Kissing the Virgin's Mouth - Softcover

Gershten, Donna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552999784 ISBN 13: 9780552999786

Publisher: Black Swan, 2002

Synopsis

Kissing The Virgin's Mouth is the fictional memoir of Guadalupe Magdalena Molina Vasquez - wife, scoundrel, courtesan and mother. In a world where gender and class roles are rigid, and religion predominant, Magda refuses to be a victim. She creates a philosophy of life that she can thrive in, a religion of cynical optimism, pragmatism, and determined gratitude. Seemingly invincible yet always fallible, Magda climbs from wide-eyed childhood to worldly courtesan life, from youth to the early onset of blindness in middle age. In the Golden Zone of Teatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, where tourists and wealthy Mexicans thrive and where poor Mexicans come only to work or visit the shrine of the miracle baby Jesus, Guadalupe Magdalena Molina Vasquez performs her daily ritual. In the chair of her beloved Tia Chucha mortared to the roof of her Golden Zone home, Magda shaves her long legs, tells her life stories, and thrusts her fierce prayers of gratitude toward the Sea of Cortes. She recounts her life strategies - seasoned with an earthy, hard-earned wisdom - so that she might pass them along to her half-American daughter, Martina, and to her young Mexican cousin, Isabel. Kissing the Virgin's Mouth is a novel about love, the power of sex, and the struggles of women. It is about the secrets of survival. It is about what woman can do.

About this title

Review:

'A rollicking South American adventure...will strike a chord with any woman who has ever despaired of her menfolk' -- The Times

'Brilliantly written...richly poignant...a modern fairy tale based on the reality and aspirations of today's Mexicans' -- San Francisco Chronicle

'Captivating...a work of insight and imagination as well as narrative strength and seductive language...full of passion and courage' -- Washington Post

'Lively and pungent...Gershten makes Magdalena a rich and contradictory character - and, moreover, a canny storyteller in her own right' -- Los Angeles Times

From the Back Cover:

WINNER OF THE BELLWETHER PRIZE FOR FICTION

Kissing the Virgin's Mouth is the fictional memoir of Guadalupe Magdalena Molina V squez - wife, scoundrel, courtesan and mother. In a world where gender and class roles are rigid and religion predominant, Magda refuses to be a victim. She creates a philosophy of life that she can thrive in, a religion of cynical optimism, pragmatism, and determined gratitude. Seemingly invincible yet always fallible, Magda climbs from wide-eyed childhood to worldly courtesan life, from youth to the early onset of blindness in middle age.

In the Golden Zone of Teatl n, Sinaloa, Mexico, where tourists and wealthy Mexicans thrive and where poor Mexicans come only to work or visit the shrine of the miracle baby Jesus, Guadalupe performs her daily ritual. In the chair of her beloved T¡a Chucha mortared to the roof of her Golden Zone home, Magda shaves her long legs, tells her life stories and thrusts her fierce prayers of gratitude toward the Sea of Cort‚s. She recounts her life strategies - seasoned with an earthy, hard-earned wisdom - so that she might pass them along to her half-American daughter, Martina, and to her young Mexican cousin, Isabel.

This is a novel about love, the power of sex and the struggles of women. It is about the secrets of survival. It is about what a woman can do.

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Swan
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0552999784
• ISBN 13: 9780552999786
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272