'Malas' is a novel about womanhood, curses and family history in a Texas border town

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2024

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

Marcela Fuentes' debut novel, Malas, is set in a small town nestled on the border between Texas and Mexico. There, two vastly different women begin to uncover decades of secrets, town gossip and broken family histories wrapped up in rodeos, Chicano politics and a hardcore punk band. In today's episode, NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento speaks with Fuentes about the complicated ideals of womanhood in Mexican-American culture and the way her protagonists struggle to live their truths.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Impair's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. For various reasons, I've been thinking a lot about the father-daughter relationship dynamic, which is something that plays a big part in today's novel. The book is titled Malas, and it's about these two women in different time periods living in a fictional border town. And it posted these interesting
0:21.8	questions about femininity and what it means to be a woman in a Mexican family. Author Marcella Fuentes
0:27.8	talked to NPR's Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento about the book and she reflected on her own
0:32.2	upbringing. See, she was the only daughter in the family and she was definitely favored over
0:37.4	her brothers by their father.
0:39.5	But that also meant he was more honest with the boys than he was with Marcella.
0:43.8	Find out more after the break.
0:45.8	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:50.5	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources
0:56.3	and methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand
1:01.7	why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever
1:07.5	you get your podcasts. The teenage girl at the heart of the novel, Malas, has a lot of opinions about rock and
1:15.3	Conjunto music, about the boys she secretly plays in a band with, and most of all, about her
1:21.5	dad.
1:22.2	Mexican dads are stupid about picking names for their daughters.
1:25.7	They're old-fashioned.
1:27.1	They want something religious like Maria Guadalupe or super romantic like Isabella.
1:33.3	Every other Mexican girl is named Maria Guadalupe and Isabella, but Mexican dads never
1:38.9	stop to think about that.
1:40.4	Why should they?
1:41.4	They're Mexican dads.
1:42.4	Whatever they say goes, period.
	...

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