Why read The House of Broken Angels?

Book cover of The House of Broken Angels

Book description

"All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death."

In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches,…

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The House of Broken Angels as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Ron McFarland

Author

What a novel! These 320 pages offer an epic of Chicano family life in the US, specifically in San Diego, where the porous border allows for crisscrossing and where the sprawling de la Cruz family lives and loves, squabbles, gets in each other’s way, fights, and dies all, per the back cover of the paperback edition, in “two bittersweet but riotous days.”

Memories of the characters reach back in time and in space into La Paz in Baja, California, where the patriarchal Big Angel’s father was a cop. His half-brother Little Angel has assimilated to the extent of becoming an…

From Ron's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Connie Kronlokken

Author

In San Diego, “Little Angel” visits his half-brother, the patriarch of a large Hispanic clan at what they both suspect will be his last birthday party. “Big Angel,” grew up in Mexico and Urrea treats us to the story of his life, how he won his wife, how he ended up in San Diego. “Little Angel,” the author, tries to locate himself in this family, though he is half Gringo.

I loved the deep honesty that goes on in this family gathering, the fun and the sorrow. And it certainly locates the reader in place, in time, and in a…

From Connie's list on The best books to deepen your understanding of California history.