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Spirits of the Ordinary: A Tale of Casas Grandes
Set in northern Mexico in the 1870s, Spirits of the Ordinary tells interweaving stories centered on Zacarìas Carabajal, who leaves his comfortable city home to prospect for gold in the wilderness while his abandoned wife, Estela, struggles to build a new life.
Visions, dreams, and portents are part of the everyday world of Spirits of the Ordinary. Estela's siblings, the enigmatic and supernaturally beautiful twins Manzana and Membrillo, discover their gift for water divining. Zacarìas's mother, Mariana, has been silent all her adult life after experiencing an apocalyptic vision of angels in her teens. His father, Julio, is an apothecary devoted to Torah study and Jewish mysticism, practicing his religion in secret as generations before him have done. Meanwhile, Zacarìas's wanderings turn into a spiritual quest that takes him to the ancient cliff dwellings known as Casas Grandes.
Presenting a tapestry of fascinating lives as well as the story of a reluctant mystic in a spectacular desert landscape, Spirits of the Ordinary demonstrates that, as Alcalá writes in her introduction, "magic and holiness are all around us."
Visions, dreams, and portents are part of the everyday world of Spirits of the Ordinary. Estela's siblings, the enigmatic and supernaturally beautiful twins Manzana and Membrillo, discover their gift for water divining. Zacarìas's mother, Mariana, has been silent all her adult life after experiencing an apocalyptic vision of angels in her teens. His father, Julio, is an apothecary devoted to Torah study and Jewish mysticism, practicing his religion in secret as generations before him have done. Meanwhile, Zacarìas's wanderings turn into a spiritual quest that takes him to the ancient cliff dwellings known as Casas Grandes.
Presenting a tapestry of fascinating lives as well as the story of a reluctant mystic in a spectacular desert landscape, Spirits of the Ordinary demonstrates that, as Alcalá writes in her introduction, "magic and holiness are all around us."
234 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
12 people are currently reading
1,619 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Alcalá
29Ìýbooks62ÌýfollowersKathleen Alcalá's most recent book is a republication of Spirits of the Ordinary: A Tale of Casas Grandes by Raven Chronicles Press (see book giveaway!) The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island, is now in paper from University of Washington Press. Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, Alcalá explores our relationship with food at the local level, delving into our common pasts and cultures to prepare for the future.
With degrees from Stanford, the University of Washington, and the University of New Orleans, Kathleen is also a graduate and one-time instructor of the Clarion West Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop. Kathleen Alcalá has received a Western States Book Award, the Governors Writers Award and two Artist Trust Fellowships. She is a recent Whitely Fellow, a previous Hugo House Writer in Residence, and teaches at Hugo House and the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network. Her sixth book, The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island, explores our relationship with geography, food, history, and ethnicity.
“Not one tale is like another, yet all together they form a beautiful whole, a world where one would like to stay forever.� Ursula K. Le Guin on Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist.
“Alcalá’s life work has been an ongoing act of translation� She has been building prismatic bridges not just between the Mexican and American cultures, but also across divides of gender, generation, religion, and ethnicity.� —Seattle Times
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 16, 2016
Because of the comparisons to and like in the blurb, one can not help compare, however if anything, this book reminds me more of . Unfortunately it does not measure up to any of theses great novels. I enjoyed it, but felt the story was too fragmented. The combination of Jewish Mysticism, along with Catholicism and indigenous Mexican beliefs was the best part of the novel and made it unique. However the story jumped around between too many characters to give any of them any depth. can manage this, but not many authors can.
August 22, 2013
This book is one of a number of novels which followed on in the wake of One Hundred Years of Solitude and the Latin American magic realism boom. This book is not a simple Marquez or Allende wannabe. Unusually it combines Jewish mysticism with the dual belief systems of the indigenous peoples and their Catholic Spanish overlords.
Kathleen Alcala, although a US citizen, comes from a Mexican family and regularly stayed in the area she writes about as a child. This gives the book great authenticity and the reader has a strong impression of the landscape, towns and culture of the area. In addition Alcala draws on the mix of Judaism and indigenous beliefs held by her mother's family. As the book makes clear, Judaism was still a persecuted religion at this time, practiced behind closed doors and far removed from organised Judaism and so open to dilution.
