Live, love and laugh along with the Queen of America and her menagerie of characters.As a first time reader of this authors work, I was quite surprised by Urrea's writing style. His Queen of America is definitely not what I expected, in fact it was better than I expected. The main character of this book, Teresita, on who the story is based, actually existed, although most of the book is fiction. Urrea has a pre-sequel to this book, which I have not yet read, however this did not affect my readin...

This was as magical and wonderful as the first book, 'The Hummingbird's Daughter.' Urrea is so poetic, so mystical, and so beautiful with his language. His descriptions are so vivid, like paint being splashed across a vast canvas. He is also a masterly storyteller. His characters are deep and profound, drawing on your emotions as the long journey unwinds. He is easily one of my favourite writers.

You may not have been wondering, as I had, what happened to Saint Teresita after the central figure of The Hummingbird’s Daughter saved her fleeing family from extermination by standing atop their train, arms outspread, hair flowing in the breeze, as it chugged through a narrow defile on its way from Mexico to Arizona, escaping attack only because the marauders feared for their very souls to assault the legendary young girl who offered herself in such a sacrificial pose. Then The Queen of Americ...

It is satisfying to have this resolve after "The Hummingbird's Daughter." The book was enchanting however not as much as it's predecessor... maybe because it is in the turn of the century which you could argue global-capitalism destroys magic anyways. The lessons of life are profound (especially being a young maturing woman) love vs. infatuation, desire to be romantically loved, freedom and holding true to one's values. You should absolutely read "Queen of America" if you have not yet!

Don’t tell my husband but, ever since reading “The Hummingbird’s Daughter” earlier this year, I have a major crush on Luis Alberto Urrea. I was so enthralled with that book that I immediately read his maybe autobiography “Nobody’s Son” and followed that up with the chilling “Devil’s Highway” (highly recommend). When I heard that a sequel to “Hummingbird” was due in late 2011, I went on a mad search for an ARC copy and did find one, which I just managed to finish as he is starting the book tour f...

I've been waiting for this to come out for over a year! The prequel, "The Hummingbird's Daughter" is one of the best books I've ever read. And I have yet to find a Urrea book I dislike. Needless to say, I have high hopes for this.Post-reading: happy to report this book did not disappoint me. I loved watching Teresita become a wife & mother, and try to figure out her role in the U.S.

I'm not entirely sure where to start here, but I loved this book and devoured it, as I do all of Urrea's books. He's definitely become one of my favorite authors and one I can always recommend without hesitation. Queen of America is a sequel to the epic Hummingbird's Daughter, and they can definitely be read out-of-order, but I recommend reading them in order. The characters are all so colorful and so full of life that you'll want to get to know them in the first book. Urrea's storytelling is ma...

Dickensian in scope, this ribald novel is peopled by the humble and the haughty, the meek and the mighty--pilgrims, prostitutes, yeoman, warriors, cowboys, vaqueros, royalty, revolutionaries, financial exploiters, gamblers, tycoons, corrupt politicians, drunks, rogues, and outlaws. It's gritty, bawdy, tender, and tumultuous, and sometimes turgid, as it meanders down several long and winding paths. When it stalls at intervals, patience and the love of prose and colorful character will keep the re...

It’s hard to be a saint. It’s hard to live with a saint.This is the sequel to Luis Urrea’s epoch novel “The Hummingbird’s Daughter,” in which he gives a fictionalized account of the life of a distant relative, Teresa Urrea, or Teresita, also known as the Saint of Cabora. At the end of the first novel, Teresita had her father are allowed by the Diaz government to leave Mexico and live in the US; they feared executing them would have enraged many in the northern part of the country.As it turned ou...

A masterpiece. Urrea is the King of characterization.

I am a great admirer of Luis Urrea. I thought that "Into the Beautiful North" and "House of Broken Angels" were both fantastic. Both of those books feature characters who are charismatic and undeniably heroic though deeply flawed, both exist in worlds that straddle Mexico and the US, and both made me feel that their protagonists were my brothers and sisters with whom I felt a strong connection despite the yawning gulf between their world and my own. Mr. Urrea is working with similar raw material...

Real talk: it's been long enough since last reading The Hummingbird's Daughter, so I've lost a little of the plot. I also listened to this over the course of a cross-country move and packing/unpacking, so I've been a little distracted to say the least. But I did enjoy it and it kept me company during many ordeals, and for that it will hold a special place. The descriptions of Teresita's travels are what grounded me every time, and that ending is gorgeous.

This review of Queen of America originally appeared in The Washington Independent Review of Books on January 12, 2012. Posted to Goodreads on February 15, 2014, as the link is currently dead.Queen of America, the long-awaited sequel to 2006's The Hummingbird's Daughter , is the culmination of 26 years of research and writing by Pulitzer Prize-finalist Luis Alberto Urrea ( The Devil's Highway: A True Story ). Based on the life of his great-aunt Teresa “Teresita” Urrea, the Saint of Cabora, t...

I picked up this book without having read The Hummingbird's Daughter. That may have been a mistake. Queen of America is beautifully written; through his prose, Luis Alberto Urrea paints a vivid, engrossing picture of the borderlands during the late 19th century - skillfully weaving together threads of violence, revolution, tranquility, abundance, scarcity, and humor in a single story. My disappointment in the narrative stems from the title and the back cover description, which led me to believe

I love love love this book which I read slowly because I didn't want it to end. I bought it a couple years ago and have been hanging on to it to read at the "right" time. As someone who usually lives in Tucson (I bought it at the Festival of Books and had it signed by the author who is always so gracious) - this year while I am living in New Zealand seemed like the right time. The descriptions transported me back to the desert southwest, and the characters had me turning to Wikipedia to learn mo...

Queen of America is a beautiful and beautifully written book that is a coming of age story, but it is also so much more. It is the story of America at the turn of the century (19/20th), and it raises questions about the place of faith and sainthood in the modern world. Sainthood might also be viewed as a metaphor for the powers of our youth and what we do with those powers after our life undergoes a series of radical changes. The story of Teresita is also a story of families, especially fathers

I listened to the audio, narrated by author Luis Alberto Urrea. I listened right after completing “The Hummingbird’s Daughter”, part 1 of this saga. What a wonderful story. Rich, full of so many emotions. I’m sad it’s over.

I have been immersed this year in the epic story of real-life Teresita Urrea, La Santa de Cabora, illegitimate daughter of rancher Don Tomas Urrea. I first met her in The Hummingbird's Daughter, which tells the story of her life from the time she was born in 1873 to a 14-year-old Yaqui Indian ranch worker until she is 18. At a very young age it becomes clear that she has healing powers, which she develops under the tutelage of Huila, the ranch's curandera and midwife. This book was written with

I didn't love this book as much as it's predecessor, The Hummingbird's Daughter, but it was still very good. It's just such a different book; where HBD was the epitome of magical realism, QoA is more historical fiction. Perhaps that difference is due to being set in the U.S. instead of Mexico, or to Teresita growing up, or to the increased historical material. The first third or so of QoA moves very slowly, reflective of how Teresita's life is just treading water at that point, trying to keep ah...

My only complaint: the last hundredish pages felt a bit rushed to me, so much time was covered with not enough attention paid to it. Besides that, I loved it.