The House of Broken Angels is a poignant novel featuring a Mexican immigrant family living in California. The beloved patriarch of the clan, Big Angel, is dying from cancer and calls on his entire extended family to gather to celebrate his last birthday. Spoiling the party plan is the fact that Big Angel's mother, Grandma America, dies a few days before the event and her funeral takes place the day before the birthday party. The book is a collection of family memories of different kinds, some are entertaining, some are sad or even tragic; and also Big Angel's contemplations and regrets about his life.

I mostly enjoyed reading The House of Broken Angels; the author's writing talent is undeniable. There were numerous beautiful passages that I loved and couldn't get enough of. I found the story of Big Angel and Perla's relationship and marriage captivating and it was definitely my favourite storyline. What I struggled with was the scattered plot, infused with stories and dialogue that felt a bit out of place. What didn't help was the overwhelming number of characters, some of whom where just thrown in and their relationships explained only later in the book. 3 stars overall!

Many thanks to John Murray Press for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.

‘Far Tijuana would recede behind them and grow invisible. They would head north and west, and when they arrived at the shore, they would watch great waves travelling forever across the open copper sea.’

As a UK reader I am delighted that Luis Alberto Urrea gets a UK publication of this novel. At one and the same time this is a sweeping epic and an intimate family portrait, as life and death clash over one weekend in a family’s history. Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer the family patriarch, known as Big Angel, has arranged one last gathering for his birthday. In untimely fashion, his mother dies a week before, so her funeral and cremation are arranged for the day before the birthday bash; two grand-stand family set pieces that Urrea uses to delve into the family’s history and to explore the Mexican-American immigrant situation.

Anyone who has attended family occasions will recognise themselves in this book, as family members move in and out of rooms, interact, reminisce and bicker. Big Angel’s wife, Perla, and his half-brother, known as Little Angel, are the two main other protagonists of the book, with their various offspring and relations bringing side-stories that weave in and out of the main narrative. Indeed, there is a general dream-like feel to the book as Big Angel, riddled with cancer, is prone to drift off. Coupled with Urrea’s wonderfully lyrical prose, this is a joyous meditation on family, on belonging, and on the importance of a sense of togetherness.

There are a couple of minor points of irritation: at times it feels a little too much like The Godfather, as Big Angel worries about who will take over from him as family patriarch (or indeed, matriarch); the birthday party ends in slightly overly melodramatic fashion that slightly jars with the rest of the book (although some might argue that it accurately reflects the gun culture in the Mexican community?); and the family tensions that have been simmering away over decades, explored in flashbacks and conversations, are all a little too neatly tied-up in a warm, fuzzy ending.

However, despite these small distractions, this is a poetic, emotional and hard-hitting slice of family life, an insight into an immigrant family in America which is as timely as it could be. A thumping 4 stars. You really should read this book.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

Big hearted and glorious.

The House of Broken Angels is a story of several generations of a Mexican family, now mostly based in San Diego, gathered to celebrate the 70th birthday of its patriarch, Big Angel, on the day after they buried his mother, Mama America. Cancer-ridden and dying, Big Angel reminisces, reconciles and repents over the course of the weekend with the narrative shifting between the past and the present, between him and his loved ones, between Mexico and the USA.

It is a story about life, death and above all, love. Urrea is a wonderful storyteller, generous, funny, moving and heart breaking at times. The House of Broken Angels is the first of his books to be published in the UK and I hope we get more.

It is also a story about immigrant life, poverty and hardship and how different generations of the family adapted and found their sense of belonging. It is partly based on the author’s own experiences, “And he believed that if only the dominant culture could see these small moments, they would see their own human lives reflected in the other.”

I’m very grateful to John Murray Press and Netgalley for sharing “these small moments” and allowing me to read and review The House of Broken Angels.