Ana Castillo's voice pulled me through this novel--the humor and conversational tone is evident throughout. I thought it was going to be lighthearted when I started reading it, but it quickly became apparent that was not the case. It was hard to get a bead on this. I was kind of repulsed by the infatuation with her not actual cousin; I couldn't make sense of how the rapes were handled (or weren't); and I found much of the rest of the frequent, often graphic sex to be joyless, even when maybe it wasn't supposed to appear so. For much of the book, I felt really sad for Palma and also wondered if she was an anti-hero. The book doesn't have much of a plot, but really in the end, it's all about getting a fuller picture of how Palma has come to be. It was a little bit of a bummer after loving So Far From God sooooo incredibly much, but at the same time, I'm really excited to read more of Castillo's work. ( )