There are several forms of belief in the book. One is Julio's strenuous approach, obsessively pursuing the Lord's truths and plans for the world in the texts and alchemical formulae that he hoards in his secret room, shuttered against the eyes of the world. When he tries to apply this approach to the garden, he ends up destroying its life force. Julio's wife, Mariana, dumb since being attacked as a child, is the opposite of her husband, open to receiving the divine through her oneness with nature. And then there is their son, Zacarius, who starts off as obsessive as his father destroying his marriage in his pursuit of gold and silver in the hills of Mexico, but who discovers a mystical understanding of the world and god through his experience of the local indigenous peoples and nature. These belief systems are in turn contrasted with the severity, worldliness and intolerance of Roman Catholicism.
The book jumps from the story of one character to another, and not just Zacarius and his parents, but also Zacarius' wife Estela and her family, the Zacarius' twin brother and sister, even a visiting photographer gets a chapter or two. Unlike One Hundred Years of Solitude where the width of canvas could allow us to view a whole family through several generations, this novel is comparatively slim and so the movement between characters is jerky and unsatisfactory. That is not to say that the characterization is not good, it is. I would have preferred it if the writer had focused on giving us more of a narrative of Zacarius' life and the Jewish side of the family.
The book's cover blurb speaks of the novel being in the tradition of Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel - a multigenerational tale of family passions. To my mind it does not live up to Allende or Marquez, but then not many authors do. Nevertheless it is an enjoyable piece of magic realism.
Kathleen Alcala, although a US citizen, comes from a Mexican family and regularly stayed in the area she writes about as a child. This gives the book great authenticity and the reader has a strong impression of the landscape, towns and culture of the area. In addition Alcala draws on the mix of Judaism and indigenous beliefs held by her mother's family. As the book makes clear, Judaism was still a persecuted religion at this time, practiced behind closed doors and far removed from organised Judaism and so open to dilution.
There are several forms of belief in the book. One is Julio's strenuous approach, obsessively pursuing the Lord's truths and plans for the world in the texts and alchemical formulae that he hoards in his secret room, shuttered against the eyes of the world. When he tries to apply this approach to the garden, he ends up destroying its life force. Julio's wife, Mariana, dumb since being attacked as a child, is the opposite of her husband, open to receiving the divine through her oneness with nature. And then there is their son, Zacarius, who starts off as obsessive as his father destroying his marriage in his pursuit of gold and silver in the hills of Mexico, but who discovers a mystical understanding of the world and god through his experience of the local indigenous peoples and nature. These belief systems are in turn contrasted with the severity, worldliness and intolerance of Roman Catholicism.
The book jumps from the story of one character to another, and not just Zacarius and his parents, but also Zacarius' wife Estela and her family, the Zacarius' twin brother and sister, even a visiting photographer gets a chapter or two. Unlike One Hundred Years of Solitude where the width of canvas could allow us to view a whole family through several generations, this novel is comparatively slim and so the movement between characters is jerky and unsatisfactory. That is not to say that the characterization is not good, it is. I would have preferred it if the writer had focused on giving us more of a narrative of Zacarius' life and the Jewish side of the family.
The book's cover blurb speaks of the novel being in the tradition of Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel - a multigenerational tale of family passions. To my mind it does not live up to Allende or Marquez, but then not many authors do. Nevertheless it is an enjoyable piece of magic realism.
October 12, 2020
There are some books that enter your soul and never leave and for me Spirits of the Ordinary belongs in that special category. The magic in Kathleen Alcalá’s writing is vivid and breathtaking. Yet, as the title hints, the supernatural is seamlessly woven into the “ordinary� world she portrays. Her characters are so deeply rooted in their essential natures that when change comes—whether it be a wife’s discovery of her sexuality or a compulsive gold-seeker’s transformation into a healer—the unexpected shift of consciousness is as organic as the blooming of a cactus flower.
Living at the turn of the 20th century in a small village in northern Mexico, the secretive Jews of the Caraval family have more in common than they realize with the Tarajumara, an indigenous people hiding from persecution in the mountains. This link between cultures brings both spiritual enlightenment and tragedy to those who dare step outside the strict social and religious boundaries imposed by Catholicism. Ms. Alcalá brings us face to face with a largely forgotten and painful history while at the same time inspiring the reader with glimpses of our potential to experience love and faith in unique and powerful ways.
