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A review by crywithclaire
Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory by Emma Perez
4.0
I actually really loved this book! It’s basically a Western infused with the real history of Texas after the fall of the Alamo, with a Tejana lesbian cowgirl protagonist. What’s not to love?
Pérez explores the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality through a genre and setting that does not address these themes nearly enough. Though the book is fiction, she tells a history that is vastly underrepresented and forgotten all too often. Aside from that, this book is (though bleak) genuinely fun to read. Micaela’s adventures are compelling and her motivations are sincere. Her flaws are logical given what she’s been through, and I really enjoyed getting to know her.
I rate this book 4/5 because its unique protagonist does not save it from falling into kitschy Western genre tropes. Most of these tropes are super fun so I didn’t mind too much, but I did get a bit tired of the whole “introduces new character that the protagonist gets attached to and then they get instantly killed off or disappear, further driving the protagonist’s anger and desire for revenge” thing. Like, I feel like a lot of those characters were not particularly distinct from one another or they just borrowed traits from Old West stock characters. Maybe that was the point? But either way whenever Pérez introduced any character that was particularly likable I would realize pretty much instantly that they had, like 20 pages to live at a maximum. Still a great read though!!
Pérez explores the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality through a genre and setting that does not address these themes nearly enough. Though the book is fiction, she tells a history that is vastly underrepresented and forgotten all too often. Aside from that, this book is (though bleak) genuinely fun to read. Micaela’s adventures are compelling and her motivations are sincere. Her flaws are logical given what she’s been through, and I really enjoyed getting to know her.
I rate this book 4/5 because its unique protagonist does not save it from falling into kitschy Western genre tropes. Most of these tropes are super fun so I didn’t mind too much, but I did get a bit tired of the whole “introduces new character that the protagonist gets attached to and then they get instantly killed off or disappear, further driving the protagonist’s anger and desire for revenge” thing. Like, I feel like a lot of those characters were not particularly distinct from one another or they just borrowed traits from Old West stock characters. Maybe that was the point? But either way whenever Pérez introduced any character that was particularly likable I would realize pretty much instantly that they had, like 20 pages to live at a maximum. Still a great read though!!