The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez

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Pub Date 22 Sep 2020 | Archive Date 04 Mar 2022

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Description

In the 1950s, tensions remain high in the border town of La Frontera. Penny loafers and sneakers clash with boots and huaraches. Bowling shirts and leather jackets compete with guayaberas. Convertibles fend with motorcycles. Yet amidst the discord, young love blooms at first sight between Fulgencio Ramirez, the son of impoverished immigrants, and Carolina Mendelssohn, the local pharmacist’s daughter. But as they’ll soon find out, their bonds will be undone by a force more powerful than they could have known.


Thirty years after their first fateful encounter, Fulgencio Ramirez, RPh, is conducting his daily ritual of reading the local obituaries in his cramped pharmacy office. After nearly a quarter of a century of waiting, Fulgencio sees the news he’s been hoping for: his nemesis, the husband of Carolina Mendelssohn, has died.


A work of magical realism, The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez weaves together the past and present as Fulgencio strives to succeed in America, break a mystical family curse, and win back Carolina’s love after their doomed youthful romance. Through enchanting language and meditations about the porous nature of borders—cultural, geographic, and otherworldly—The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez offers a vision of how the past has divided us, and how the future could unite us.

In the 1950s, tensions remain high in the border town of La Frontera. Penny loafers and sneakers clash with boots and huaraches. Bowling shirts and leather jackets compete with guayaberas...


A Note From the Publisher

Rudy Ruiz is an award-winning author. His short fiction has garnered several notable awards, including four International Latino Book Awards for his short-story collection Seven for the Revolution and the 2017 Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction. His stories have been published in the Notre Dame Review, Ninth Letter, Gulf Coast, and New Texas. A native of the US-Mexico border, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Harvard, and now resides in San Antonio with his wife and children.

Rudy Ruiz is an award-winning author. His short fiction has garnered several notable awards, including four International Latino Book Awards for his short-story collection Seven for the Revolution...


Advance Praise

"With an atmospheric setting and beguiling prose, lavish details, fascinating, well-developed characters, and charming elements of magic realism, Ruiz conjures a magnetic story about the kindness of strangers, solid familial bonds, bold perseverance, and steadfast love."

-Booklist (Starred Review)


“Rudy Ruiz perfectly captures the thunderclap of true love and the magical, terrible, and beautiful ways its storm plays out through the lives of his characters. Like his beloved Carolina, you will be drawn to Fulgencio, you will flourish in his presence, you will be frustrated and angry with him, and ultimately you will love him and rejoice in his resurrection. A novel of redemption that will leave you in joyful tears.”

-Charlie Lovett, New York Times bestselling author of Escaping Dreamland and The Bookman’s Tale


“Rudy Ruiz’s first novel is told with wit and verve. Entertaining and dramatic, this novel will delight readers and leave you wanting more.”

-Nora Comstock de Hoyos, PhD, founder, Las Comadres Para Las Américas

"With an atmospheric setting and beguiling prose, lavish details, fascinating, well-developed characters, and charming elements of magic realism, Ruiz conjures a magnetic story about the kindness of...


Marketing Plan

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National print reviews and features

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Op-eds and original essays

Social media campaign

Spanish-language edition simultaneous release promotion

Author website: RudyRuiz.com

Regional author tour

LJ Day of Dialogue featured author

National print reviews and features

NPR interviews

Literary-fiction buzz mailing

National print and online advertising

Op-eds and...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781982604615
PRICE $27.99 (USD)

Available on NetGalley

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Average rating from 41 members


Featured Reviews

i would say, as of now, this will be one of septembers best releases. this story made me feel so much and i loved each character.

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This book is an amazing, bilingual with everything you could want from a story; love, action, mystery and great characters. The magical realism in the book is woven in so well it's very easy to believe and adds a little something extra to the story. The constant crossing between Mexico and the US is poetic in so many way and there are comparisons between the two cultures dotted throughout. I loved the characters Fulgencio and Carolina. I loved that Fulgencio took responsibility for his actions, despite the curse that he could have easily blamed his actions on. Carolina also is a strong character, who constantly stands up for herself and will speak out. Their journey is nothing short of epic.

This book is fantastic! I highly recommend it for anyone looking for an epic story of love and loss that spans decades.

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The description is clear to state the writing follows magical realism, but it' an interesting thing to actually read it. It has a good way of bringing forth the real feelings of someone who is a minority, who is poorer than others and wants to strive for a better life and rise out and be like something else. Very interesting read.

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I hadn’t read much magical realism since I graduated, so reading this story was a wild rollercoaster of nostalgia, especially tied in with all the shifts between Spanish and English that laced through the novel. Everything about the story was blended so well together, you didn’t quite grasp the shifts, and I loved that because it really felt like the reader knew Fulgencio, because this is what he saw, this is what he felt. Perhaps my favorite part of the story was Fulgencio’s passion—it was something that never went away, and it seemed to bleed out of the pages. It’s definitely the kind of story I would recommend for someone just dipping their toes into the world of magical realism, and it’s certainly one that they would remember.

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If I had to describe The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez in one word I would say Wonderful. It is a wonderful book full of wisdom, love, growth, magic, and ghosts. The story follows Fulgencio through his life, the mistakes he has made, and the regrets he has. I will say that Fulgencio is not always a character you will like, many times I found him rude, overbearing, violent, and just plain crazy. He is truly stalker material. However, the story is about his resurrection, so we have to witness his negative traits so we can see how he changes. The characters are great, I loved them all, especially the ghosts. The setting was perfect, everything was very well written. I highly recommend this book, it really has everything.

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I was excited to reach for Ruiz's novel as a highlighted new Latinx release on Goodreads. And, indeed, what a beautiful tale of love, rejection, class and passage of time in Mexico and the US.

While I don't usually reach for books with ANY kind of fantasy or magical realism elements, this one hit it out of the park. In this novel, our main character Fulgencio Ramirez attempts to win back the love of Carolina Mendelssohn - the love of his life from thirty years ago whose husband has just died. Fulgencio and Carolina come from very different social classes and are separated by a border, literal and metaphorical, which is another theme thoroughly examined in this novel. The writing is vivid and imaginative in a way that managed to transport me straight to La Frontera.

In addition to the fascinatic magical tale, while I was reading with my eyeballs, I had the chsance to listen to the audiobook simultaneously. Narration in the audiobook version is truly brilliant. I loved how the narrator was able to accentuate the right moments and bring raw emotions to life.

Fantastic.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to Blackstone and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available!

Like any good Western, Rudy Ruiz's latest book "The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez" has it all - a tortured male protagonist, a love story that lasts the years and legendary arch nemesis. However, there's more than meets the eye in the border town of La Frontera like drug addled crime lords, religious Catholic priests and roaming undead spirits. With a touch of magical realism, Ruiz plays around with the concept of intergenerational trauma, machismo and the healing power of love. Like a hearty tortilla soup, "The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez" will leave you with a full heart and a smile on your face.

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Fulgencio Ramirez falls in love the moment he sees Carolina Mendelssohn, daughter of the local pharmacist. They live in La Frontera during the 1950's, and Fulgencio is sure Carolina will be his. Until, she isn't. They are pulled apart by forces beyond their control, and Carolina marries someone else. Fulgencio becomes a pharmacist, conducting a daily ritual of poring over the local obituaries in the newspaper. One day, decades later, while engaging in his macabre ritual, Fulgencio's heart soars with happiness. Carolina's husband has died, and Fulgencio's second chance has arrived at last! Of course, to capture the heart of the one you love after so many years and such recent tragedy is no easy feat, especially when there is a darkness from the past that has shadowed Fulgencio's every footstep from the moment of his birth, tripping him up and denying him every lasting happiness. It is time for Fulgencio to correct the wrongs of the past, to win Carolina's heart, and to find the love that has always been denied to him.

What a layered and interesting book that spans generations and approaches love, rage, mistakes, and second chances in such an interesting light! Fulgencio is a tragic character, unable to make his relationships last, and that is because of a tragedy that occurred long before he was born! Carolina is the sad victim of Fulgencio's malaise, in that she cared deeply for him, but what plagued him also kept them apart for decades. I listened to the audiobook for this story, and while I enjoyed hearing about the 1950's and Fulgencio's budding feelings for Carolina, the narrator's delivery definitely lacked emotional punch, and I would have preferred a bit more oomph in emotional and tense moments. The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez is an engrossing story about lost love, second chances, and breaking free of negative behaviors and emotions to find peace, and while its characters are flawed, their hearts are in the right place.

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This is Literary Fiction & Magical Realism at its best! Truly a beautiful, inspirational adventure. I loved the Spanish used in context, the great love story, and the back in forth in time. I felt that I was right there with the characters!
I will need to purchase this to keep with my favorites. Beautiful!!!

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