Mexican American debut novelist Anamely Salgado Reyes's My Mother Cursed My Name heart-meltingly spotlights the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. "For generations, the women in the Olivares family attempted to change the course of destiny through the power of names." Justa Olivares was the first to attempt a controlling moniker when, in 1917, she named her daughter Calamidades in twisted retribution for her own unjust life. Calamidades escaped calamities, although failure plagued her daughter, Victoria, who then begat Olvido--meaning forgetfulness--who futilely hopes to erase worries and debts.
Memorable Olvido becomes one of three main voices here--a particular challenge, because she's dead. She's survived by her daughter, Angustias, who defied her uneasy name and "grew up to be a joyful and carefree girl." Angustias's pregnancy at 16, however, not only estranged mother and daughter for 10 years, but also grandmother and granddaughter Felicitas (her "sour face" belying her happy name). With so much unfinished family business, Olvido can't reach the afterlife. But Felicitas can see and talk to the dead, which means Felicitas is likely Olvido's only path to salvation.
Reyes is a delightfully easy writer to read, her effortless prose biculturally enhanced with occasional Spanish--and references to toothsome Mexican cuisine. Without minimizing dysfunctional familial challenges--judgment, abandonment, and particularly, poetically, "longing"--Reyes creates a charming narrative about second chances to fix what what's been broken too long. Magical realism provides the redemptive opportunities, but believing is required by both characters and readers to make the magic real. --Terry Hong