Review: Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Title: Summer of the Mariposas

Author: Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Genre: YA, magical realism, Greek mythology retelling

Publication date: October 2012

Published by: Tu Books

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis: When Odilia and her four sisters find a dead body in the swimming hole, they embark on a hero’s journey to return the dead man to his family in Mexico. But returning home to Texas turns into an odyssey that would rival Homer’s original tale.

With the supernatural aid of ghostly La Llorona via a magical earring, Odilia and her little sisters travel a road of tribulation to their long-lost grandmother’s house. Along the way, they must outsmart a witch and her Evil Trinity: a wily warlock, a coven of vicious half-human barn owls, and a bloodthirsty livestock-hunting chupacabras. Can these fantastic trials prepare Odilia and her sisters for what happens when they face their final test, returning home to the real world, where goddesses and ghosts can no longer help them?

My rating: ★★★★☆

I don’t tend to read a lot of books from my own culture. I love urban fantasy, it’s my favorite genre and I have found that there are not very many Hispanic books out there... none that have caught my attention, anyway. A lot of the ones I do see tend to be contemporary, which I am just not super into. But I loved reading this and seeing my culture reflected back at me. All these little things and phrases and omg food I’m familiar with. Not to mention how relatable the main character Odilia was. The unfair burden on the eldest to care for the younger siblings is something that is common in this culture, and something I resonate with.

These girls were idiots though. It was so frustrating how they kept doing stupid thing after stupid thing and they just wouldn’t listen to their older sister Odilia (aka Odysseus... even the names are similar lol). Odilia herself in the beginning was not that great. But I had to remind myself they were all indeed children, hence all the bad decisions. Lol. It was still frustrating though because time after time Odilia would tell her younger sisters to be careful but they’re all apparently stupid horror movie characters because every single time they were like, “what’s the worst that can happen??” Well, you were just attacked by a nagual. “What’s the worst that can happen???” You were literally just attacked by a lechuzas. Not to mention you’re waiting for that chupacabra to show up, and your mentality is still “what’s the worst that can happen?!” Ugh! La chancla for all four of them! 😆

But let's move onto the things I did like. Lol. First of all, La Llorona! One of the reasons I was excited for this book was because of this! I’m very familiar with her, but she’s always portrayed in a negative light. I’m not gonna lie though, I love horror so I don’t even mind it one bit. I love me an evil Llorona 😆 But I really liked this take on La Llorona, as this sort of guide. It was really refreshing. And after reading the author’s note at the end of the book regarding the weeping woman, it makes sense why the author wanted to portray her in a different light. She made some good points in that note. And I loved the resolution with La Llorona at the end.

Another thing I loved about this book: the mythology!! I love mythology, and the fact that this was a sort of retelling of The Odyssey... YES! Give it to me! One thing I was not expecting though, was the Aztec mythology! As much as I love mythology, Aztec mythology is one I’m not that familiar with, so it was nice to see it featured here.

Greek mythology though, I’m basically an expert 😆 Okay, I’m not, but I do love it! Lol. I really liked this retelling of the Odyssey. I thought it was really creative and I love the way Aztec mythology and just Mexican folklore was interwoven to parallel The Odyssey. I also loved trying to figure out which characters and which situation correspond with the characters and plot points in The Odyssey. There was one character in this book that seemed to be a combo of a couple different Greek mythology characters. I was not expecting that, but I really enjoyed it! And there’s this really cool glossary on the publisher's website that tells you what characters in the book are supposed to parallel the characters in The Odyssey. I really enjoyed going through it and comparing it to my own notes and observations.

But yeah. I really enjoyed this book! The sisters were annoying at times, but what siblings aren’t, right? Lol. I found Odilia to be relatable, I LOVED all the mythology, and I enjoyed the, ahem, odyssey the girls went on 😉

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