Into the Beautiful North: A Novel

Into the Beautiful North: A Novel

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Editorial Reviews

Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the US to find work. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magníficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.

Filled with unforgettable characters and prose as radiant as the Sinaloan sun, INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH is the story of an irresistible young woman's quest to find herself on both sides of the fence.

Customer Reviews

Heroine with heart

Reviewed by R. Cooper, 2010-01-31

Although lighter than Devil's Highway or even Hummingbird's Daughter, Urrea has given us a teenage heroine worthy of her quest. This is a well-crafted story and would be great classified as Young Adult, as well as just fine fiction. Nayeli starts on a path of many women - reconnecting with her father and looking for love along the way, but what shines is her inner strength and resourcefulness. The answer isn't in the men, it's in her soul.

An Epic Journey for Mexico and its People

Reviewed by S. Agusto-Cox, 2009-11-15

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea on audio was a delight, especially with the voice and passion of Susan Ericksen. Nayeli is a young girl working in a taco shop in Tres Camarones, who continues to idolize her father that left her and her mother many years ago.

Her home is under attack from bandits and drug dealers, but many residents have been abandoned by other men seeking the opportunities found in America. While watching The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brynner, Nayeli and her friends -- Tacho, Yolo, and Vampi -- decide they are going to make a trek to America to bring back the seven they need to save their town.

The audio brings to life the accents, the culture, the beauty of each scene and the playful sparring between these characters and their new surroundings. Ericksen's passion for these characters and this story is clear, illuminating the innocence of Nayeli and her friends and the hardships they face.

From the colorful personalities of Nayeli's gay boss, Tacho, to her vampire/Goth girlfriend Vampi and perky and whiny Yolo to the matriarch of the village Nayeli's Aunt Irma, Urrea paints a mosaic of Mexico and the struggles of illegal immigrants and those seeking a better life. Readers will by far enjoy the quirky Atomico a warrior from the dump outside Tijuana the most as he seeks to defend the four from the ills of the world.

My husband and I were riveted when the audio rolled us to work every morning. Atomico was my husband's favorite character because he was like a comic book character; "I AM ATOMICO." While the border crossings were the most exciting aspects of the novel for my husband, the end of the novel fell flat; he considered it an open ending as if there were more to come -- that the journey had not ended. Urrea's writing is passionate and tangible, capturing the reader instantly and weaving a tale that envelops them completely.

Into the Beautiful North is one of the best novels I've read in 2009, but I plan to read this in hard copy as well.

ouch!

Reviewed by Greg Frohring, 2009-10-30

A boring and trite "novel" that contains exactly zero thought provoking sentences. The characters are actually tired caricatures, the writing style has the feel of a fifth grade reader, and immense amounts of time are spent with back and forth dialog like "No, i didn't", "Oh yes, you did", "No i didn't". Additionally, the short, elementary sentences feel like the author is just filling up space, as opposed to immersing us in what could have been an interesting story. The author also spends too much time fantasizing about Nayeli, the main character in the story. While the other characters in the book seem to "check her out" over and over, it really felt as though the author was gratuitously indulging in personal exploration of the "sexy" character he created. Lots of characters get introduced, but for the most part, they don't do anything interesting, and are quickly forgotten by the author as he moves on to new grounds. Not recommended.

Calling Guillermo Del Toro

Reviewed by David Zimmerman, 2009-09-16

After having read The Hummingbird's Daughter recently, I was at first disappointed with Luis Alberto Urrea's new novel "In the Beautiful North", which seemed almost shallow and silly by comparison. Having read the whole book, I see "Beautiful" for itself and in a new light. Urrea has written a charming, entertaining and thoroughly modern story about the world of illegal immigration into the US, mostly from an otherwise unexplored female perspective. He humanizes so-called "illegals" and describes their innate love for home and family in Mexico, despite the creature comforts of life in the US. After the harsh stories of "Hummingbird" and "The Devil's Highway", perhaps Urrea craved a lighter palette.

Along the lines of "The Blues Brothers" or "O Brother Where Art Thou", Urrea casts the tale in the form of a mission, this one undertaken by three young women and a gay man to repatriate their Mexican coastal town with Mexican men living in the US. The lead characters are strongly drawn - Nayeli is a soccer star and karate expert, and a girl; Tacho is a sweet, gay cantina operator; Atomika, lord of the trash heaps of Tijuana, is seemingly from another planet. Tia Irma, the new mayor of Tres Camarones, organizes and directs so well that you wonder what Tres Camarones needs with men, at least from a government perspective. Along the way you'll read about border operations - legal, quasi-legal, and illegal. One arrest provides one of the funniest and saddest moments of the book, as does one escape, which is unexpected and hilarious. Urrea's look at Tijuana reminded me of Rohinton Mistry's India in A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club). Family is another theme, as one character searches for a father who split Mexico for the US long ago. That search provides a revealing look at the western US through the eyes of young, rural Mexicans.

"In the Beautiful North" would make a great movie, a la Slumdog Millionaire. Perhaps Guillermo Del Toro of Pan's Labyrinth fame would be interested. Urrea's stories about Mexico and the US deserve a bigger audience. Four stars, maybe even five for readers who've not read "Hummingbird's Daughter". My recommendation now would be to read "Into the Beautiful North" first.

Wonderful Book

Reviewed by S. P. Parrish, 2009-07-23

This is the first Urrea book I have read and I can't wait to read more. It was engaging from the first page; the characters were real and the situations were extremely realistic. I have been to some of the places mentioned and it was very accurate. I think this would be a good book to read for high school age kids since it is very educational and shows the bigotry the Mexican people are being subjected to whether they are here legally or not. Excellent book!