<i>Soul Enchilada</i> (review)
2009; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 62; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.0.0881
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
ResumoReviewed by: Soul Enchilada Karen Coats Gill, David Macinnis Soul Enchilada. Greenwillow, 2009 [368p] Library ed. ISBN 978-0-06-167302-3$17.89 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-167301-6$16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12 Bug, an eighteen-year-old half-black, half-Tejana girl living on her own in El Paso, is determined to stay off welfare and make her own way, even if she no longer has any living relatives to support her. Unfortunately, it's the dead relatives she has to worry about: it seems that her ne'er-do-well grandfather sold his soul for a 1958 Cadillac Biarritz, with Bug as unwitting cosigner. Since his death, he's managed to escape surrendering his soul, and now an unpleasant fellow named Beals has come to collect the collateral on the agreement—the car, and Bug's soul. Fortunately, Bug's crush, Pesto, happens to work in the Waste and Disposal division of the International Supernatural Immigration Service, so he knows where to find a lawyer not on the devil's retainer. As the details of her situation become clearer, Bug finds that she is a key tool in Beals' plan to overthrow Lucifer as head of the underworld, and that gives her just the amount of leverage she needs to pit the two baddies against each other in irresistible competition in the fields of competitive pizza delivery and basketball. This plays into the same spirit of Southern blues mythology that ignited Charlie Daniels' fiddle but credibly renders it specific to the time and characters. Bug's urban slang and feisty, streetwise attitude make her endearing, if a mite too sassy in her defensive put-downs of both friend and foe, but Pesto is persistent in pursuit, and the two eventually make a cute couple, despite Bug's protestations of independence. The demons and their plagues regularly tip into fantasmagoria and there's a whole lot of well-earned puking, yet the plot is cleverly conceived, not just gross, managing its complexities with admirable clarity. Readers who enjoy supernatural mystery with more urban Tejano vibes than swoony romance will take to this sulfur-scented adventure. Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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