Pine Island author’s first novel tells story of family living between two countries, cultures
Marta Elva’s debut novel “American Tumbleweeds” tells the story of the Ramirez family living on the United States border between the two worlds of Mexico and America. The family consists of parents Ramon and Katalina and their three children: Eduardo, 16; Carlitos, 15; and daughter Inez, 13.
The Ramirez family arrives legally from Juarez, Mexico, and settles in El Paso, Texas where Ramon works hard and purchases a home for the family. When Ramon loses his job, the house is foreclosed and the family is forced to relocate to a small one bedroom house in a poorer neighborhood.
“Mama doesn’t like this house. I can tell because she’s never planted a garden,” Inez said.
The story is told from several family members’ point-of-view but mostly from the viewpoint of 13-year-old Inez. This is a coming-of-age story with the added complexities of a family split between two countries, two cultures and two languages. In Mexico Inez has the old ways of her grandmother Amalia, and in America the new ways of the 1960s: The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and a new and exciting language and culture.
Then one day Inez comes home from playing to find a black car parked in front of the house. The FBI is inside searching the home. One agent tells Inez, “You’re dad was arrested.”
Ramon has been arrested for “trafficking in illegal drugs” and the once stabile family is thrown into further turmoil. To Inez the fractured family no longer provides a safe refuge.
Inez’s grades drop and she starts “acting out,” distancing her even more from her mother. Katalina works hard in a dress factory but is unable to earn enough money to provide for her family. The distance between mother and daughter widens and the wounds deepen.
In the well-written book, the author, Marta Elva, born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and raised in El Paso, Texas, transports the reader between people, countries and languages and somehow make this complicated emotional story clear to the reader.
This important book also bridges the gap of misunderstanding between cultures and puts a face on one of the most divisive issues of today.
This is a beautifully written 4-star book.
Publisher Jean Huets writes: “American Tumbleweeds tells of heart-wrenching separations; a mother from her son, a daughter from her parents, a grandmother from her granddaughter, a father from his wife and children, a sister from her brothers, her parents, her beloved grandmother; families fragmented by holding different homelands.”
Elva’s career as a writer, producer, editor and camera operator in television and independent film spans over three decades and includes several Emmy-nominated shows, notably PBS WNET New York’s “Setting the Stage.” Today Elva and her husband live in Matlacha.
On Thursday, May 12, the Alliance for the Arts will host a book-signing event featuring the author. The event will take place at 10091 MacGregor Blvd., just south of Colonial Boulevard, from 2-4 p.m. Elva will read from her new novel, answer questions and autograph copies of her book.
“American Tumbleweeds” will be available from Amazon and other online sources May 10.