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A review by okiecozyreader
The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
This is a book that has been on my list since it was a Barnes and Noble selection. It came out about the same time as Klara and the Sun and for the longest time, I got the two books confused. They are both Orange with a hand / hands on the cover, but they are so different! I don’t know if I would have eventually gotten to them, but different bookclubs read them this year and I’m glad I read this one with MomAdvice!
To me, this title and cover don’t represent the book well. I kept waiting for a deeper explanation of The Five Wounds - it is described in the beginning as part of the sacrifice of Christ. The father, Amadeo is playing Christ in a recreation of the cross story (carrying the cross and actually having his hands nailed to a cross). The title is mentioned here:
“The figure on the crucifix is a living man, a living witness to Amadeo’s transgressions. Amadeo looks from the statue to Angel, then back, hands trembling.
The artist did not stop at five wounds, but inflicted his brush generously on the thin body. And there are the nails. Three. One in each hand, one skewering the long, pale feet. Amadeo feels his own palms throb.”
Part 1 Semana Santa
There is an alternative cover (maybe UK?) that has an image of a woman holding a child and I like that cover for this book so much better. It is, to me, more the warmth of the story. Mainly told from the daughter Angel’s point of view. At 15 years old, she is pregnant and returns to her father and grandmother’s home, because her mother has a newish man in her life that Angel cannot live with. Her father has never had a job and is an alcoholic and his mother has always tried to fix his problems. His sister and her children visit, as well as the grandmother’s brother Tío Tíve. All of these family members weave in and out of the story as they cope with this young girl’s pregnancy and work at being a family. Angel attends SmartStarts!, a program to help pregnant girls learn how to become better parents and makes some friends there. She admires her teacher Brianna who at 25, is a virgin. Brianna tries to teach them skills like meditation as well as earn their GEDs.
Trigger: cancer, teen pregnancy, alcoholism, (lightly described scenes include drug use, harm - either self or abuse).
“Yolanda (grandmother) is an optimist. Yolanda considers herself a happy person. Her life is filled with love and family and friends. She likes people, believes that they are basically good. But this doesn’t change her simultaneous belief that the universe is essentially malevolent, life booby-trapped with disaster. The evidence is clear: so many bodies damaged and beaten and destroyed, washed up on the shores of her life. And her own body, harboring its deadly secret knot. It doesn’t seem normal, the sheer quantity of awfulness crowded into her family. Sure, every family has its problems, but her family problems are uglier.” P80
“This person was in her, part of her, and now he’s not. He was once hers alone, and now, for the rest of her life, she’ll be sharing him with the world. It’s amazing to her how the human body can stretch, and she thinks that if the heart can, too, maybe it can stretch big enough to fit them all.” Part II Ordinary Time p150
“This heartache is so much larger than anything she’s felt. It’s agony—she can’t sit still, it hurts so much—and also enlivening. Angel had no idea that the world could hold ache like this, just as, before Connor was born, she had no idea it could hold such love” p370 (Part II)
To me, this title and cover don’t represent the book well. I kept waiting for a deeper explanation of The Five Wounds - it is described in the beginning as part of the sacrifice of Christ. The father, Amadeo is playing Christ in a recreation of the cross story (carrying the cross and actually having his hands nailed to a cross). The title is mentioned here:
“The figure on the crucifix is a living man, a living witness to Amadeo’s transgressions. Amadeo looks from the statue to Angel, then back, hands trembling.
The artist did not stop at five wounds, but inflicted his brush generously on the thin body. And there are the nails. Three. One in each hand, one skewering the long, pale feet. Amadeo feels his own palms throb.”
Part 1 Semana Santa
There is an alternative cover (maybe UK?) that has an image of a woman holding a child and I like that cover for this book so much better. It is, to me, more the warmth of the story. Mainly told from the daughter Angel’s point of view. At 15 years old, she is pregnant and returns to her father and grandmother’s home, because her mother has a newish man in her life that Angel cannot live with. Her father has never had a job and is an alcoholic and his mother has always tried to fix his problems. His sister and her children visit, as well as the grandmother’s brother Tío Tíve. All of these family members weave in and out of the story as they cope with this young girl’s pregnancy and work at being a family. Angel attends SmartStarts!, a program to help pregnant girls learn how to become better parents and makes some friends there. She admires her teacher Brianna who at 25, is a virgin. Brianna tries to teach them skills like meditation as well as earn their GEDs.
Trigger: cancer, teen pregnancy, alcoholism, (lightly described scenes include drug use, harm - either self or abuse).
“Yolanda (grandmother) is an optimist. Yolanda considers herself a happy person. Her life is filled with love and family and friends. She likes people, believes that they are basically good. But this doesn’t change her simultaneous belief that the universe is essentially malevolent, life booby-trapped with disaster. The evidence is clear: so many bodies damaged and beaten and destroyed, washed up on the shores of her life. And her own body, harboring its deadly secret knot. It doesn’t seem normal, the sheer quantity of awfulness crowded into her family. Sure, every family has its problems, but her family problems are uglier.” P80
“This person was in her, part of her, and now he’s not. He was once hers alone, and now, for the rest of her life, she’ll be sharing him with the world. It’s amazing to her how the human body can stretch, and she thinks that if the heart can, too, maybe it can stretch big enough to fit them all.” Part II Ordinary Time p150
“This heartache is so much larger than anything she’s felt. It’s agony—she can’t sit still, it hurts so much—and also enlivening. Angel had no idea that the world could hold ache like this, just as, before Connor was born, she had no idea it could hold such love” p370 (Part II)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse