A modern retelling of the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley classic that addresses issues of belonging and assimilation
An unnamed paralegal, brought back to life through a controversial process, maneuvers through a near-future world that both needs and resents him. As the United States president spouts anti-reanimation rhetoric and giant pharmaceutical companies rake in profits, the man falls in love with lawyer Faustina Godínez.
His world expands as he meets her network of family and friends, setting him on a course to discover his first-life history, which the reanimation process erased.
With elements of science fiction, horror, political satire, and romance, Chicano Frankenstein confronts our nation's bigotries and the question of what it truly means to be human.
About the Author :
Daniel A. Olivas is an award-winning author of fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry. He has written on culture and literature for the New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, Alta Journal, Jewish Journal, Zócalo, and the London Guardian. He writes regularly for La Bloga, a site dedicated to Latinx literature and the arts. The grandson of Mexican immigrants, he was born and raised near downtown Los Angeles.
Read by Thom Rivera, Dawn Harvey, Carol Monda, Hillary Huber, Bernadette Dunne, and Kyla Garcia
Review :
"[A]s fascinating modern retelling...part science fiction and part political satire...Readers will have no trouble sympathizing with the main character as he works to remember who he once was."
-- "Publishers Weekly"
"Takes a magnifying glass to American life and politics."
-- "Latinx Pop Magazine"
"Thom Rivera pulls out all the stops with this intriguing Latinx retelling...Rivera's rich voice adds depth to the characters. He also delivers female voices in a believable pitch and deftly uses various accents when needed."
-- "AudioFile"
"Urgently relevant."
-- "Latino Book Review"
"The real trick of this speculative political satire is that corruption and peril co-exist with compassion, humor, and large doses of Chicano joy. I loved every page-turning minute!"
-- "Michelle Ruiz Keil, author of Summer in the City of Roses"
"With its tongue firmly planted in its cheek, this important novel is at once frightening and humorous, and I found myself laughing out loud more than once as Olivas cleverly delivered his cautionary message, served with a basket of fresh baked pan dulce."
-- "Orlando Ortega-Medina, author of The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants"
