americans, a process, much like life. We are all always becoming, becoming something different from what we were, and hopefully a better version, without leaving our “old” selves behind. And there is the humour, of course, it’s a family gathered together, and stories are told, memories are shared. Stories that are teasing, meant to embarrass, in the way which families manage to excel, but shared with love.

”There is a minute in the day, a minute for everyone, though most everyone is too distracted to notice its arrival. A minute of gifts coming from the world like birthday presents. A minute given to every day that seems to create a golden bubble available to everyone.”

There is a moment in this book, nearing the end, that felt like that to me, a present. Well, more than one moment, but one between Big Angel and Ookie that stood out from the rest and melted my heart.


Published 6 MAR 2018


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Little, Brown and Company

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel of a Mexican-American family fathering for a grandmother's funeral and a father's birthday. Bought back great memories of living in this small Arizona border town where all parties were held in the lawn with guitars, accordions, chickens, endless food, singing, and dogs barking. Urrea creates wonderful characters. I love his sardonic wit. No family is perfect, and most are far from perfect, yet, in this particular family, at the last minute, everyone returns for the birthday party. But first, readers learn the colorful history of this family. All I can say is that I hope the father made it to the beach.

Such a unique look back at one’s life, all while the now swirls around a family patriarch. So well done!

Oh, my--this book! I was overwhelmed by this boisterous, complicated, colorful family gathered for the funeral of their matriarch and the last birthday of her son Big Angel, who is dying of cancer.

As I read, this family took residence in my heart. They were not so unlike my own family. I remembered the large family gatherings of my childhood; we have our 'colorful' characters, too. My cousins and I are are too quickly becoming the oldest generation--the next to die.

Through the story of one particular Mexican-American family, The House of Broken Angels recalls what it means to be family. Through the life and death of one man, we grapple with the purpose of our own life and death.

Big Angel's grandfather came to America after the Mexican Revolution, tried to enlist for service during WWI, then in 1932 the family was deported back to Mexico. He was First Angel.

Big Angel's deceased father, a cop, is still a powerful presence in the lives of Big Angel and his half-brother, Little Angel. He was feared, he was idolized, and he was hated. Big Angel's dad abandoned his family for an American woman,"all Indiana milk and honey" with "Cornflower-blue eyes." He had 'forgotten' he had a son named Angel in his first family. The half-brothers have had an uneasy relationship.

At his seventieth birthday party, Big Angel is surrounded by his beloved Perla and their children, Perla's sisters who he helped raise, his half-siblings, and grandkids. Those who have died, and a son who has been estranged, are present in aching hearts.

As Big Angel struggles with how to die, how to atone for his sins, and the legacy he wants to leave his family, we learn the family's stories, the things that have divided and alienated them, and the things that bind them together. They will break your heart and they will inspire you with the strength and love of their family bonds. The revelation of this purpose is the climax of the novel, a scene that you will never forget.

Author Luis Alberto Urrea was inspired by his own family in writing this book. His eldest brother was dying when a day before his birthday he had to bury his mother. The family put on a 'blowout party, the kind of ruckus he would have delighted in during better days."

Urrea also wanted to tell the story of Mexican-American families, about immigrants and the American dream, living on the border between two countries and cultures, the hopes and dreams and cruel realities.

Reviewers use the word exuberant in describing this book. It is!

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.