Living at the turn of the 20th century in a small village in northern Mexico, the secretive Jews of the Caraval family have more in common than they realize with the Tarajumara, an indigenous people hiding from persecution in the mountains. This link between cultures brings both spiritual enlightenment and tragedy to those who dare step outside the strict social and religious boundaries imposed by Catholicism. Ms. Alcalá brings us face to face with a largely forgotten and painful history while at the same time inspiring the reader with glimpses of our potential to experience love and faith in unique and powerful ways.
June 4, 2018
I really enjoyed this! It has a perfectly lovely length, too, whereas a lot of the more famous examples of Latin American magical realism go on far too long for my tastes. Here, magic and concision are blended extremely well, and I liked the fragmentary nature of it, and the broad focus on a number of different characters, some of whom are only tangentially connected to the main story. There's also an interesting sort of fusion going on with the religious influences here, which helps I think to tie the story together. (I can see from the other reviews that some people find this book a little too fragmentary for them, but being an atheist my perception of spirituality tends to have a hard divide between "religious" and "not", and so the mix of faiths represented here may appear more cohesive, narratively, from an outside perspective than might otherwise be the case). Anyway, I guzzled this down in one sitting, putting off the work I should have been doing instead, and I am not remotely sorry. This was a pleasure from start to finish.
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May 9, 2021Spirits of the Ordinary is a book based on my family's history. We are descended from hidden Jews who fled Spain during the Inquisition in search of land and religious freedom. Many were killed before they could escape, but those who managed to forge papers or bribe the right people boarded ships for the Americas and started over.
When I first wrote Spirits, there was no internet to search terms, places, or individual names. All I had were stories handed down generation to generation, my grandfather's journals, and access to my uncle's library in Chihuahua, Mexico.
This book traces the spiritual journey of a man based on my great-grandfather. The book took on a life of its own as I wrote it. Now there are many books on the subject, but I hope you will take this journey with my family. You will find many good reviews, and I hope you feel moved to add your own.
When I first wrote Spirits, there was no internet to search terms, places, or individual names. All I had were stories handed down generation to generation, my grandfather's journals, and access to my uncle's library in Chihuahua, Mexico.
This book traces the spiritual journey of a man based on my great-grandfather. The book took on a life of its own as I wrote it. Now there are many books on the subject, but I hope you will take this journey with my family. You will find many good reviews, and I hope you feel moved to add your own.
April 21, 2017
This was good, but something about the beginning and ending felt disconnected to me. I enjoyed the crossing of religions and culture, and the simple pacing, but sometimes I felt the author was telling me what to think, instead of allowing me to make connections, and perhaps that's why I felt disjointed from the characters and plot.
October 20, 2016
This was a lovely book - it flowed nicely, it was an enjoyable read. My only major problem with it is that it didn't leave much of an impression on me. It's been all of a day, and I already feel like I'm starting to forget things about it.
There were some issues I had with its narrative, but to talk about it would pretty much require revealing spoilers, so...
I don't say this to imply that I didn't enjoy the book - I really did, and the writing was beautiful - I just didn't feel particularly drawn in by it, and it's not going to stick with me in the long term. I do feel like I'm being a little unjust, but my subjective opinion is that this book felt nice to me, but I wanted it to be more than just nice.
There were some issues I had with its narrative, but to talk about it would pretty much require revealing spoilers, so...
I don't say this to imply that I didn't enjoy the book - I really did, and the writing was beautiful - I just didn't feel particularly drawn in by it, and it's not going to stick with me in the long term. I do feel like I'm being a little unjust, but my subjective opinion is that this book felt nice to me, but I wanted it to be more than just nice.
July 16, 2015
Una manera amena y cálida de viajar a fines de siglo XIX a la frontera de México.
August 24, 2021
I really loved the premise...it has a lot going for it, but it just feels like there's too much missing. No substantial character development. This could easily have been twice as long. For historical magical realism taking place in northern Mexico, I would suggest , , or, for a little bit of an update, .
September 11, 2013
I enjoyed it, but I think I've enjoyed some of the other Latin America magical realism novels a little better.
House of the Spirits and Bless Me, Ultima just seemed to have so much more depth to them. Then you get to things like Mariana's muteness which just seems too similar to Clara's muteness for it not to seem at least a little derivative.
Though it does deal with Jewish Mysticism rather than Catholic Mysticism, which is a drastic change.
