Malas

Description

A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations–“Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.” (Erika L. Sánchez)

In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguirre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family.

More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town.

Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms—and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices—one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.

Rich with cinematic details—from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings—this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means.“Malas is a machete: sharp, terrifying, and beautiful. Each character feels dynamic, familiar, and so utterly human in their glorious messiness. Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.”
—Erika L. Sánchez, New York Times bestseller author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and Crying in the Bathroom
 
“Fuentes’ propulsive plotting; rich and precise depiction of Tejano culture; complex characters; and thoughtful exploration of female anger, grief and intergenerational trauma combine to form a fully immersive reading experience that—for all its specificity—will be compelling and meaningful to readers of all backgrounds. Brimming with brio, Fuentes’ deliciously defiant debut breathes new life into classic lore and heralds the arrival of a bold new literary powerhouse.”
—BookPage Starred Review

“Fuentes seamlessly knits familiar history and urban legend with a heartfelt, modern, coming of age story to deliver a vivacious, page-turning novel of rebellion and rebirth. The truth, in the hands of Fuentes lively and beautiful prose, liberates these characters and the reader alike.”
—Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming

“Fuentes is a seamless storyteller: the narrative is rich in Mexican culture and fully realized characterizations, especially the defiant Lulu and the overbearing Julio. Fans of Ana Castillo and Erika Sanchez will be thrilled.”
—Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
 
“Malas ensnares you with its antic energy, vibrant secrets, and the wickedly smart, self-assured Lulu at the center of it all. An enviably electric debut from Marcela Fuentes, who knows in her bones that the bad girls living in family cuentos, in telenovelas, and in town gossip are also the ones that glow with the brightest fire inside.”
—Manuel Muñoz, author of The Consequences

“Fuentes’ stunning debut shows us the sweeping mythic stature of the past alongside and running beneath the tactile and urgent present. Her gifts with storytelling and character propel us naturally from time to time in this gripping narrative of grief and release.” 
—Aimee Bender, New York Times bestselling author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and The Butterfuly Lampshade

“While the sections of the novel set in the ’90s are the liveliest, full of the complicated details of being a teenager pulled by tradition and pop culture, romance and independence, the briefer sections set in the ’50s provide a sense of context and of the differences and similarities between the two young women as Fuentes cunningly reveals the unexpected ties that bind them.
A vibrant portrait of two strong women and their mixed feelings about home.” 
—Kirkus Starred Review

“Malas is a marvel. At once epic and intimate, is packed with a cast of unforgettable characters – teenage members of a punk band, frustrated fathers trying to outrun a curse, women whose friendship transcends time and circumstance – all desperate to be seen. And Marcela Fuentes lets us see these characters in all their facets and flaws as we laugh, cry, and live alongside them.”
—Vanessa Chan, author of The Storm We Made

“Malas gorgeously captures both the vibrancy and the cost of becoming the kind of woman who sets her own path, creates her own rituals, and mourns her own losses. Marcela Fuentes writes with a visceral precision about family, grief, and what it means to move through the world holding on to both your independence and your ties to community. This is a dazzling, heartbreaking, and triumphant debut.”
—Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool SelfMarcela Fuentes is a Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer and essayist. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was the 2016-2017 James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in the Indiana Review, The Rumpus, Texas Highways Magazine, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and other journals. Her debut novel MALAS (June 2024) and linked story collection MY HEART HAS MORE ROOMS THAN A WHOREHOUSE are forthcoming from Viking Books. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas.MALAS by Marcela Fuentes – Reader’s Group Questions
 
1.     The way the US-Mexico border operates in Malas differs heavily between the two timelines. In the 1950s, the hospitals, landowners, and workers all straddle the line in ways that limit Pilar’s choices. And in the 1990s, the dynamics of the Tejanos, the fresas, and the white Americans inform Lulu’s education and social life. But in both, there’s a very open sense of community and exchange across the two sides; how does that challenge the ways we think about the border today?

2.     While expressly bilingual, the twin timelines show distinct feelings toward speaking English and speaking Spanish. How does language fit into Pilar and Lulu’s conceptions of the world they inhabit?

3.     Fuentes constantly returns to music and its importance in the life of her characters. Between the grunge rock of Nirvana and the Tejano music of Selena, all kinds of music are represented. In Malas, how does music bring people together—in celebration, sorrow, or any other shared experience?

4.     Both Pilar and Lulu grapple with their grief and loss throughout the book. While Pilar loses her children, Lulu loses her mother and grandmother; how do these tragedies mirror each other? How do the characters’ responses contract with each other and their respective places in the family tree?

5.     The tales and gossip that cause Pilar’s social isolation give her an aura of intrigue for Lulu—how do these kinds of rumors damage community bonds, especially with regard to women who have had historically fewer freedoms and opportunities to navigate or escape their surroundings?

6.     Pilar abandons her youngest baby in a way that invokes ancient stories like Oedipus and Moses, but mainly bases itself around the legend of La Llorona. Unlike the classic stories, La Llorona focuses on the anguish of the mother and her drive for revenge against the father of her children. In which ways does Fuentes update and expand the humanity of this figure through Pilar?

7.     Consider the role that music plays in the lives of these women and their families. What do they find in the music they listen to? Where does it come from? Who introduced them to the music and how does that affect their relationship to that person and that kind of music?

8.     Keeping in mind the quinceañera, music, and expectations of womanhood, how do Pilar and Lulu reject tradition while embracing their culture?

9.     Through their shared family histories and generational trauma, the ripples of the tragedies in Pilar’s life affect Lulu’s relationship with her aunt, grandmother, and especially her father. In what ways do both women intentionally grapple with their families’ pasts and in what ways do they fight to stay willfully ignorant?

10.  Rebellion against the status quo and patriarchal structures permeates the novel. Lulu pushes back against social norms and expectations for young women, especially when it comes to her quinceañera. Pilar fights back against tragedies created by her husband and the men around him. How to these individual battles relate to one another?

11.  Keeping Lulu with Mariana and Pilar with Romi, how does Malas articulate friendship between women? How does their sense of trust, sincerity, and respect compare to other relationships?

12.  How does Pilar evolve as a character across the book? Does the moment where she shares her secret with Lulu change the way you feel about her? What are some other moments that change the way you think about her?US

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