La Perdida is the story of Carla Olivares, a Mexican-American woman who decides to live in Mexico knowing virtually nothing about the real Mexico. She doesn’t speak Spanish and she has the romantic view that Mexico is somehow perfect. Like a lot of us Chicanas here she sees Mexico as her homeland and as something very different than what it really is.
Carla crashes at the apartment of her ex-boyfriend, a wealthy WASP, until things get so bad he throws her out. Her time is spent visiting Frida Kahlo’s house, the pyramids, and other monuments that she feels will help get her in touch with her Mexican side. She meets up with a bad group of people and some of the choices she makes are horrendous. I felt for Carla but was exasperated by her at the same time. Her treatment of people who are just trying to be her friends is appalling but understandable. I get why she's being such a bitch even while I'm cringing at her behavior.
The people Carla decides are her friends are petty criminals posing as revolutionaries. They play on Carla’s American guilt expertly, calling her conquistadora, a conquerer. To be a Chicana and to be called a conquistadora really hits home and these guys know how to play it up. Carla gets deeper and deeper, more and more sucked in, keeps making these incredibly stupid choices, and Mexico becomes a dangerous nightmare. It’s an incredibly riveting story.
I know so many people like Carla (without the poor choices), so it's easy to understand her. I get why Memo and Oscar give her such a hard time. too. Jessica Abel writes so convincingly and it all rings very, very true.
Article Author: Gina Ruiz
Gina MarySol Ruiz is a freelance writer, poet and book reviewer. Gina has maintained several blogs over the years. Gina is also a columnist with Blogcritics.org. She has also been a panelist for the Cybils awards two years running in the Graphic Novel category.
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Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!