House of the Spirits and Bless Me, Ultima just seemed to have so much more depth to them. Then you get to things like Mariana's muteness which just seems too similar to Clara's muteness for it not to seem at least a little derivative.
Though it does deal with Jewish Mysticism rather than Catholic Mysticism, which is a drastic change.
January 13, 2019
Strange and complicated and hard for me to get through but totally worth it.
It's about the desert and the gods, of Jews, Catholics, the indigenous peoples, and finally the Baptists.
It's about gold, and water in the desert, and the absence of that water.
It's about fear and hatred of all these things.
It's about the desert and the gods, of Jews, Catholics, the indigenous peoples, and finally the Baptists.
It's about gold, and water in the desert, and the absence of that water.
It's about fear and hatred of all these things.
July 25, 2021
I loved this book. Honestly, I couldn’t put it down. The characters, the setting in northern México and the plot were beautifully crafted, a learning experience, and a great pleasure to read.
February 1, 2021
The writing of this book is quite good, and it reads decently well as historical fiction from an area and perspective that I have never seen: Mexico, Jewish, 18th century. However, the writing just does not hold my interest in terms of style- but that is just me. It reminds me of Barbara Kingsolver, or that book, The Name of The Rose. Certainly well written, worthwhile, you learn something...but just not for me.
November 27, 2023
I enjoyed this book very much! It was like reading the journal notes of individual members of Alcala’s extended family history which, most interestingly, it truly was! These notes were woven together in a meaningful tapestry of family and the faithful of dissimilar spiritual beliefs and practices. It’s well worth reading, especially those of us fascinated by such topics.
October 3, 2023
I wanted to like this book, but it just tried too hard to be too many things� feminist, global (or at least pan-American), magical realism, Kabbalist (sp?), indigenous, pro-androgyny, and so on. There are some good stories here, but I didn’t find much of it plausible, even in a magical-realism way.
April 17, 2016
Here's what you need to know about Kathllen Alcala's "Spirit of the Ordinariness": At the turn of the 19th century, a disoriented and disconnected Mexican leaves his beautiful wife and family in Saltillo for the hills. Zacarias prefers a life of struggle on the trails to a life of security at home. Of course, he's weird. Certainly he is out of his mind, and no one fathoms what is his problem. After all he is a Mexican Jew!
Kathllen Alcala may have special insight in writing this tale. It seems that for the first 20 years of her life, she too found herself searched for her true identity until she found out the same thing her character Zacarias found out. She too is a Mexican Jew.
And so here the craziness begins. Zacarias meets his match in the Rarurami Indians of Chihuahuas Copper Canyons. Faced with suspicion. Threatened with violence. Desperate for a way out, he reaches back into his soul to share with these Indians the only stories that made sense to him at the time. Of course, he's never been sure to think about Biblical folk tales his father has passed down to him. He spouts one after another, and the Raramuri eat them up. They may not understand his Spanish. He's not sure what the hell he's saying in their language.
But the connection is made. There's a Jew in the House. And the Copper Canyons will never be the same.
Kathllen Alcala may have special insight in writing this tale. It seems that for the first 20 years of her life, she too found herself searched for her true identity until she found out the same thing her character Zacarias found out. She too is a Mexican Jew.
And so here the craziness begins. Zacarias meets his match in the Rarurami Indians of Chihuahuas Copper Canyons. Faced with suspicion. Threatened with violence. Desperate for a way out, he reaches back into his soul to share with these Indians the only stories that made sense to him at the time. Of course, he's never been sure to think about Biblical folk tales his father has passed down to him. He spouts one after another, and the Raramuri eat them up. They may not understand his Spanish. He's not sure what the hell he's saying in their language.
But the connection is made. There's a Jew in the House. And the Copper Canyons will never be the same.
January 19, 2017
What? No, seriously, do you ever read a book and then wonder what the point of it was or if you missed it. I feel like I missed the point of this book. Honestly, there was so much going on and too much was crammed into just a few pages. This would be better as something far bigger and in depth than what it came to be.
Revolving around the Caravals family, each member seems to have something going for them. Julio is a Jew who practices mystical alchemy. His wife, Mariana, is mute because she was visited by angels. Their son, Zacarias, is a prospector always leaving his family to look for gold who ends up becoming a mystic himself. Then there is his wife, Estela who is just trying to keep her family together as her husband drains funds trying to find gold in the desert. And this is just the beginning, Estela has twin siblings who are water callers and have a whole mysterious thing about them going on as well. Nothing was ever explained and nothing ever really came to a point or reason. The stories of these people just kept going on with no reason or purpose.
