González and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel (4 of 5)

 I just finished María Amparo Escandón's novel, González and Daughter Trucking Co.: A Road Novel.  It's good.  The best part of the novel is the idea of storytelling and its cathartic power.  Both for the storyteller, Libertad, and her audience of prisoners, the tales of the road provide the means of either facing down the past or of providing enough distance from the present that the future seems like something that can be faced.  I like the idea of using the book in class as an accessible way of introducing students to the idea of a novel about telling stories.

Escandón's characters are all kind-hearted and the novel is full of a feeling of loving fun.  In this sense it can feel a bit trite - that whole prisoners with a heart of gold and a painful past thing - but it's a cast of characters you care about.  If a writer could do one thing well, creating characters the reader cares about has to be one of the most important.  It seems like an ideal novel to be turned into a film, and, surprise, it's in the works.

After reading this one, my interest is piqued enough to read Escandón's other works as well - Esperanza's Box of Saints and Carcass.   Carcass, a collection of short stories that you can download here, looks particularly interesting as it ties in with two aspects of the González and Daughter, the final terrifying drive down the highways of Baja and Sofia's museum of wrecked cars.