Mexican Hooker #1: And My Other Roles Since the Revolution by Carmen Aguirre

26067164Aguirre previously wrote “Something Fierce“, about her revolutionary life in South America after the Chilean coup that killed Allende’s socialist revolution. Something Fierce won the CBC Canada Reads competition in 2012. This new book travels back and forth in time between South America and Vancouver, so both before and after her first book. But the central focus of this book is on the aftermath of a brutal and horrific sexual assault in Vancouver when she was 13 years-old. Her rape was a violent and degrading act of power and aggression, not a sexual act per se. I had the privilege of seeing Aguirre act in an ATP play in September 2013. What I learned from this book is that she had attended a parole hearing for her rapist during the run of this play (he was being held in Bowden Prison). This is an extremely powerful and at times profoundly disturbing book and is not for the faint-hearted, but Aguirre eloquently outlines her path to forgiveness (of herself) and reconciliation.

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26067164-mexican-hooker-1

 

Best of 2012

  • Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern): magic and reality are integrated
  • The Informationist (Taylor Stevens): excellent adventure/mystery; intriguing central character; set in Africa
  • 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami): outstanding; real imagination
  • Dancing Lessons (Olive Senior): really excellent; introspection into roles as woman/wife/mother; failure to communicate; perception/reality
  • Something Fierce (Carmen Aguirre): Giller winner; emotional cost of being a child of revolutionary parents in South America
  • The Art of Fielding (Chad Harbach): baseball as a metaphor for guy relationships and the pursuit of perfection
  • Canada (Richard Ford): excellent
  • By Blood (Ellen Ullman): really interesting book about identity, adoption, Jewish heritage
  • Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn): really excellent psychological who-dunnit; best book in 2012
  • Hanging Hill (Mo Hayder): excellent murder mystery set in Bath and SW England
  • Defending Jacob (William Landay): legal thriller, about the possibility that a son is evil; really excellent