While the concept for this novel was highly interesting, I found that there was just too much involved that was not explained, not broadened, and simply not there in the end. Again, maybe there is some deeper meaning to all of this, but I don't think I care to find out.
Revolving around the Caravals family, each member seems to have something going for them. Julio is a Jew who practices mystical alchemy. His wife, Mariana, is mute because she was visited by angels. Their son, Zacarias, is a prospector always leaving his family to look for gold who ends up becoming a mystic himself. Then there is his wife, Estela who is just trying to keep her family together as her husband drains funds trying to find gold in the desert. And this is just the beginning, Estela has twin siblings who are water callers and have a whole mysterious thing about them going on as well. Nothing was ever explained and nothing ever really came to a point or reason. The stories of these people just kept going on with no reason or purpose.
While the concept for this novel was highly interesting, I found that there was just too much involved that was not explained, not broadened, and simply not there in the end. Again, maybe there is some deeper meaning to all of this, but I don't think I care to find out.
February 27, 2017
This is a lovely magical realism book set along the Mexican-American border in the late nineteenth century. The story doesn't follow any one character in particular; it's more a tale of an extended family and their struggles with obsession. To me it really echoed One Hundred Years of Solitude, with that same languid feeling and sprawling nature of the story.
Zacarius is monofocused on the search for gold in the mountains. His father Julio searches through the Kabbalah to find God's perfect order. Their obsessive desires come close to destroying their families, their wives Estela and Marina, and Zacarius's children. Between and around those obsessions lie stories of Jewish mysticism and Catholic intolerance, the love of nature and the love of order, how clinging too hard can destroy something, and how dreams coming true sometimes fall apart.
I thought the book was a little jumpy in places, but it was really a lovely story. Like an impressionistic painting.
Zacarius is monofocused on the search for gold in the mountains. His father Julio searches through the Kabbalah to find God's perfect order. Their obsessive desires come close to destroying their families, their wives Estela and Marina, and Zacarius's children. Between and around those obsessions lie stories of Jewish mysticism and Catholic intolerance, the love of nature and the love of order, how clinging too hard can destroy something, and how dreams coming true sometimes fall apart.
I thought the book was a little jumpy in places, but it was really a lovely story. Like an impressionistic painting.
May 10, 2013
This is a really nice story of a family along the Texas/Mexico border around the time of the revolution. There are many main characters, but the most 'main' character seems to be Zacarias. Zacarias is born to Jewish parents and must keep his religion a secret. He regularly leaves his wife and children to go hunt for gold in the rivers and surrounding areas. He goes through a transformation along this journey. This story is mostly about the blending of different cultures and religions in this particular area. My favorite part of this book are the twins - Manzana and Membrillo. I wish there was more story about those two.
May 22, 2013
Well how wonderful was that! Sigh. I felt as I've been visiting with some of my old friends and that the characters in this book are out there mingling with those from The Hummingbird's Daughter, Like Water for Chocolate and Rain of Gold. Like Luis Urrea, Laura Esquivel and Victor Villasenor, Kathleen Alcala is a master storyteller sharing a bit of the country's history along with a richly complicated genealogy, a setting that gallops north and south across deserts and mountains and more than a few hints of magic/paranormal/healing/faith/ (whatever it is I like it).
Now to postpone the rest of my life so I can read the next in the trilogy (Flower in the Skull) more quickly...
Now to postpone the rest of my life so I can read the next in the trilogy (Flower in the Skull) more quickly...
April 30, 2010
Not quite sure why the gringo photographer was given a whole chapter. Came to the conclusion that the author is into cross-dressing. Book seemed disjointed although some characters were interesting. I wish she had focused on just one character throughout.
January 14, 2009
the story was entertaining, it took me to mexico.
November 1, 2009
Alcala fictionalizes tales of her ancestors in Mexico. There are elements of magical realism reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez but she doesn't measure up to him (not that many do).
July 21, 2011
It was good of its kind. I prefer books with a more coherent storyline, although there was something interesting in the "mystical" dreams.
May 4, 2016
Beautiful plot and imagery. However, the characters fell flat and the plotlines amongst them seemed to end abruptly. I wanted more magical realism. Average.
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